EMPLOYEE SUPPORT
& WELLBEING
How to support employee wellbeing to develop flourishing people and organisations
NEW APPROACH TO RECRUITMENT FOSTERS INCLUSION. CASE STUDY: ADVANCE
hire people who admit they
have had mental
health issues, they should consider hiring them – because those applicants will bring great “honesty and resilience”. He added, “Employers have to lead the way.” The issues around mental health are being talked about more openly now, thanks to the #Everymindmatters campaign by the NHS and the willingness of high-profile personalities, including Prince
William and Prince Harry, to talk about it. One in four people in the UK will experience a mental health
problem each year. The social conversation around mental health and the role that business can play in supporting employees dealing with this is growing, but there is still more to do. Business can play a part in prevention by creating the right
culture and recognising the signs. Training can help staff to manage their own health and encourage them to seek help when they need it.
PROMOTING GOOD MENTAL HEALTH One of the industries with high rates of death by suicide is the construction industry. Gregor Craig, CEO of Skanska, explained that the construction industry has had to change its focus to look at mental health, as so many construction workers suffered problems and suicide rates in the industry are high. “The construction industry has one of the largest issues in terms
of mental health. You are six times more likely to die from suicide than by a fall from height,” he said. “Up to four years ago, we did nothing to address this.” Skanska and other companies began to look at the reasons for
such a high rate and found there were a number of contributing factors. Employees, who were mostly men, were working away from home, away from friends and family and without a support network or access to their local GP services. They might not be eating well and they were lonely. Skanska has taken action to train staff in spotting potential
mental health issues, encouraging employees to talk about the issues, and giving managers training in suicide awareness. “One-third of the workforce has done some mental health training,” he said. Pamela Thompson, chair of Eversheds Sutherland, a global law
practice that works with corporations, said that mental health was “part of the inclusivity and diversity debate.” She said there were practical steps that could be taken, including supporting staff in the workplace and taking the stigma away from talking about mental health. One clear positive action was for executives to open up the debate by telling their own stories, so that other people in the workplace could admit their own vulnerabilities. Eversheds Sutherland has also made systemic changes in order to reduce the amount of stress that staff are under. “We
Advance is one of the UK’s largest software and service providers. It has introduced a new recruitment process, which has dispensed with CVs and instead now tests candidates on a range of abilities including mathematical and cognitive skills. It also has three women on the board – a situation that is still relatively unusual in the male-dominated tech industry. Sally Scott, chief marketing officer, says the company
is keen to live its values, which include “acting at pace” and doing the right thing. “If the board was all-male, it would have a different perspective,” she explained. Alex Arundale, group HR director, added that the
assessments are testing “people’s potential for the future – it removes all bias and gives us a very clean result that is not linked to what university you went to or what your social background might be.” She said that the company has been successful because it welcomes “different thinking” on the board and is willing to listen to all feedback, even when it might be challenging. Advance uses a wide range of channels to find new
employees, including social media and LinkedIn. CEO of Advance, Gordon Wilson, said, “We do assessments and if candidates pass the test, even if they have never worked in IT, we will employ them.” The tests involve assessing mathematical skills, logical thinking and sequencing. As a result, Mr Wilson said, Advance is recruiting in a more diverse way. “We have blind CVs for management,” he explained.
“Some people can be unconsciously biased by name, as it tells a lot about ethnicity. We believe diversity is so important at all levels of the business and at a time when there is such a skills shortage.”
SOCIAL EQUALITY
consciously changed our appraisal process because it was brutal and not sustainable,” she said. “It was quite hard-edged.” Instead, an element assessing wellbeing was introduced. “To have a sustainable legal profession, we are all going to have to engage as a business community,” she added. David Hyman, CEO of Bupa, said that the vast number of
enquiries that Bupa received from corporate customers were about mental health. “Ninety per cent of calls to our employee helpline are around mental health and 25 per cent of those calls are for family members and children,” he said. However, he said there was still a difference in the way physical and mental health are viewed.
For more insights into mental health and wellbeing in international organisations, see Ruth Holmes’s article:
bit.ly/managing-mental-health-and-wellbeing
16 | RELOCATE | WINTER 2019 / 2020
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