Health, wellbeing and productivity in the workplace: A Britain's Healthiest Company summary report

Hafner, Marco; Stolk, Christian Van; Saunders, Catherine L.; Krapels, Joachim; Baruch, Ben

doi:10.7249/rr1084

Cited by 28 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Healthcare workers caring for people with COVID-19 have commonly experienced discrimination, alongside people who have recovered from COVID-19, those in lower socioeconomic groups and those with particular religious or racial identities [ 52 ]. Rates of presenteeism (being at work in ill-health) are high in healthcare workers [ 19 ] and one of the main drivers of presenteeism is mental ill-health [ 53 ]. The emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are therefore likely to have significant financial and resource implications for organizations since the economic cost of presenteeism far outweighs that of absenteeism [ 54 , 55 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sense of contribution experienced by our participants appeared to be irrespective of whether they worked in a clinical or non-clinical role, or were physically present in the hospital setting during the first wave of the pandemic (e.g., some participants were remote working during this time, others had been shielding if they were clinically vulnerable, or had self-isolated at some point during the pandemic due to COVID-19 exposure). This has been recognized by hospital trusts and some employers provided guidance or recommendations for how to help staff who were unable to engage in their normal roles to contribute to the national effort, for example through non-clinical activities, and remote support [ 53 ]. However, it has been found that some healthcare workers unable to work on the frontline during the pandemic not only felt guilt, but perceived themselves to be undervalued, which demonstrates the importance of colleagues and managers in healthcare organizations proactively acknowledging their contribution to the pandemic response [ 57 ] to demonstrate inclusion and equity in recognition of effort.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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COVID-Well Study: Qualitative Evaluation of Supported Wellbeing Centres and Psychological First Aid for Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Blake

Gupta

Javed

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Supported wellbeing centres were set up in UK hospital trusts as an early intervention aimed at mitigating the psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers. These provided high quality rest spaces with peer-to-peer psychological support provided by National Health Service (NHS) staff volunteers called ‘wellbeing buddies’, trained in psychological first aid. The aim of the study was to explore the views of centre visitors and operational staff towards this COVID-19 workforce wellbeing provision. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were undertaken with twenty-four (20F, 4M) employees from an acute hospital trust in the UK. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed, data were handled and analysed using thematic analysis. Interviews generated 3 over-arching themes, and 13 sub-themes covering ‘exposure and job roles’, ‘emotional impacts of COVID-19 and ‘the wellbeing centres’. Supported wellbeing centres were viewed as critical for the wellbeing of hospital employees during the first surge of COVID-19 in the UK. Wellbeing initiatives require managerial advocacy and must be inclusive. Job-related barriers to work breaks and accessing staff wellbeing provisions should be addressed. High quality rest spaces and access to peer-to-peer support are seen to benefit individuals, teams, organisations and care quality. Training NHS staff in psychological first aid is a useful approach to supporting the wellbeing of the NHS workforce during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-Well Study: Qualitative Evaluation of Supported Wellbeing Centres and Psychological First Aid for Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Blake

Gupta

Javed

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Bringing many of these concepts together, a recent study by Hafner et al (2015) examines the links between health, well-being and productivity using the data from the 2014 Britain’s Healthiest Company competition. They look at the relationships between lost productivity (in terms of absenteeism and presenteeism) and three categories of health and well-being, namely, the job and work environment (e.g.…”

Section: The Costs Of Poor Well-being To Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors of a study published by RAND (Hafner et al , 2015, p. ix) state that: “[…] simple economics tells us that companies only find it profitable to invest in health promotion programmes when the benefits outweigh the cost of investment in the longer term. For companies it is crucial to understand the direct link between wellbeing and productivity.…”

Section: A Significant Opportunity For Research-into-practicementioning

confidence: 99%

The well-being and productivity link: a significant opportunity for research-into-practice

Miller

2016

JOEPP

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to position well-being as a necessary component of the productivity debate and highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the nature of such a link. It first considers productivity at the national level in order to show how this affects both the climate and the economic policies within which organisations operate. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents an overview of current research and practice in the area. It treats the organisation as the primary level of analysis, and before highlights some of the apparent challenges in conceptualising well-being. Findings The importance of well-being is rising up national and employer agendas. Organisations need people to perform at their best in a sustainable way. The paper argues that an organisation with well-being at its core will reap productivity gains. It supports the view in the literature that improvements at national level can only be made on the back of sophisticated strategies across numerous organisations. However, for this to happen shared actions and understanding of these challenges has first to be created and acted upon across institutions and organisations. There are notable costs of poor well-being to productivity, and identifiable benefits of promoting and supporting employee well-being for productivity. Practical implications There is a clear practice implementation gap. Some organisations are embracing the opportunities to invest in their staff, but those who make employee well-being a business priority and a fundamental part of how the organisation operates are in the minority. There is also an ongoing challenge of measuring the impact of well-being programmes which can inform ROI assessments and enable organisations to demonstrate the business benefits of employee well-being. Originality/value There remain many unanswered questions about both the nature of the link between well-being and productivity and the economic impact of an association. This paper sparks further interest in expanding the understanding of the well-being and productivity link or peripheral issues.

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“…This study is modelled after Britain’s Healthiest Workplace [ 28 ] in partnership with RAND Europe. Ethics approval was obtained from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Research Ethics Committee (NN-2019-152).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of Psychological Distress and Mental Health Resource Utilization among Employees in Malaysia

Chan¹,

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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We sought to examine predictors of psychological distress among employees as well as the level of awareness and usage of available mental health resources by employees through their own organizations. The Malaysian Healthiest Workplace survey cross-sectional dataset was used to explore the association between psychological distress, a range of health conditions, as well as mental health resource awareness and usage in a sample of 11,356 working Malaysian adults. A multivariate logistic regression was conducted to determine predictors of high psychological distress. Comorbid illnesses that were associated with psychological distress were mental illness (OR 6.7, 95% CI 4.39–10.14, p = 0.001), heart conditions (OR 2.17, 95% CI 1.18–3.99, p = 0.012), migraines (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.33–1.90, p = 0.001), bronchial asthma (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.11–1.85, p = 0.006), and hypertension (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.07–1.88, p = 0.016) compared to individuals with no comorbid conditions. A total of 14 out of 17 comorbid medical illnesses were associated with elevated levels of psychological distress among employees. Awareness and usage of support services and resources for mental health were associated with lower psychological distress. These findings extend the literature by providing further evidence on the link between chronic illness, occupational type, as well as awareness and use of mental health resources by psychological distress status.

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Health, wellbeing and productivity in the workplace: A Britain's Healthiest Company summary report

Cited by 28 publications

References 42 publications

COVID-Well Study: Qualitative Evaluation of Supported Wellbeing Centres and Psychological First Aid for Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-Well Study: Qualitative Evaluation of Supported Wellbeing Centres and Psychological First Aid for Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The well-being and productivity link: a significant opportunity for research-into-practice

Predictors of Psychological Distress and Mental Health Resource Utilization among Employees in Malaysia

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