Research carried out by the ‘Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health’ found that Presenteeism (i.e where employees go into work but perform at a reduced level due to ill health) costs UK employers almost three times as much as sickness absence. Research carried out by the ‘Victoria’ University in Australia has identified that white collar workers are more likely to engage in presenteeism, if they have a problem, than go off sick. Research suggests that mental health issues are likely to be the main cause of presenteeism in the UK.

Sharon and colleagues from the Centre for Mental Health recently produced (in conjunction with ‘Business in the Community (BITC) some guidelines on managing presenteeism.    We  recently launched the guidelines in London at a conference entitled ‘The Work Well Summit’: Employee Wellness & Engagement, Maximising Performance (see below for more information). The Guidelines that we have produced identify the organisational factors that contribute to Presenteeism and then reccommend some actions that you can take to more effectively manage sickness absence and Presenteeism in the workplace. Click this link to access the guidelines:

http://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/pdfs/managing_presenteeism.pdf

Well-Being for SME’s

If you work for an SME, watch this space.  We will shortly be publishing some guidelines on ‘How to Manage Well-Being on a Shoestring’.  If the meantime, if you have any queries, do please get in touch. We are always happy to help.

The Work Well Summit: Employee Wellness & Engagement, Maximising Performance

This was a really good conference which focused on how employee wellness can facilitate maximum employee engagement.  The event was hosted by Cary Cooper and there were speakers from: Marks and Spencer, Centrica, British Telecom etc. It was really interesting to hear how these different organisations facilitate well-being and the different approaches that they have taken e.g some have concentrated on building individual and organisational resiliance to stress whereas others have concentrated on the provision of support services such as counselling and occupational health.  For me there were several points that were emphasised by the conference, the first point was that even small organisations can improve productivity and engagment through implementing a few simple steps.  Secondly, it is clear that a number of larger orgnisations recognise that employee well-being and engagement does have a significant impact on the bottom line. Thirdly,proactively managing employee well-being is not just a fad or the latest  initiative, it is a better way of doing business.