Relatório de pesquisa IOSH (postagem original aqui)
Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic. Approaches to support employee health and wellbeing
This research was conducted by Affinity Health at Work, co-sponsored by IOSH via its Research Consortium, to explore the impact the COVID-19 pandemic on employee’s health and wellbeing and what can be learned from it.
Researchers conducted interviews and held focus groups with employees, managers and health and wellbeing stakeholders at five organisations over three time periods, between November 2020 and June 2021.
Their aims were to:
understand wellbeing outcomes of the pandemic for employees, managers and organisations;
examine how organisations could effectively support employee health and wellbeing;
identify barriers and facilitators to health and wellbeing;
and develop evidence-based recommendations for employee health and wellbeing, to serve during the pandemic and any future disease outbreak.
Take a look at the full research report below but you can also watch our webinar on this subject.
News Release - New research highlights worker health and wellbeing concerns caused by COVID-19
Learning from COVID-19 - approaches to support employee health and wellbeing - full report
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Covid pressures bad for your health
Too many digital meetings, increasing workload and a lack of social connection with colleagues have all enhanced the risk of health and wellbeing problems for remote workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers have found. The study, for the safety professionals’ organisation IOSH, found a positive effect, with employees reporting that the greater flexibility offered by homeworking has created more opportunities for recreational activities. ‘Learning from the Covid-19 pandemic: approaches to support employee health and wellbeing’, based on the experiences of five major organisations, examined how employers could support workers’ health and wellbeing and identify barriers and facilitators to this. It makes eight recommendations to protect employee health and wellbeing, to serve during this and any future pandemics, including senior management demonstrating their commitment to this area through regular communication, acting on feedback and sharing personal stories, and involving employees in job design and redesign. Duncan Spencer, head of advice and practice at IOSH, said: “With some people continuing to work remotely while others have moved a hybrid system as we continue to live with the pandemic, it is clear that more needs to be done to protect the health and wellbeing of workers and I hope that organisations might be able to follow some or all of the recommendations.” He added: “What is clear is that if we don’t act on this, there is a strong possibility we will face a health and wellbeing crisis among our workforce.”
IOSH news release and report, Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic: Approaches to support employee health and wellbeing, IOSH, December2021.
Vejam abaixo as 8 recomendações:
1. Demonstrate senior management commitment to employee health and wellbeing
The research demonstrated the extent to which senior management ‘set the tone’ for how employees experienced organisational support and how quickly those efforts could be seen as merely ‘paying lip service’ and actually detrimental to wellbeing where there were inconsistencies between leader messages and behaviour. Good practice included providing consistent communication and updates from senior management, the sharing of personal experiences, opportunities for Q&As and feedback from employees, evaluating and acting upon data and changes, and a clear alignment of communication and practice.
2. Focus on line manager skills and resources
Perhaps the strongest message in the paper was how central line managers were to employees’ experience of wellbeing, to their perceptions of support and to the availability of resources, interventions and tools. It was also clear that line managers did not always have the buy-in, the skills, resources and capacity to provide that support for their reports, particularly as the pandemic progressed and workloads and a return to business-as-usual began. It is vital that organisations invest in their line managers, working with them to redesign and prioritise their roles and equip them with the skills, knowledge and understanding to be able to better promote and protect employee wellbeing.
3. Prioritise job design in collaboration with employees
Central to improving job design and creating sustainably good jobs for employees is designing good work; that is, work where employees have a choice over when, how and where they do their job; have reasonable demands and workloads placed upon them; are supported by good relationships at work; are clear about their role; and can develop and progress. Many people perceive workload to have increased through the pandemic and that this is a significant cause of mental ill health. Flexibility may be one option, but it is about working and collaborating with employees to develop solutions that work for them rather than designing one-size-fits-all policies. Efforts should be focused to gather feedback from employees who may be underrepresented or vulnerable within your organisation. Finally, as can be seen from this research, employee wants and needs differ across time and circumstances, and therefore both job design and the wellbeing offering need to be flexible and dynamic.
4. Promote an environment of social connection and trust
The research demonstrated just how important social connections were within the hybrid world. Through good social connections and informal communications, managers and peers were able to identify risks, support their own needs and the needs of colleagues and so provide and access support and resources. Within organisations, informal conversations pre-pandemic were seen as ‘distractions from work’ or ‘nice-to-haves’ but this research, along with a growing body of research, demonstrates how central these social relationships are to fostering a wellbeing culture. There are many examples of how to do this, from team socials, to protected time in meetings for informal conversation and to more formal methods, such as network groups. The physical environment also has a part to play to support this, with appropriate spaces available for informal meetings and conversation and a clear understanding of the need, for some employees, for physical face-to-face social interaction.
5. Communicate your wellbeing approach consistently and continually
A key learning from this research is that employees are not always aware of what organisational support and resources are available, either due to the complexity of the programme, a lack of management signposting, lack of availability and access, or information overload. Organisations must therefore promote their wellbeing resources consistently and continually in as many communication channels as possible. This goes beyond relying on all materials being in a central repository such as the Intranet, to move towards providing tailored, relevant and proactive communications across the organisation, both locally and globally; as well as making particular efforts to communicate to hard-to-access groups.
6. Embed wellbeing across culture at the organisational and local level
Embedding wellbeing is more than aligning wellbeing alongside strategic objectives and related policies such as CSR and Diversity and Inclusion, and embedding wellbeing considerations within operational practices, such as induction and training and development. It is about wellbeing considerations being part of everyday business communications and contexts to create a culture where issues can be raised and wellbeing discussions encouraged, and where talking about wellbeing is a daily part of work life. This also ensures that for large organisations, where systems may be unwieldly, employees can still access the core messages.
7. Conduct an internal audit of your wellbeing provision to identify your existing assets and development areas
The research demonstrated that organisations are at different stages in their wellbeing journey. An internal audit of your data, policies, practices and training provision will enable you to identify a clear strategy for your wellbeing provision. It may also be useful to analyse your offering against a framework such as ISO45003 or the Mental Health at Work commitment, or against accreditations or awards in order to provide you with clear steps to progress your offering.
8. Monitor your organisational wellbeing
The research suggested that organisations were generally not well equipped to measure and monitor wellbeing. Without having clear objectives and KPIs attached to wellbeing, it is difficult to understand the impact of your efforts, to recognise and spot issues in particular groups or particular locations or to continually improve and develop your offering. It is also difficult to recognise employees for supportive wellbeing practice in the context of their overall role performance. There are no ‘right’ metrics, but it is a case of taking time to understand what you want to achieve from your wellbeing approach and what you can harness to measure and monitor that.
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