Employee Wellbeing Policy

Introduction

The organisation has developed an employee wellbeing policy to manage its obligations to maintain the mental health and wellbeing of all staff. It covers the organisation's commitment to employee health, the responsibilities of managers and others for maintaining psychological health, health promotion initiatives, communicating and training on health issues, the range of support available for the maintenance of mental health, and organisational commitment to handling individual issues.

Objectives

The aim of this policy is to describe the organisation's commitment to the mental health and wellbeing of employees in its broadest, holistic sense, setting out how the organisation fulfils its legal obligations, the responsibilities of different functions and specialists and the range of services available to help employees maintain health and wellbeing. The organisation recognises that wellbeing and performance are linked. Improving employees' ability to handle pressure and to balance work and home life will ultimately lead to improved individual and organisational performance.

Organisational commitment

The organisation has legal obligations under health and safety legislation to manage risks to the health and safety of employees. In addition to reducing safety risks, this means operating the business in a way that minimises harm to employees' mental health, for example by ensuring that the demands of jobs are not unacceptable and having policies and procedures in place to support individuals experiencing mental ill health at work.

The organisation will put in place measures to prevent and manage risks to employee wellbeing, together with appropriate training and individual support. It will also seek to foster a mentally healthy culture by incorporating these principles into line manager training and running regular initiatives to raise awareness of mental health issues at work.

Responsibilities

Organisation

The organisation has a legal duty of care to employees to ensure health at work, as set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The organisation will ensure that its policies and practices reflect this duty and review the operation of these documents at regular intervals.

Line managers

Line managers will put in place measures to minimise the risks to employee wellbeing, particularly from negative pressure at work. Managers must familiarise themselves with the Health and Safety Executive's stress management standards, and use these to mitigate psychological risks in their teams. For example, managers should ensure that employees understand their role within the team and receive the necessary information and support from managers and team members to do their job. Managers must also familiarise themselves with the organisation's policies on diversity and tackling inappropriate behaviour in order to support staff, for example on bullying and harassment issues.

In particular, line managers must ensure that they take steps to reduce the risks to employee health and wellbeing by:

• ensuring that the right people are recruited to the right jobs and that a good match is obtained between individuals recruited and job descriptions/specifications;
• keeping employees in the team up to date with developments at work and how these might affect their job and workload;
• ensuring that employees know who to approach with problems concerning their role and how to pursue issues with senior management;
• making sure jobs are designed fairly and that work is allocated appropriately between teams; and
• ensuring that work stations are regularly assessed to ensure that they are appropriate and fit for purpose.

Human resources

The MD will develop organisation-wide policies and procedures to protect the wellbeing of employees, assist line managers in supporting individuals, and liaise as appropriate with occupational health and other medical professionals, with the object of helping employees to maintain good psychological health.

Employees

Employees must take responsibility for managing their own health and wellbeing, by adopting good health behaviours (for example in relation to diet, alcohol consumption and smoking) and informing the organisation if they believe work or the work environment poses a risk to their health. Any health-related information disclosed by an employee during discussions with managers, is treated in confidence.

Training and communications

Line managers and employees will regularly discuss individual training needs to ensure that employees have the necessary skills to adapt to ever-changing job demands. An examination of training needs will be particularly important prior to, and during, periods of organisational change.

Managers and employees are encouraged to participate in communication/feedback exercises, including stress audits and staff surveys. All employees are expected to be aware of the importance of effective communication and to use the media most appropriate to the message, for example team meetings, one-to-one meetings, electronic communications and organisation-wide methods. The organisation will ensure that structures exist to give employees regular feedback on their performance, and for them to raise concerns.

The organisation will consider special communication media during periods of organisational change.

Occupational health support

A comprehensive occupational health service is available, from individual health screening to the design of return-to-work plans for those rehabilitating after a period of long-term sickness absence.

Workplace wellbeing services provided by the senior management team include:

• workstation assessments;
• pre-employment screening;
• fitness-for-work assessments;
• eye tests for users of visual display screen equipment;
• post-incident support;
• advising on health promotion initiatives; and
• health and safety training.

If employees believe that their work, or some aspect of it, is putting their wellbeing at risk they should, in the first instance, speak to their line manager or the senior management. The discussion should cover workload and other aspects of job demands, and raise issues such as identified training needs.

Discussions between employees and senior management are confidential, although the team is likely to provide a report on the employee's fitness to work, and any recommended adaptations to the working environment, to the MD.

Other measures available to support employees in maintaining health and wellbeing include:

• procedures for reporting and handling inappropriate behaviour (for example bullying and harassment);
• special leave arrangements;
• opportunities for flexible working;
• support for workers with disabilities; and
• the organisation's grievance policy.

Relationship with other policies

This employee wellbeing policy should be read in conjunction with other policies and procedures covering attendance and health, including policies on work-life balance, special leave, flexible working, the management of short and long-term absence, sick pay, bullying and harassment, violence at work, equal opportunities and staff training and development.

Line managers, and senior management must ensure that personal data, including information about individuals' health, is handled in accordance with the organisation's data protection policy / policy on processing special categories of personal data.

Dated : 14^th March 2024