Dr David Fong and I were interested to attend the Health and Wellbeing @Work Conference at the NEC on 11 -12 March. The event positions itself to “improve the health, safety, wellbeing, behaviour and culture of today’s workforce” and has been running since 2005. Recently acquired by the Mark Allen Group, the show had 150 exhibitors and 13 conference streams which were interesting and informative. 

We were particularly interested in the evidence base around the use of wellbeing services, and how we could apply reputable models and methodologies to our outdoor coaching, innovation and wellbeing services. We had a number of brilliant conversations with leading academics in the field around this area and are looking forward to following up with them after the event.  Latest evidence shows that for every £1.00 invested in workplace mental health interventions, employers can see a £5.30 return on investment. 

I enjoyed attending many of the sessions and came away with a sense of several strong current themes:

Financial wellbeing – this being a relatively new area but is growing rapidly post pandemic and, in our current cost of living crisis, is impacting everyone at work in some way.  There were several providers offering help and support in this area. 

Financial cost of work stress – this is estimated to be a staggering 617 billion euros across the EU. In the UK an alarming 76% of the workforce experience some type of work place stress, with 41% of all employees report that their physical / mental health symptoms are exacerbated by their job / work environment. On average employers loose between £1,035 and £3,710 per employee each year due to mental ill health and stress. 

Poor disclosure – it is clear that people are reluctant to share that they have mental health issues with 66% of people unwilling to share personal issues with their employer. This may be due to lack of trust and support, anxiety over how this would be perceived and the long term repercussions associated with this amongst other things.

Resilience training – there was a lot of talk around this. It clearly have some substantial benefits and huge improvements are seen implementing programmes within organisations. Personally I’m a bit concerned, having seen with NHS nurses that it puts the blame on the employee for not being “tough enough”. Great if responsibility is shared with the employer which looks at measures to improve the quality of the work environment too.

Creating a work environment for success – many discussions were had around what “great”  looks like in organisations. Encouragement was given to do gap analysis on current wellbeing provision and look to implement activities which proactively meet the needs of your workforce. Do a short term two year plan first with short term goals and build a sustainable long term process to avoid measures being seen as “tick box”.

Puppies – no one can have attended the event and not been influenced by the Paws in Work! These adorable bundles of joy bought a smile to faces of the lucky ones who managed to bag a place in the pen. We satisfied ourselves with a go on the virtual headsets. What a crazy, innovative and wonderful idea to bring smiles and reduce stress in the workplace. 

I got to burnout in my last “proper” job. I will never forget the overwhelming downward spiral of blackness and utter despair with the overwhelming pressure to keep performing. I took six months away from the workforce and then set up my own organisation and never looked back. 25 years ago there was very little support – no one ever thought that expecting someone to do three jobs and consistently perform in these roles, would eventually cause them to crack.  

Fortunately things are different now, and enlightened employers have wellbeing managers, recognising that they need to look after the health of their employees and the long term bottom line benefits from doing so. I love  being able to put back into work environments now and supporting employees with our outdoor coaching and wellbeing, knowing only too well how fantastic connecting with nature is to positively transform our mental health, improve creativity and productivity. 

I so enjoyed making many new contacts which I shall be following up over the next few days. Please do drop me a line if you’re interested in finding out more about how Outdoor Coaching and Wellbeing Programmes can benefit your organisation. katydraper@marketingmedicine.co.uk  

07941 465 799

www.mindandbodywalking.co.uk 

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