Question 1. Is your strategy holistic?
Most construction firms these days recognise that the wellbeing of their staff and supply chain is key to delivering a project successfully. But many organisations/projects are not addressing this in a strategic way, adopting low level piecemeal interventions, investing significant time and money in what CHW refers to as “added value activities.” These activities are usually toolbox talks, smoothie bikes, gym memberships and free fruit. We’re not saying these don’t have a place in a strategy as they can be fun and engaging, but they don’t address the real issues impacting employee wellbeing;. The important things like fair pay, working hours and the quality of welfare facilities.
The British Safety Council wrote about this in their #Notjustfreefruit paper – https://www.britsafe.org/campaigns-policy/keep-thriving/not-just-free-fruit-wellbeing-at-work/.
See Post 1 for more details of what elements are needed in a strategy (Link will be added once blog is live). Download our self assessment checklist or get in touch to find out about our gap analysis offering.
Question 2. Do you undertake a risk based approach?
Working in construction means we’re all very used to managing safety risks, and health and wellbeing should be no different. Either this is anticipating, recognising, evaluating and controlling PHYSICAL and MENTAL health hazards in the working environment. Or it is understanding the wellbeing needs of your workforce and prioritising interventions based on where you will have the biggest impact, e.g. financial wellbeing may be more of a priority than stopping smoking. Are health risks on your risk register? Have you undertaken an employee needs assessment?
Question 3. Is your strategy evidence based?
We’ve written before about how important data is here: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/blog/f/are-you-using-data-to-drive-your-health-and-wellbeing-strategy and having measures of success is vital in ensuring you are placing your time and energy in the right things.
However, have you evaluated the research to understand if your intervention is likely to have the impact you desire? A good example of this is mental health first aiders – The HSE found that “there is limited evidence that MHFA training leads to sustained improvement in the ability of those trained to help colleagues experiencing mental ill‐health.”
We’re not saying these don’t have a place in a strategy, but don’t expect them to address all your mental health challenges – read more on that here: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/blog/f/mental-health-first-aiders—do-they-work
Question 4. Are your leaders and workers engaged in the strategy development and implementation?
By holding leaders accountable and responsible for the strategy, it ensures it’s not just a tick in the box for the Health and Safety or HR teams. It needs to be a strategic business priority and promoted from the top down. Also on the reverse, the workers need to be involved in developing the interventions, ensuring that it ‘hits the mark’ and actually meets the needs of the workforce. Health and Wellbeing champions
If you want to find out more about how CHW can help you evaluate, develop or implement your health and wellbeing strategy, get in touch here. Download our self assessment checklist or get in touch to find out about our gap analysis offering.
