Episode 15 - What's it going to take to move the needle on workplace wellbeing?

The world of workplace wellbeing is full of solutions, statistics, ROI justification, white papers and even calls to action. Yet the needle doesn’t seem to be moving. Work related stress, depression or anxiety still account for the vast majority of working days lost due to work related ill health. Nine out of 10 UK employees are either not engaged or actively disengaged (lagging behind the European average of 13% engaged employees) and the pre-pandemic trend of sluggish productivity growth has continued. When do we stop adding to an ever-growing mix and draw the line, saying: “Let’s start afresh and redesign work and the workplace from the ground up”. Kay Needle, Early Intervention & Rehabilitation Expert at Generali UK Employee Benefits, chats with Dr Julie Denning, Managing Director & Chartered Health Psychologist at Working To Wellbeing, also Chair of the Vocational Rehabilitation Association. In this wide-ranging discussion, they consider: • What aspects of work and the workplace contribute to wellbeing outcomes? And how can joined-up thinking across these, benefits, interventions and campaigns be achieved? • What are the barriers / obstacles to action? And how can they be overcome? • Start-ups are taking a completely different approach to work design. At what point do traditional organisations say we need to start afresh? • Will new UK government plans for flexible working from day one of employment provide the impetus for all this? • And what role could / should the ISO45003 psychosocial wellbeing standard play?