Mayfield Report Published – Urgent call for Businesses to think differently about Workplace Wellness.

By Dr Ollie Hart

This month saw the long-awaited final report from Sir Charlie Mayfield, previous chair of John Lewis. Keep Britain Working assesses the need to improve health and wellbeing in the workplace.  We think it is highly relevant to health and wellbeing coaching across all sectors and not just the NHS, and we see a significant place for health coaches in the recommendations he makes.

The report starts by highlighting the UK is in crisis, with 1 in 5 working age adults out of work due to ill health. This has gone up by 40% since 2019. Younger people are struggling with mental health and older people with painful musculoskeletal issues. The Government has highlighted how lost work productivity is a major economic challenge for the property and future of our country. We are lagging well behind other European countries.

The solutions and ideas proposed seek to ‘rehumanise’ the workforce, reducing the fear often experienced by employers and employees from the perceived risks of offering or taking support. Employers worry about tribunals and risks of making mistakes, and employees worry about losing their job, or being stigmatised.

The report talks about a new kind of proactive and preventative support at all stages of the healthy working lifecycle. This sounds like health coaching to us, and we see a strong case for health coaching at each stage:

1.     Recruitment and Onboarding – senior staff with the health and wellbeing coaching skills to see value in well supported staff.

2.     Healthy in work – Health and Wellbeing Coaches offering safe space to consider their health, and enabling people to look after themselves well.

3.     Unwell in work – Health Coaches able to support people in self-assessing and planning the best approach to dealing with and managing their health conditions

4.     Absence and return to work – Health Coaches supporting people in recovery and return to work plans.

5.     Exit and re-employment – Offering support through well trained managers or health coaches to navigate the transition whilst maintaining good health and wellbeing.

The good news is there is a potential for everyone to win here. Employers are losing £85 billion per year in sick pay, conflict resolution, lost productivity and absenteeism. Supporting people well saves workplaces money, improves the lives of employees and boosts the productivity of the workforce nationally.

There is also a suggestion in the Mayfield report (and other recent workplace wellness analysis) that the money already being spent by employers is not generating the value it should. Employee Assistance Programs or Occupational Health services are often associated with stigma and not tailored to the needs of the employee, leading to low take up and low impact. Health and Wellbeing Coaching offers a great bridge to making the most of these services, and as an alternative more personalised form of enablement.

‘Keeping Britain Working’ is now a high priority for the DWP and Government strategy. They are looking for Vanguard businesses to lead the engagement in the next 1 to 3 years, piloting innovative ways to create better health and wellbeing in the workforce. Within seven years they expect all employers to be fully involved.

Peak Health Coaching is very supportive of the call to action in this report. We have long believed that the NHS cannot shoulder the role of the nation’s health on its own. We need proactive people in proactive workplaces, where health coaching is used with employees the way it has shown success for patients in the NHS.

We have developed a Health and Wellbeing Coaching Work-based Training Pathway specifically designed to help employers to support their workforce whether working in the NHS, wider public, private or voluntary sectors. This pathway takes individuals and teams from entry level up to Full Diploma (SEEC Level 5 equivalent) leading to certification and eligibility to join leading professional bodies such as the UK and International Health Coaching Association (UKIHCA) and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). Learning can be implemented from Day 1 of training, leading to an immediate return on investment.  Further learning along the Health and Wellbeing Coaching pathway continuously raises the bar of partipants’ capacity and expertise in offering tailored, effective health and wellbeing support to workforce colleagues.

Our pathway is split into manageable steps that can be embraced in one go or spread over time to match your situation and budget.

https://www.peakhealthcoaching.com/peakpathway