Insights and opinions

As one of the oldest names in healthcare serving over 5,000 public and private sector businesses across the UK, we have been helping clients keep their employees physically, mentally and financially healthy for decades.

This means we have a wealth of experience and insight to share with employers.

Read on to tap into a mix of resources that we’re using to help kick-start conversations for business leaders about how to create positive health and wellbeing roadmaps for their teams.

“Poor mental health cost UK employers up to £45bn in 2020”

The Times Special Report:Employee Experience and Wellbeing

Our latest insights

MAKING A DIFFERENCE AT MAD WORLD

We were delighted to be in attendance at this year’s ‘MAD World Summit’, enjoying talking to a targeted audience of HR professionals via a stand presence and by hosting a workshop.

The Mad World mission in the content director’s words is ‘to accelerate the shift from stigma to solutions by ensuring every employer – large, medium and small – has the insights, inspiration and contacts they need to make a difference to workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing.’

At our workshop, which was hosted by Tracey Paxton from The Employee Resilience Company and Beth Samson, Organisational Development and People Lead from Investors In People, we shared insights on the current state of the workplace. We also provided guidance and support on how to best manage challenges like hybrid working and engaging people managers to champion mental health support, whilst ensuring their own mental health is not impacted.

Additionally, one lucky workshop attendee won a fully-funded Manager’s Mental Wellbeing Training programme for up to 25 of their employees. Get in touch to find out more about other programmes available through our wide-ranging Mental Health Support Training & Consultancy services.

Learn about our Mental Health Support Training
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Front cover of REBA article

A SPOTLIGHT ON DIGITAL HEALTH

The pandemic brought home to every business the importance of supporting a healthy workforce and also highlighted the value of digital health services such as online GPs, employee assistance programme and wellbeing apps.

We have partnered with the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA), the professional networking community for reward and benefits practitioners, to produce a Digital Health guide.

This highly topical content explores some of the latest digital health ideas, as well as the ways in which employers can make sure that employees benefit from them today, no matter when or where they choose to work.

‘DIGITAL HEALTH – MEETING THE WELLBEING NEEDS OF A FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE’ is available to download below or at REBA.

Find out more about our GP Helpline services, or email us.

Download the report

JOIN US TO CHAMPION WORKPLACE WELLBEING

We’re proud to be part of a high-profile workplace wellbeing event taking place at Olympia London on the 25th and 26th May.

‘The Watercooler’ is an interactive, free-to-attend, two-day event bringing together leading minds from across the business and mental health industries to champion workplace wellbeing.

We will be proudly hosting our own workshop at the event: Why measurement matters in workplace mental health and wellbeing and what to measure. Heidi Stewart, our Group Chief Executive will be joined by Tracey Paxton, managing director at The Employee Resilience Company Limited. They will be sharing how we can use MI reporting to help businesses better understand how their employees are using the wellbeing services they have in place to give a health check of their organisation.

Register for a free ticket here
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Front cover of article on employee wellbeing

Guardian Employee Wellbeing Campaign

We’re excited to be involved with the Employee Wellbeing campaign, launched in the Guardian and online in March 2022.

So pleased to be one of the expert voices alongside Mind and REBA talking about how a focus on the health and wellbeing needs of employees can help prevent stress and create positive working environments.

Read the campaign here

The Big Return: The post-COVID return to work and the hidden costs of the pandemic

We surveyed 2,000 of the UK’s working population who have worked from home during the pandemic to understand the impact of COVID on employees.

The insight is designed to be a point of departure for the development of clear strategies and tactics to support employees, not only over the coming months, but also the coming years, as we come out of a life-changing pandemic and begin to return to normal.

Key findings:

  •  50.5% of employees say their employer has not provided any health and wellbeing support during the pandemic
  • 48% of UK workers do not inform employers when suffering from mental health, physical health, grief, finance or drug or alcohol issues
  • 45% described their feelings about the return to work negatively (36% are a little anxious, 9% are deeply concerned)
  • 70% of employers agree that the seriousness with which my employer treats employee health and wellbeing, including work-life balance, is more important to me compared to a year ago.
  • 66% feel the last 12 months have negatively impacted their career in some way
  • 69% of furloughed staff feel anxious about returning to work

“The location, look and feel of workplaces and work patterns will continue to evolve far beyond these pandemic years, but the constant needs to be that employers put their workforce’s health and wellbeing centre stage.”

Dr Rohit S. Prajapati, chief medical officer at BHSF

Download the report here
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Front cover of The Big Return report with summary description
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Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce - Growth Through People Conference 2021
Harnessing Resilience for Future Challenges Webinar

We are proud to have supported the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce - Growth Through People Conference this March.

Our chief medical officer Dr Philip McCrea, BHSF co-presented a thought-provoking workshop on developing the resilience of your business, to ensure growth throughout 2021.

The workshop explored:

  • how businesses can establish an effective, long-term framework to support employees – in person and remotely – struggling with their physical and mental health, and boost overall resilience
  • feelings towards being prepared for possible future economic shocks
  • how the West Midlands economy, in particular, was impacted by the pandemic in 2020 and how it will be dealing with the changes brought about by Brexit in 2021
Watch the webinar on-demand here

Times Special Report: Employee Experience and Wellbeing

We are proud to be part of the Employee Experience and Wellbeing by Raconteur*. This special report, published in The Times on 15th March 2021 addresses the importance of putting employee wellbeing front and centre in an organisation – during the best of times, but equally during these unique and challenging times.

*As originally seen in Employee Experience and Wellbeing published by Raconteur Media on 15.3.21 in THE TIMES

Download the report
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Front cover of employee experience and wellbeing article in The Times
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Remote Working: Top Tips For Wellbeing and Connection Webinar

We are delighted to have partnered with Personnel Today to explore the impact of remote working on employees.

We joined Personnel Today’s HR and wellbeing editor Ashleigh Webber, Tracey Paxton, managing director of The Employee Resilience Company, and CJ Bedford, director of people and performance at Wiser for the Remote Working: Top Tips For Wellbeing and Connection Webinar.

Our discussions examined:

  • the challenges of the pandemic for employees cut-off from their support networks in spare rooms and make-shift studies
  • how the lack of visibility that comes with remote working has made monitoring staff wellbeing more challenging for HR teams
  • the effect this long-term remote working has on employee wellbeing
  • top tips for maintaining employee engagement and connection
Watch the webinar on-demand here

Maintaining momentum in your remote working wellbeing strategy: White Paper with Personnel Today

And as a follow up to the webinar, we have developed a dedicated white paper with Personnel Today which further explores why and how employers need to be developing clear health and wellbeing strategies as we emerge from the pandemic into permanent hybrid working models.

Read the report for valuable insight during such a critical time for our workplaces.

Access the full report here