By getting involved in the development of an organisation’s ESG agenda, occupational health teams can ensure that employee health and wellbeing is considered at board level. But it needs to be done right, writes Suzanne Clarkson.
Most occupational health practitioners, HR professionals and wellbeing leads probably don’t have much involvement with the environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) agenda right now, aside from perhaps providing data related to physical and psychosocial risk assessment, DEI policies, employee engagement and community involvement.
But that could change. Having so far taken a back seat to the ‘E’, social issues are now a key area of focus, driving investor decision-making, consumer purchasing, procurement decisions in supply chains and, most importantly for this article, employee recruitment and retention.
Six in 10 UK leaders want more attention paid to employee wellbeing as part of S in their ESG strategy over the next 12 months, according to research by Opinium for HarknessKennett and Coach House Communications.
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This could arguably present an opportunity for more focus on workplace wellbeing. With ESG as the wraparound, wellbeing takes a seat on the board agenda. With board-level endorsement and a cross-functional collaborative focus, there’s a big opportunity to have a proper rethink on wellbeing; joining the dots, and ensuring wellbeing strategies are informed by employees – those it’s intended to benefit – rather than by what competitors are up to and what employers think is best for others. Because, after all, when employees feel the benefit, the company does too.
Any OH practitioners who advocate the ‘work ability’ model, will probably already be on board with the need for improved joined-up thinking and multidisciplinary working. Work ability, a model originally designed by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, is a way of measuring and benchmarking how workplaces can help people to be in work, feeling well and thriving. It factors in work, work community, leadership, culture, also people’s values, attitudes and beliefs. Health and functional capacities underpin all of this.
Is your ‘S’ in ESG lacking?
To date, the S element of ESG frameworks arguably look standardised under the ‘employees’ pillar, with most organisations focusing on diversity, gender pay gaps, health and safety. Community volunteering and charitable giving come under the ‘communities’ pillar of the S.
All of these elements are interrelated and part of a bigger picture of how employees ‘experience’ work and the working environment. And let’s assume here that a good employee experience can result in employee engagement, an outcome of which is wellbeing.
But measuring discrete elements – while, at the same time, omitting many other aspects that make up the employee experience of work – makes for a patchy picture. It might help organisations consider the impact of something like diversity, health and safety or organisational reputation, but it does nothing to help understand how the organisation impacts employee health, happiness and ability to thrive.
Balancing ‘fixing the individual’ with ‘fixing the work’
Running parallel with this is an evolving discussion that workplace wellbeing needs a rethink. This is about the need to balance the traditional, largely reactive, focus on “fixing the individual” (interventions, signposting to support, apps, training), with a more proactive focus on “fixing the work” (culture, belonging, employee experience).
This is a big job – probably a culture change job in many cases – so it involves an all-of-company effort.”
Only four in 10 leaders say culture, purpose and employee experience currently form part of the S in their ESG considerations, according to our research. This takes us back to the need to ensure workplace wellbeing initiatives are informed by those it’s intended to benefit. The alternative is to just add to an already patchy S in ESG picture.
The role for OH
This is a big job – probably a culture change job in many cases – so it involves an all-of-company effort. But there are some things that OH could start to implement now to help evidence the need for a rethink and bring about improvements in line with any overriding department or wider business goals.
It’s probably an issue close to the hearts of OH anyway, considering the work-related stress, anxiety and depression problem, the long-term sickness absence issue and the rising tide of general dissatisfaction fuelling so-called ‘quiet quitting’, presenteeism, or ‘bare minimum Mondays’.
The starting point is an audit to identify the current disconnects between employer and employee perceptions of what makes for a happy, healthy and thriving workforce. For example, Deloitte research found that most employees say their health worsened or stayed the same last year, but more than three in four executives believe their workforce’s health improved.
This is about really digging under the surface with employees to find out what experiences of work and the work environment make them feel positive and fulfilled. And what experiences have the opposite effect.”
This kind of finding is not unusual and, based on a discrete workforce instead of a generic statistic, it’s a useful way to help grab the attention of leaders. But, arguably more important, is then gaining the findings needed to recommend improvements. This is about really digging under the surface with employees to find out what experiences of work and the work environment make them feel positive and fulfilled. And what experiences have the opposite effect.
While the majority (61%) of leaders say they use employee insights to help inform ESG strategy, 22% say employee interests are not reflected in their current strategy. Of those that use employee insights, employee engagement and satisfaction surveys represent the main insight-gathering tools used.
Employer/employee disconnects are not hard to find. But they don’t show up in engagement or satisfaction surveys. Surveys provide useful indicators, but they don’t provide genuine insights. The real nuggets come from face-to-face interactions; everyday conversations and formal focus groups and interviews with employees across various levels and departments.
Ask internal communication colleagues for help. They should be skilled in employee voice; techniques for gathering insights, as well as helping create the conditions of trust needed for voice to be realised in the first place.
For the focus groups and interviews to really bear fruit, it is worth considering getting someone independent of the organisation to lead them. You should also ensure anonymity in the reporting of results.
Finally, a word on risk assessments. OH will no doubt be familiar with risk assessments as part of insight gathering. These are obviously important in looking under the bonnet of organisations and pinpointing the problem areas., but they should ideally be supplemented with the kind of insight gathering described above.
Risk removal lays the groundwork for a better employee experience, but it arguably won’t automatically result in feelings of positivity, self-esteem and fulfilment. That requires careful design and ongoing nurturing.
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