Support Physical and Mental Health and Wellbeing You and your employees are your greatest asset. Support yourself and them to support your/their mental and physical health and wellbeing. The Context There is a moral and legal duty to show care for the work force. Without people, goods and services cannot be delivered. The impact of the pandemic on mental and physical health are well known, so policies, practices and cultures need to support health and wellbeing. Therefore, check in on workers, listen to concerns, and act. Practical Solutions • Train Managers in health and wellbeing issues. Raise awareness and make resources available for Managers to signpost staff to access help. • Support Managers in how to have difficult conversations, particularly around mental health as they may be fearful of making mistakes. • Make every contact count (MECC) - discussing wellbeing and health should be a normal part of Management conversations with staff. • Consider health and wellbeing when managing the return to the physical workplace, consider individual concerns and create a safe working environment. • Create options for staff to talk about their workplace return anonymously or indirectly. • Signpost employees to relevant support (eg Public Health England, Mind). • Use Wellness action plans for staff working from home, implement these for all staff as a preventative tool for wellbeing and mental health, built in from induction onwards for new staff. • Use Workplace adjustment passports to record adjustments and changes to work patterns to ensure co-ordination of line management. • Start with basic policies around sickness and absence, performance management. Ensure a link between policy, procedure and practice. Review existing policies/ create new to ensure they support staff (eg Mental Health/ Domestic Abuse/Workplace Conflict). • Promote new and existing policies widely, make them easily accessible and integrated with other workplace policies. Remote & Hybrid Working Principles for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) 9 Physical and Mental Health andWellbeing
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