Creating success through wellbeing in higher education

1. Creating success through wellbeing in higher education Kim Shutler-Jones Project Manager for Wellbeing in Higher Education 2nd Sep 2009

2. Agenda ‘Creating success through wellbeing in HE’ Making the business case Making links Group discussion Project – next steps and getting involved

3. The project

4. Project background Context Economic climate Government agenda - ‘Fit to work’ National and international competition Project development OECD Conference – ‘Making universities great places to work’ HEFCE funded (Oct 08-09) Led by the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Derby and Leeds

5. Project aims Primarily through delivery of a series of workshops: Best practice examples Enablers/barriers Lessons learned Final outcomes: Similarities and differences Gaps in practice Evidence that it makes a difference (business case) Final report (September 09) Website www.wellbeing.ac.uk

6. Making the business case

7. Recruitment and retention • The average cost per person who leaves an employer is £7750 (CIPD 2007) • The average staff turnover in higher education is 8.4% • 33% of organisations reported an average reduction in staff turn-over of 20-25% (Dame Carol Black Review 2008) • Employer of choice • Reputation

8. Reducing sickness absence The cost of one day’s sickness for an average employee across all sectors is £78 (CIPD 2007) Employees in higher education are absent for an average of 5.8 days per annum – so for every 1000 employees, the cost of sickness is £452,400 per annum Estimated ‘unhealthy’ employees taking to take on average nine days more sick leave (Medibank Private 2005) 80% of organisations reported a 30-40% reduction in days lost through sickness absence (Dame Carol Black Report 2008)

9. Reducing sickness absence Higher education University of Liverpool - absence reduction from 4.7-2.3% in 5 years (saving of 2.5 million per annum) University of Bolton - absence reduction from 11.69 days per person, per year, to 8.38 days

10. Motivation and performance “Harnessing discretionary effort ie. when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organisations interests.” Estimated ‘healthy’ employees to be 3 x more productive than their ‘unhealthy’ colleagues (Medibank Private 2005) For the UK HE sector, if a 10% increase in performance is worth a minimum of 5% of salary (£1,606 per employee), the potential saving (372,460 employees) is £598,170,760 per year (Robertson Cooper Ltd, 2008).

11. Engagement and presenteeism Disengaged workers cost the UK £44 billion a year in lost productivity (IPA, 2008). Presenteeism costs approx £600 per employee, per year. Across the UK HE sector this is a potential cost of £223,476,000 per year (Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, 2007). Higher levels of engagement are strongly related to higher levels of innovation. In one report 59% of engaged employees said that their job brings out their most creative ideas against only 3% of disengaged employees (Gallup, 2008)

12. Improving the student experience Research carried out for the Civil Service showed: 70% of engaged employees indicated they have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs, while only 17% of non-engaged employees said the same (Civil Service – making the case, cited in McLeod Review 2009). 78% of highly engaged workers in the UK public sector said they can make an impact on public services delivery or customer service, versus only 29% of disengaged employees (Civil Service – making the case, cited in McLeod Review 2009).

13. Making links

14. Dame Carol Black Report 2008 ‘There is a moral, social and economic imperative to invest in the health and wellbeing of our work force, especially during a times of economic uncertainty when staff are under added pressure to perform’ (Dame Carol Black, National Director for Health and Work, 2008) http://www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/documents/working-for-a-healthier-tomorrow-tagged.pdf http://www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/documents/working-for-a-healthier-tomorrow-tagged.pdf

15. McLeod Report 2009 ‘Only organisations that truly engage and inspire their employees produce world class levels of innovation, productivity and performance’ (Peter Mandleson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2009) http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file52215.pdf

16. Health and Safety Executive Economic climate = increased stress Across all sectors mental health problems account for 25% of short term, and 47% of long term absences (Royal College of Psychiatrist, 2008). Across all sectors, estimated overall cost of mental health problems is equivalent to £1035 per employee, per year (Sainsbury Research Centre, 2007). Legal compliance (Health and Safety Executive) Accident reduction Links to government agenda (Dame Carol Black report, 2008)

17. Discussion groups… • What approaches are being used in your institution? • Key partnerships (internal and external)? • Innovative practice? • What key challenges/barriers are you facing? • How can BUCS/the project help you to overcome these?

18. Next steps 2nd bid to HEFCE • Evaluating interventions • Case studies (HE, other sectors, international) • Practical toolkits • Staff wellbeing network – workshops and conferences

19. Getting involved www.wellbeing.ac.uk Final report (end September 09) Joining our network 250 individuals from 96 different HEIs Different areas including Sport, HR, OH and H&S Submit/learn from practical case studies Participate in Phase 2?

20. Contact us For more information please contact: Kim Shutler-Jones Project Manager for Wellbeing in Higher Education k.shutler-jones@leeds.ac.uk 0113 343 6525 www.wellbeing.ac.uk