Health at Work Policy

Physical activity

Physical activity is essential for good health and contributes to positive wellbeing. Many of the leading causes of disease and disability in our society – such as coronary heart disease, strokes, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), colorectal cancer, stress, anxiety, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and low back pain – are associated with physical inactivity.

For general health benefit, adults should achieve at least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity physical activity. This should be taken in bouts of 10 minutes or more to count towards your weekly total and we should try to be active on every day of the week.

Any activity during leisure, working or travel counts. Physical activity includes activities such as walking, cycling, gardening, dancing and housework, as well as participation in sport and formal exercise.

The workplace is an important setting in which people can increase their levels of activity to benefit their health and protect against illness.

Physical activity helps staff manage stress, back pain, weight and medical conditions. Physically active employees also report less illness and recover more quickly from the illnesses they do get.

Employees engaged in physical activity initiatives have reported greater enjoyment of their work, improved concentration and mental alertness and improved cooperation and rapport with colleagues.

Healthy eating

Healthy eating is essential for good health and contributes to positive wellbeing. Many of the leading causes of disease and disability in our society – such as obesity, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, mental ill health and osteoporosis – are associated with poor nutritional choices.

A healthy, balanced diet contains a variety of different types of food, including: lots of fruit, vegetables; plenty of starchy foods such as wholemeal bread and wholegrain cereals; some protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs and lentils; and some dairy foods. We should also be drinking about 6 to 8 glasses (1.2 litres) of water, or other fluids, every day to stop us getting dehydrated.

The workplace is an important setting in which people can increase their intake of healthy foods to benefit their health and protect against illness. A healthy, balanced diet also helps people to recover more quickly from illness.

The food we eat, and what we drink, not only have a physical impact on our body, but can also contribute to our mental health, resulting in improved levels of concentration, mental alertness and ability to cope with everyday stresses and strains.

Mental wellbeing

Mental ill health and stress are associated with many of the leading causes of disease and disability in our society. Promoting and protecting the mental wellbeing of the workforce is important for individuals' physical health, social wellbeing and productivity.

Mental wellbeing in the workplace is relevant to all employees and everyone can contribute to improved mental wellbeing at work.

Addressing workplace mental wellbeing can help strengthen the positive, protective factors of employment, reduce risk factors for mental ill health and improve general health. It can also help promote the employment of people who have experienced mental health conditions, and support them once they are at work.

Important aspects of mental wellbeing includes providing information and raising awareness, management skills to deal with issues around mental health and stress effectively, providing a supportive work environment, offering assistance, advice and support to anyone experiencing poor mental wellbeing or returning to work after a period of absence due to poor mental wellbeing.

Aim of the policy

The aim of this policy is:

• to promote and encourage employee participation in regular moderate intensity physical activity
• to support and encourage employees to make healthy eating choices
• to create a workplace environment that promotes the mental wellbeing of all employees
• to support and encourage employees to access smoking cessation services, raise awareness of the risks of smoking and help staff to quit
• to raise awareness of recommended guidelines for alcohol intake and encourage staff to reduce consumption of alcohol where necessary.

Objectives

Physical activity

a) To raise awareness of the benefits of physical activity.

• Provide educational leaflets and resources on physical activity.
• Provide staff courses and seminars on the benefits of activity and risks of inactivity/sedentary behaviour.
• Hold physical activity promotional events.

b) To support employees in becoming more active in a variety of ways.

• Encourage employees to make active choices through the use of promotional and motivational resources, for example encouraging them to walk or cycle all or part of the way to work, or to use the stairs instead of the lift.
• Map out walking trails or routes within the grounds or local area and publicise them with times and distances.
• Provide information on local sports and leisure facilities, classes and clubs.
• Establish a lunchtime activity group e.g. walking.
• Establish and support sports or activity clubs e.g. softball or football.
• Provide corporate memberships at local authority facilities.

c) To remove barriers and enable staff to be active in and around work.

• Provide flexible working hours to allow for physical activity before, during and after work.
• Provide incentives to staff who walk or cycle to meetings, e.g. paying activity mileage.
• Provide safe storage racks for bicycles.
• Provide showering and/or changing facilities.

Healthy eating

a) To implement a healthy eating policy that raises awareness of the benefits of healthy eating.

• Provide educational leaflets and resources on healthy eating.
• Include workplace health on the agenda at team meetings.
• Appoint a healthy eating champion, to be responsible for a workplace healthy eating programme.
• Set up a healthy eating focus group.
• Provide courses and seminars on the benefits of healthy eating and the risks of poor nutrition.
• Hold healthy eating promotional events.

b) To implement a healthy eating policy that supports employees to make healthier eating choices in a variety of ways.

• Encourage employees to make healthy eating choices through the use of promotional and motivational resources, e.g., encouraging employees to make healthy choices from the canteen menu.
• Provide food storage and preparation areas in all departments.
• Provide information on local weight management groups.
• Organise fruit and vegetable box delivery schemes.
• Investigate the demand for and feasibility of extending canteen opening times to include breakfast.
• Designate one week each year as Healthy Eating Week, with a range of organised activities.
• Provide access to water in all meeting and training rooms.

c) To remove barriers and enable employees to make healthy eating choices.

• Review current provision of services.
• Provide cool storage areas for lunchboxes and snacks.
• Work with on-site caterers to trial more healthy choices.
• Increase access to healthy foods for shift workers by introducing healthy options in vending machines.
• Develop links with local food providers who will deliver healthy food options to the workplace.
• Encourage employees to eat meals away from their desks.
• Provide fruit bowls in each department.
• Offer fruit instead of biscuits during meetings.
• Provide access to cool drinking water for all employees.

Mental wellbeing

a) To develop a supportive culture, tackle factors that may negatively affect mental wellbeing, and to develop management skills.

• Give employees information on and increase their awareness of mental wellbeing.
• Give non-judgemental and proactive support to staff who experience mental health problems.
• Include information about your mental health policy in the new staff induction programme.
• Provide opportunities for employees to look after their mental wellbeing, for example through physical activity, stress-buster activities and social events.
• Offer employees flexible working arrangements.
• Set employees realistic targets that do not require them to work unreasonable hours.
• Ensure all employees have clearly defined job descriptions, objectives and responsibilities and provide them with good management support, appropriate training and adequate resources to do their job.
• Manage conflict effectively and ensure the workplace is free from bullying and harassment, discrimination and racism.
• Establish good two-way communication to ensure staff involvement, particularly during periods of organisational change.

b) To provide support for employees experiencing mental health difficulties.

• Ensure individuals suffering from poor mental health are treated fairly and consistently and are not made to feel guilty about their problems.
• Encourage staff to consult the occupational health department (if there is one), their own GP, or a counsellor of their choice.
• In cases of long-term sickness absence, put in place, where possible, graduated return to work plans.
• Make every effort to identify suitable alternative employment, in full discussion with the employee, where a return to the same job is not possible due to identified risks or other factors.
• Treat all matters relating to individual employees and their mental health illness in the strictest confidence and share on a 'need to know' basis only with consent from the individual concerned.

c) To encourage the employment of people who have experienced mental health ill health.

• Show a positive and enabling attitude to employees and job applicants with a mental health illness. This includes having positive statements in recruitment literature.
• Ensure that all staff involved in recruitment and selection are briefed on mental health issues and the Disability Discrimination Act, and are trained in appropriate interview skills.
• Do not make assumptions that a person with a mental health illness will be more vulnerable to workplace stress or take more time off than any other employee or job applicant.
• Ensure all line managers have information and training about managing mental health in the workplace.

d) To recognise that workplace stress is a health and safety issue.

• Identify all workplace stressors and conduct risk assessments to eliminate stress or control the risks from stress.
• Consult with trade union safety representatives on all proposed action relating to the prevention of workplace stress.
• Provide training in good management practices.
• Provide confidential counselling and adequate resources.

Communication

All employees will be made aware of the health at work policy and the facilities available.

The health at work policy will be included in the employee handbook and employee information or induction packs. It will also be promoted on an annual basis and be readily available to download through the organisation's intranet or shared drives.

A specific focus group will be established to take forward the actions from this policy. Regular updates will be provided to all employees via their line management.

Review and monitoring

Employees participating in any of the health at work activities will be regularly asked for feedback.

A health at work audit will be undertaken annually.

A health at work action plan will be maintained by the workplace health champion.

The policy, status updates and evaluation reports will be circulated to management and be available on request through the workplace health champion.

The human resources department (or an individual as appropriate) will be responsible for reviewing the health at work policy and for monitoring how effectively the policy meets its aims and objectives.

The policy will be reviewed six months from implementation and then annually after that to ensure that it remains relevant.