Summary: VCSE North West Networking Meeting #1 Workplace Well-being
We were happy to begin our new networking event series with the theme of ‘Workplace Well-being’. Not only is it Mental Health Awareness Week but this past year has plagued the VCSE sector with more work, less staff and new working environments. Those who work in the VCSE sector are often under immense pressure, which can cause strains on mental health. It is vital that the wellbeing and mental health of staff in the sector are protected, so that we can continue to provide the depth and breadth of support to our communities under the right conditions
The aim of our new networking series is to connect organisations from across the North West to share issues, solutions and best practices.
We have six takeaway lessons from our first networking session, which we would like to share across the VCSE sector to help advance the sector’s workplace well-being strategy:
Think through informal support for staff e.g. a dedicated wellbeing role for a trustee
Mental health first aid training e.g. from MIND
Develop blended/hybrid models of working e.g. working from home (WFH) and/or office work
Develop policies to manage workplace well-being
Staff well-being surveys e.g. quarterly surveys asking how staff are feeling/coping and reaching out to those in need
Staff appreciation vouchers
We would like to thank our eloquent speakers, Mustafa Hassan who is a Project Officer at Lancashire BME Network (LBN) and Maisie Hulbert, Policy Officer from ACEVO. Furthermore, thanks to all those who came and contributed to the session; we hope it was useful and can benefit future practices.
You can find here more detailed notes from the speakers and breakout rooms.
Our next networking meeting is on the June 15th and will focus on the NHS reconfigurations; we will update more details via Twitter and our website. We hope to see you there.
VCSE NW Networking #Workplace Well-being
We begin our networking series with the theme of ‘Workplace Well-being’ to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week. This pandemic has strained all of us, at home, and at work; as we navigate our way out of lockdown it is imperative we focus on well-being in the work place.
We are excited to be joined by Maisie Hulbert, Policy Officer at at ACEVO and author or “workforce wellbeing in charities” and Sehrish Qureshi Well-Being Service Manager at Lancashire BME Network.
Join us and have the chance to network and discuss with other organisations.
People and Places- what are they worth?
People and places – what are they worth?
This article has drawn significantly from one written by Stephanie Corking, People Director and co-owner at business consultancy firm, Laws of Attraction. Her article appeared on thebusinessdesk.com on 10th March 2021.
The pandemic has been tough for many employees: new working environments, disrupting routines, changing roles and responsibilities, long term friends that have been made redundant and for many, being furloughed and not working for long periods. All of these may have created worry and uncertainty with many colleagues. Now, your people are your biggest opportunity and will be crucial to reviving the fortunes of the region’s individual businesses, towns, cities, and the economy as a whole. Therefore, an investment in your people (now more than ever), could be the smartest ‘post covid’ move you can make.
There is much talk currently, amongst both large and small business owners, of the post-covid recovery plan. Strategies, agendas, objectives, and detailed plans to get consumers back to our brands and spending again have been the talk of many a zoom call up and down the country. And for many businesses, the PM’s announcement of the UK roadmap on the 22nd of February has resulted in a flurry of activity for ‘return to work’ plans and how to welcome their customers with open arms when the doors are eventually allowed to reopen.
Whilst many have spent the last 6-9 months continually revaluating their operations, the focus is now on strategic priorities, learning from the lessons of responding to uncertainties and capturing the changes (and opportunities) of the last 12 months to move forward.
The same level of thinking should have taken place within the VCFSE sector as well. There is a danger that we may have been wrapped up in too much “here and now” and have left inadequate space for the “tomorrow and beyond”.
The effects of COVID-19 on the sector are profound and unprecedented. While retailers must work through operational and tactical considerations to re-open retail stores VCFSE bodies have wider issues to consider as well. These do create an opportunity to re-examine who you are as an organisation, considering:
• Customer — How has your customer evolved during and after the crisis? What are their expectations, needs, behaviours, and priorities in this new environment? In purely commercial terms a customer is the one that pays the bill. We have service users who may not be customers in the strict sense. To change a service to reflect the needs of the service user without consulting the customer is a very dangerous strategy indeed.
• Brand — What is the purpose of your operation, and how can you best serve customers? Do you need to evolve your value proposition to stay relevant? If so, how? Who are the stakeholders with whom you have to consult?
• Product — What are the key, best-selling products and services? Is it the right time to consider new categories, new services, and new business models? This style of thinking is sometimes seen as “not sector appropriate”. In a world where financial resources will be finite and variable customer focussed thinking will be of paramount importance.
• Store — What is the impact on the store channel, its role, and the corresponding operations? How do you keep your customers and associates safe, while playing a new role in customers’ lives?
• Digital — How do you keep what you have developed and worked without ignoring those who cannot access digital for whatever reason.
(Deloitte)
However, what is missing from that list above is People…
It has been no surprise that HR functions have been at the core of managing change in the past 12 months. And now, as leadership teams begin to mobilise the operational plans, how do we ensure that employee engagement stays high on the agenda to ensure customer engagement stays ‘high’ on the high street?
Recent surveys have told us, that overall, most companies did a good job of addressing their employees’ physical and emotional needs during the working from home and lockdown periods, ensuring they met the basic needs of safety, stability and security. However, as we approach the next phase, those needs are evolving and the need for a sophisticated return-to-work strategy that focuses on employee wellbeing, managing stress as well as motivation, listening and encouraging innovation from your teams and overall employee engagement are all things that should be high on the people agenda.
So how should HR functions be adapting and realigning their people strategy and how does this link to the North’s post covid recovery strategy? Stephanie observes,
“Developing a human-centric people strategy that has relationships at its heart and the ability to evolve consistently to support the corporate strategy, enables improved employee wellbeing and business performance.
In the majority of client conversations, we have had recently, I’m often surprised to hear that HR teams feel they haven’t done enough to develop their post covid strategy, in line with the business strategy, and then communicate, engage and inspire their colleagues across the business so that they fully understand that the people are the intrinsic part of getting customers back through the doors”.
66% of HR functions develop people strategic plans that are not linked to the organisation’s corporate strategy.
Our regions voluntary sector operations have an opportunity to improve the employee experience during the return-to-work phase. The good news is, we have the tools to achieve that. Advancements in employee listening platforms, pulse surveys, two-way communication channels mean that leaders can now address employee experience in a data-driven and targeted way. By using the data to drill down on which groups of employees need more and varied types of support, they can also tailor their communication styles and actions that create feelings of wellbeing and build relationships across the workforce.
In a recent survey, 87% of highly engaged employees said they are less likely to leave the company they are work for compared to their counterparts. There is a danger of complacency creeping in here. Someone leaves and there are plenty of people seeking work at present. We need to ascertain why some one is leaving and try to improve the areas that they highlight. Exit interviews are important and valuable if they are acted upon. There is more cost to recruitment than the price of the advert. Think about lost productivity; time to read applications; to interview or even creating the new job description in the first place. An employee walking out of the door because they see somewhere better to work (and it isn’t always about money) is probably money and value walking out of the door as well.
However, the fundamental key to success is that leaders and managers are responsible and accountable for the employee needs to help them thrive during the return.
Employees will be looking to the leadership teams and line managers for both strategic direction and emotional support (after all the most important relationship you have at work is with your boss), whilst customers will be looking to businesses’ front-line employees to deliver a safe, engaging and enjoyable return to the quality operations that they are used to.
In summary, having a ‘leader led’ approach to employee engagement (it’s not just an HR thing) will be your quickest win to mobilising your workforce and ensuring your returning customers continue to come back as the Northern and wider economy reopens and your employees feel safe, inspired and engaged.
March 2021 – with huge thanks to Stephanie Corking.
Green Space for Well-being
Green Space for Well Being
The Tidy Britain Group held a seminar on 1st March which explored the value of green space to well being and mental/physical house. Just occasionally a seminar will contain a nugget that makes one think “doh” (Homer Simpson style) as it is so obvious. This one was the nugget that Green Space is more than just parks and publicly owned/operated open space. It is gardens (that some of us have) and office/work space grounds that many of us have. What can we do about those?
Some of the obvious things are that we can ensure that they are litter free. In some cases this is difficult to achieve but we can all plan a litter pick just before grass cutting rather than let the machine shred what is there into zillions of little pieces. If we start doing that we are in a stronger position to argue for the local council to do likewise.
Is it possible to consider the planting in the spaces over which we have control? Bee friendly plants may work well. There are a number of places that are seeking to plant bee friendly plants on the edge of car parks as, sometimes, it is thought that bees and people are not a good mix. Pyracantha is a spiky plant that is excellent for crime prevention and provides valuable bird food just as winter draws on. You will need gloves to pick out litter from it.
There are large number of voluntary “friends of park” groups dotted around the country. How many of them connect with their local CVS (or vice versa). Could it be possible for every park to have a friends group? Some groups raise money for additional items in the park. Others provide a cohort of volunteers who can pick litter just before grass is cut; who can be stewards at events; who can encourage the use of the park to deal with well being and mental health issues in addition to the obvious physical benefits. Some friends groups run the catering concession. All should be valued by local councils.
The seminar highlighted the work of Birmingham City Council. Their web-site www.naturallybirmingham.org provides detail of what they are doing and what they want to do. They are seeking to create additional green spaces and have metrics to show shortfalls on a ward by ward basis. Your premises may be able to help to address any deficit in the area in which you are based.
As is the case with these things there were a lot of powerpoint slides showing huge levels of detail. If this article has prompted some thinking of how you can develop something around green spaces in your area please contact Andrew Rainsfor, our Research and Policy Officer: andrew.rainsford@vsnw.org.uk; slides can be forward which will save on some thinking time and signpost areas of good practice.
The Importance of Being MIND-ful of Workplace Well-being
In December we posted a ‘news’ piece exploring ACEVO’s recent report observing well-being of the workforce int he VCSE sector. Workplace well-being is of paramount importance; so-called ‘burnouts’, are explored by Eleanor Ross in her recent Daily Telegraph article. She recounts her story of striving for success in freelance journalism and how continuous pressure contributed to a decline in performance. This led to poorer wellbeing and, in her case, suicidal thoughts. The author is now slouch – she has a Master’s degree and was generally considered a high achiever.
One of the traits of working in the Voluntary Sector is that we strive to be the best in what we do. This is seemingly a good thing except that we cannot all be the best in what we do unless we are the only person doing it! That is extremely rare. A more realistic option may be to aim to be the best that we can be – and to seek support and help to enable us to do that in a manner which enables continuous effective performance. We still give ourselves the challenge of development but we also give ourselves permission to slow down the treadmill.
Stress and pressure can be helpful. Some people work best when there are deadlines. However, when it gets out of control it ceases to be helpful. It can become oppressive. So, please
Don’t get to the crisis stage
Recognise warning signs
Seek help at the earliest stage of recognition.
MIND has an excellent range of resources that can help. Mental health and well being are important matters and should not be ignored. It also vital to be MIND-ful of our colleagues and those around us and offer to support to those in need.
In future years 2020 may be seen as the “year of the pandemic”. 2021 could be the year of greater awareness of all health issues; visible and invisible – physical and mental.
Workforce Well-being in the VCSE Sector.
Workforce Well Being – ACEVO
ACEVO, in conjunction with Mental Health Foundation England, has published a significant report exploring the well being of the workforce in the VCSE sector. The report can be found here.
The main findings are grouped under four headings:
What makes it tough: the vulnerability of charity staff where the commitment and pressures brought by lived experience/personal connection or even a drive for social justice all combine to over burden the workforce – who may not realise that they are over burdened.
The impact on leaders with issues around the need to balance authentic honesty, with taking very difficult organisational decisions that can have an impact on people’s lives. Holding responsibility for workforce wellbeing, and the desire to compensate for the challenges of working in the sector, can be draining for CEOs. The scale of the challenges can feel overwhelming, and it is easy for leaders to feel they are ‘not coping’.
When the ground shifts which has become apparent as the operating environment for charities suddenly changed. Many teams and communities are experiencing deep sadness, loss, isolation and fear as they witness growing need and falling income as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Governance and strategy which states that the sector will not be able to meet challenges unless the mental health of staff and leadership is prioritised. Boards play an important role in highlighting mental health as an organisational priority if organisations are to do their best work, ensuring that leaders know they are not alone by giving them the permission they need to reach out and share the load.
The report explores many issues that are too often put into the “too difficult”, “tomorrow” or “to introduce this may imply weakness” piles. 2021 will continue to bring pressures. Trustees and CEO’s are urged to take time out to read this report and consider the impact on their organisation.
Andrew Rainsford, Policy and Research Officer, VSNW.
