NHS North West agrees three year investment in staff engagement
and well-being to boost productivity and performance for the region
The
North West
’s Strategic Health Authority (SHA), has made a pioneering decision to provide support
for a range of activities that build capability for managing employee engagement
and well-being locally. In view of the forthcoming financial challenges, the SHA
and Trusts in the region have recognised that now is the time to increase activity
and investment in engagement and well-being given the clear links with performance
and productivity.
Evidence-based
The SHA has not taken
this decision lightly. It has anticipated the upcoming challenges for organisations
in the
North
West
based on several high profile NHS and wider public sector reviews of employee engagement,
health and well-being. These include the Boorman Review, NICE guidelines on mental
well-being at work, the QIPP agenda, the Darzi Review, David Macleod’s Employee
Engagement Review for BIS and the Foresight project on Mental Capital and Well-Being.
These reviews reinforce the conclusion that employee engagement and well-being are
a proven source of increased productivity, and lead to other positive outcomes including
better patient satisfaction and lower sickness absence.
Expert support available for all NHS organisations
To make staff engagement and well-being part of the working culture in the North
West, the SHA has partnered with Robertson Cooper Limited -
market leaders in the field, whose Director Professor Cary Cooper
is widely recognised as one of the world’s foremost experts on well-being at work.
Robertson Cooper had a strong NHS and
regional track record already which provided the SHA with confidence that they could
deliver this challenging assignment, drawing on the best tools, knowledge and processes
around.
Jo Rafferty, Associate
Director of HR at NHS North West commented:
“Employee engagement and well-being are central to the
success of NHS organisations in the
North West
and we realise that we have to keep looking for new ways to enable our workforce
to deliver to the high standards that both we and the public expect. The partnership
we have formed with Robertson Cooper is a key part of our region wide approach for
the next few years and we are proud to be supporting an approach to working that
has direct benefits for our staff, their organisations and communities.”
The Package for NHS
North West
Organisations
There are more than
60 NHS organisations in the
North
West
region and all of them have access to some or all of the elements that the SHA and
Robertson Cooper are offering. The overall aim is to build self-sustaining capability
in the region. During the consultation phase NHS North West were committed to an
ethos that supported Trusts through their journey from building the business case
and establishing their starting point, measuring levels of employee engagement and
well-being, to taking action to improve working lives. There was already plenty
of activity in the area regionally, however NHS North West organisations now have
the tools to join up their existing initiatives into an integrated whole that is
focused on performance improvement.
The package includes:
·
Building the Business Case
A training workshop
was designed to ensure that key people in each Trust have the skills to build and
communicate the business case for investing in employee engagement and well-being.
The sessions that the trained staff are able to deliver aim to help trusts understand
their starting point, establish key metrics and plan an integrated approach to investing
in the area. In short, it ensures that funding is directed to the initiatives that
make a difference.
·
Measure levels of Employee Engagement and Well-Being using ASSET
Robertson Cooper’s
diagnostic tool ASSET is available to organisations to enable them to take a temperature
check that identifies the key barriers and enablers of employee engagement and well-being.
Again, it ensures solution design is based on real and current needs. When a number
of Trusts have used the tool regional benchmarking data will be available that enable
comparisons locally, nationally and by organisation type.
·
Take action to
improve employee engagement and well-being
As well as their existing
internal initiatives, interventions to enable Trusts
to improve levels of employee engagement and well-being have been made available
including:
o
Leadership Impact - Developing awareness in Leaders and Managers of their impact
on the motivation and engagement of their workgroups. From the Board level downwards,
the trusts in the region now have a proven approach to ensuring that leader behaviour
is conducive to supporting and developing staff engagement and well-being.
o
Developing resilience – Trainers throughout the region have been given the capability
to deliver resilience training to managers and staff. The SHA have invested in the
licensing of high quality content from Robertson Cooper that can be used by trusts
throughout the
North
West
when required. The aim is to provide an opportunity for staff to understand how
to manage their own resilience so that they and their performances are not adversely
affected during tough times.
The reaction of Trusts in the
North
West
Six months into the
arrangement the reaction from Trusts has been overwhelmingly positive. More than
half of the Trusts in the region have signed up for at least one element of the
package. Eve Rowlands, Head of HR from The Christie NHS Foundation Trust commented:
“…I have now been provided with the tools to
prepare the business case for my organisation.
The session was extremely beneficial I found that it enabled me to think about the
wider benefits and how this related to the NHS Well-being Agenda which I wouldn’t
have necessarily considered. The Robertson Cooper team have been incredibly supportive
and I am looking forward to working with them as I roll out the programme in my
trust.”
Looking ahead,
Dean Royles, Director of Workforce and Education at NHS NW observed:
“We have a major opportunity to improve working lives
across this region, while having a positive impact on productivity and a number
of other key patient outcomes. This initiative also helps Trusts to deliver on the
staff pledges in the NHS Constitution.”