EAPA AGM 2021

How to ensure impact from post-Covid-19 health and wellbeing investment

Research by Westfield Health estimates the cost of employee absence in the UK spiked by £1.3 billion, taking the total cost up to £14 billion in 2020.

The average employee took 3.19 days off work for mental health-related issues which (compared with 2.90 days in 2019). More than one in three workers (36 per cent) said their workplace productivity had been negatively affected by mental health every week. Presenteeism is a major issue: 76% said their productivity had stagnated since 2019.

The biggest factors in terms of negative impacts on mental health were found to be anxiety around job security (22%). 21% were worried about loneliness. 34% said their morale was poor.

Asking for help

In the study, 81% of employers had increased their levels of investment in staff wellbeing measures. Employees themselves most wanted to see an extension of flexible working offerings (28%), more mental health support (26%), and for workplaces to be made more Covid-secure (28%).

Dave Capper, CEO, Westfield Health, said: “Despite the welcome news of the vaccine roll-out, it is likely that the HR and wellbeing teams will be focussing on the role their business can play in the mental wellbeing of their teams. However, this research shows that the implications for a business are too big for a company’s HR team to navigate alone. In 2021, companies will need to support wellbeing from the top down.”

Employers are getting more creative. At the end of last year, manufacturer organisation NSG Pilkington installed a free health monitor kiosk, provided by Wellpoint, allowing employees access to checks on their cardiovascular fitness, blood pressure and weight. As part of the National Police Welling Service scheme, Sussex Police have given officers the chance to spend downtime with a group of wellbeing dogs to help them relax and de-stress. 

Targeting investment

“Taking a positive grip on the post-Covid-19 situation and providing the best platforms for workplace wellbeing has to be the priority for 2021,” says EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell. “Absence levels need to come under control, engagement and productivity levels need a dramatic boost. Good news relating to the pandemic and lifting of restrictions will do part of the job, but HR need to be pro-active in creating a long-term environment of awareness and support.

“It’s critical that all staff know about the full range of expertise and support that an EAP offers across the spectrum, from everyday worries around finances and relationships, to access to professional counselling.

“With finances under pressure it’s also important that the right investments are being made, in to those initiatives with the biggest impact on health and wellbeing. Measurement of effectiveness and ROI has to be fundamental. Research by EAPA has shown how it’s the employers who are most engaged and interested in the performance of their EAP, who provide regular management reports using the EAPA calculator, who see the biggest ROI.”

What will ‘ long-Covid ’ mean for HR?

More than 300,000 people in the UK are believed to be suffering from ‘long Covid’ – the longer-term affects of Covid-19.

Conditions vary widely and in terms of medical classification is still unknown. People have suffered commonly from ongoing loss of taste and smell and problems with breathing – but also dizziness, anxiety, blood clots and heart damage. Long-Covid is often seen to manifest itself around three months after the original virus.

Long-term issue for HR

Evidence of the impact of the condition has been seen in the explosion in numbers of people joining Long-Covid support groups. In June 2020, the Long Covid Support and Campaign had just a few hundred members – now it has 33,000.

HR bodies now fear that every employer will have a percentage of staff who will either be on long-term sick leave or need to be supported in managing their condition alongside working. Anecdotal evidence shows that people with long-Covid will want to return to work but find the effort and pressure involved causes a relapse – causing frustration and demoralisation. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus is calling for it to be officially recognised as an occupational disease.

Rachel Suff, senior policy adviser at the CIPD, said: “We need to get across that long Covid is not just post-virus fatigue. The employer and the manager need to have a really sensitive conversation with someone who has been diagnosed with long Covid to understand how the illness affects them personally, and the impact on them in terms of work. It must be on a case-by-case basis.” 

Ensuring psychological wellbeing

“If contracting Covid-19 wasn’t enough, believing you’ve recovered and then facing ill-health that won’t seem to go away is even more frightening,“ said EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell.

“For HR there are a host of practical issues. Are the usual sickness processes relevant? In many organisations, taking regular short spells of sickness absence can lead to hard questions and disciplinary action. And how do you manage the usual phased return from long-term sickness? With most conditions it’s possible to know or at least talk about what the likely recovery period will involve. With long-Covid everyone is working in the dark.

“Long-Covid means the need for ongoing support, and not just in terms of physical health. EAPs will be an important resource and reassurance for HR – knowing that their people will always have access to professional support whenever they need it, to help them deal with the inevitable negative effects of long-Covid on emotional and psychological wellbeing, to see them through whatever setbacks the condition brings and allow them to make working part of their balance and recovery.”

HR need to remember why they suddenly have a seat on the board

Research by the HRD Pathfinder Club among senior UK HR directors has revealed a picture of HR promotions and growing status as trusted advisors to boards.

In the last three months of the year in particular there was found to be a rise in the numbers of female HRDs being moved to more senior positions. 47% of those involved in the survey said they now had a better working relationship with their CEO, and 35% with their CFO.

Virtuous circle

“I am speaking to more HRDs who, as a result of the current turmoil and crisis, have a direct line to the CEO and are seeing a virtuous circle of cause and effect,” said Peter Ryding, founder of the HRD Pathfinder Club, which is campaigning to increase the number of FTSE CEOs who are HRDs from 2% to 20% by 2030.

“They are given more support and budget, enabling them to put into practice people initiatives that deliver improved commercial results and enhance the business, allowing for further investment in the workforce. HRDs can use Covid as an opportunity to be a businessperson first and the people-expert second….HR now has a chance to move where it belongs – to the centre of the organisation, ensuring that decisions are guided by the right HR KPIs. That is how to win the support and confidence of your CEO and to become their most trusted advisor.”

The foundation of workplace wellbeing

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “It’s positive news that senior HR professional are being given more of a say at higher levels within organisations. It can only mean more awareness of the importance of ‘good work’ and the ways to create hard financial returns from having better workplaces and working environments. “But it’s also important that HRDs don’t lose sight of exactly why they have been drawn close into the heart of decision-making discussions and thinking. Without a strong understanding of the value of employee wellbeing, how it’s been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the most effective methods for mitigating the serious problems and stresses involved, then any HR leader becomes less relevant to the core organisational challenge of ensuring resilience.”

How can employers prevent a tidal wave of litigation in 2021?

70% of employee claims management firms have already seen an upturn of new claims in January 2021 – and expect to see a 40% increase linked to Covid-19 over the course of the coming year.

The findings come for research by risk management and insurance brokerage firm Gallagher among 200 claims management companies, 1,000 senior business leaders and 2,000 employees. 12% of claims so far have been related to employees who feel overworked or unsupported in their role. 9% were linked to poor working conditions, including a lack of access to PPE. 8% involved cases of alleged discrimination and 4% to unfair dismissal.

From complaint to legal action

Research from Gallagher has also examined the level of internal complaints being made by staff. Most commonly these were found to be around concerns about lack of safety planning and provision in workplaces, the fear of catching Covid-19 at work, and wrongful termination of an employment contract.

Business leaders are acutely aware of the dangers. 52% admit to being “seriously concerned” about the potential of being sued by staff who believe they contracted coronavirus on their premises.

Talking culture

“It’s a basic requirement for organisations to be aware of the latest advice on keeping workplaces safe to work in, and to avoid making unreasonable demands on their people in terms of going back into workplaces when it’s not necessary,” said EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell.

“But the best employers will be the ones who work on creating a positive and genuinely supportive working environment – whether from home or in the workplace. Offering an EAP and actively building up awareness of EAP services is an important part of that culture.

“Litigation in these times is a threat to any employer. But resorting to legal action will always feel far less necessary, or even appropriate, among those staff who know they can raise their issues, that they will be listened to, and that they’re part of an organisation with an interest in and commitment to wellbeing.”

litigation 2021, Eugene Farrell

Refusing furlough

Refusing furlough; The research suggests that 70% of requests for furlough by working mums are being turned down. As a consequence, 90% of 10 mums said their mental health had been negatively affected. Around 25% of mums claimed they were worried about losing their jobs because of their situation, becoming a convenient target for redundancy, sacked or denied hours.

Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “Tens of thousands of mums have told us they are despairing. It’s neither possible nor sustainable for them to work as normal, while looking after their children and supervising schoolwork.”

The TUC is calling for the granting of a temporary legal right for working parents to access furlough funding.

Human professionals

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “In principle, public funding from Government should be targeted to where it’s most needed by society, where the pain is being experienced most keenly. Furlough pay shouldn’t be another form of privilege for those already in the most comfortable situations.

“At the same time, this isn’t a problem that’s just about Government funding. Employers have a formal duty of care to their staff which extends into the home if that’s people’s place of work – as well as a broader responsibility to be aware of what it means to be WFH while also home-schooling and taking on more caring responsibilities during a serious lockdown.

“Being professional has long been assumed to include shutting out ‘irrelevant’ personal considerations and distractions, putting job demands first. Years of changing social attitudes to the role of men and women don’t seem to have had any great effect. But the experiences of Covid-19 should have brought about changes. Because being professional should include being human and unselfish, being able to balance work/life responsibilities, wanting to share the duties and burdens of partners and family members.”

Refusing furlough, Eugene Farrell

Half the world’s workers feel strain from Covid-19 threats and changes to their role

More than half of employees across the world have suffered from anxiety and stress as a direct result of threats to job security and changes in working patterns.

A World Economic Forum-Ipsos survey, carried out internationally between November and December 2020, also highlighted the negative impacts of home working, an increased sense of family pressies, a struggle to achieve work/life balance, and feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Research authors at the University of Sydney estimate the cumulative cost of lower productivity, hospitalisations and suicide from the impact on employees on the world economy to be $114 billion by 2025.

Covid interference

Overall 40% of homeworkers said they felt isolated. But there are clear cultural differences in terms of the impact of WFH: whilst 24% of Japanese people WFH felt lonely, this increased to 75% in Turkey.

Of those surveyed, 32% had worked longer hours; 32% shorter hours. 30% had taken a leave of absence, while 15% had left their job. Employees talked in terms of their falling productivity, the need to work early in the mornings and late at night and problems with their home office.

The worst effects were found to have been experienced among people aged under 35, business owners, women and lower-income workers.

Holistic help

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “It’s no surprise that such a large proportion of employees have encountered serious feelings of stress and anxiety – many of them perhaps for the first time in their lives. We’ve been used to reasonable levels of job security, or at least a clear sense of our options, of having a level of control over our working life.

“The reality is that the complexity of the pandemic situation means that no single initiative from HR, no increased support from line managers, is enough to secure wellbeing. Which is why external support from a service like an EAP, and access to professionals able to talk through tangles of work/home issues, has become such an essential for now and the coming years of recovery.”

Why are women shouldering the majority of career stress from Covid-19?

73% of women reported feeling career stress in November 2020, compared with 57% of men in LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index.

The survey of 1,697 UK professionals points to how women have been experiencing a particular sense of career vulnerability as a consequence of the pandemic. During 2020 45 per cent of female professionals spent more time than in 2019 searching for their next job or project (compared with 33% of men). 37% of women spent more time working during non-work hours than last year (29% of men).

Women also took less time off. 55% said they had used less holiday, as opposed to 46% of men.

Unequal insecurity

LinkedIn figures also suggest an ongoing issue of lower hiring rates among women. Working mothers and  women over 30 have been the worst affected by pandemic-related redundancies and job shortages.

“Our latest data shows women are spending more time than men working out of hours or searching for new roles – often while juggling work with increased family responsibilities,” said Emily Spaven, UK Editor at LinkedIn. “If we’re going to create a fair recovery, we have to recognise the impact the pandemic is having on individuals and offering greater flexibility to women and working parents who are balancing ever-more demanding workloads.”

Work/life imbalance

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “For all the social change of the past 30 years, the position of women in work continues to be riddled with age-old inequalities. The crisis has only served to expose those fault lines between the different attitudes to and experiences of men and women.

“In other words, women are still expected to take on expanded roles as mothers, carers and housekeepers in ways that men mostly aren’t – meaning all kinds of stresses on time and attention that have to be juggled with work commitments. So there are still perceptions among employers that women are less straightforward to employ, to promote, to be given additional responsibilities.

“While HR can’t reverse an entire culture overnight, they can make sure the particular challenges of female staff are widely understood and appreciated. On this basis, employers should be more flexible, make sure health and wellbeing is a priority, and ensure the right kinds of support are available to mitigate against the stress imbalance ”

Make sure families can get help from an EAP in 2021

The full extent of the benefits of EAPs to the UK population is limited by HM Revenue & Customs rules on family access.

While in Canada the services are well-known and promoted for use as ‘Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP)’, the usage among family members in the UK is low. EAP providers typically allow family members to use services at no extra cost to the employer. But UK tax rules see an EAP used by family as a taxable benefit.

Find a solution

There are practical ways to make sure family access doers’t come with a tax cost, says Tracey Ward, Head of Business Development and Marketing at Generali UK Employee Benefits.

“Work with your group income protection insurer / standalone EAP provider to assess whether any additional costs are actually incurred through extending access. If not, access may potentially be extended without any liabilities.

“If additional costs apply, consider whether the cost of the EAP could be put in the trivial benefit exemption.

“If the EAP falls foul of the trivial benefit exemption, work with your provider and/or tax adviser to calculate the potential tax liability, which could be met on a grossed-up basis – so that employees do not meet the tax cost – under what is known as a PAYE Settlement Agreement. This puts you in an informed position to decide whether or not it’s worth paying that liability in order to extend mental health support more widely.”

Family first

“Problems at home can be complex and involve relationships and issues across families,” said EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell. So extending availability of EAP support to a family isn’t just a an additional perk, it’s important in terms of helping to find solutions for the employee. It doesn’t make sense to limit usage because of a tax liability when revenues for HMRC from this are very small – and it only undermines the overall impact of an EAP.

“The reality of this year will be many more people dealing with the fall-out from the pandemic crises, more people looking for help and reassurance around their mental health who will find the NHS isn’t in a position to help.

“Wider access to EAPs will mean fewer cases of people ignoring the warning signs, not talking or asking for help, and a way to avoid mental wellbeing deteriorating, leading to more serious cases for the NHS to take on.”

Head over to our LinkedIn to find out more about help from an EAP in 2021

2020

It’s been an extraordinary year, one of a kind which very few people would have predicted. With approval and administration of a vaccine there is a light at the end of the tunnel of the pandemic – but the impact from the crisis on businesses and the workforce will stay with us. What matters is how HR help their people cope with the legacy of stress, uncertainty and change.

Throughout this difficult year I’ve been so proud of how EAP services and providers have reacted with such speed and diligence to each emergency. Right from the very beginning adaptations were made in how services were accessed and delivered. Although largely unnoticed by the wider world, professional support services were kept going throughout the most difficult times – the product of hard work and a real commitment to providing support to others in need.

When people lost their loved ones, when people struggled with the stresses from new work routines and the impact on home life, when finances were under threat and relationships were strained, EAPs were always there to listen and provide support. Professionals have been available at every hour of the day, taking on extra workload to provide that friendly voice and reassurance in times of distress and crisis.

Quickly, services and content were adapted to make sure workforces had the latest advice on coping with WFH, with loss and change, and maintaining good mental health in general. A wealth of webinars, interviews, tips and guides have been made available as part of the EAP added value offering.

I feel strongly that EAP services have come into their own. They have proven their worth in supporting businesses and employees across the whole of the UK. We, as an industry, have played a fundamental part in supporting the mental health of the nation, taking some of strain away from NHS services, and will continue to do so.

What EAPs did during the pandemic – and will continue to do – hasn’t be recognised adequately. I hope this will change. Maybe if you personally used an EAP this year you could say thank you to them. Drop them a line. If your business made use of an EAP (or just had one on stand-by), pop a note of thanks to them for being there.

To all the providers of EAPs and allied services, to the counselling community we really so much on, the psychologists, service managers, support and admin staff, I say thank you. You have been amazing.

No doubt 2021 will bring its own host of new challenges. The mental health of the nation will continue to be an issue, that’s for sure. At least we know EAPs will continue to be there, all day every day, ready to adapt and take on the challenges.

Wishing you all the best,

Eugene Farrell, Chair, EAPA UK, writing about 2020.