When practical and emotional support helps a workplace evolve for the better
How do you persuade a reluctant workforce to open up about how they’re really feeling? And how do you devise a robust, ongoing plan that ensures they keep on doing it? This is how one well-established engineering services firm transformed its wellbeing provision, with the help of Unum’s Rehabilitation and Wellbeing team.
Building on firm foundations
West Midlands-based ERIKS Industrial Services provides engineering components and technical services, plus expertise building a robust maintenance, repair and operational (MRO) supply chain for manufacturing sites — literally helping turn the wheels of industry.
Rachel Palmer, the company’s Engagement, Wellbeing, and Inclusion Business Partner, shared that given ERIKS’ diverse workforce of around 1,500, their aim was to foster a culture and environment where everyone felt supported and could thrive.
“We wanted it to be natural to have conversations about wellbeing and feelings. For us, normalising these discussions was key. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it marked the beginning of our wellbeing journey,” says Rachel.
“The majority of our staff continued to work during COVID. Very few staff were furloughed, as we supply major players across industries like food, beverage and pharmaceuticals, so we were supporting the organisations who were feeding and caring for the nation.”
In common with most of the population, the question: “How are you doing?” was one that was asked with increasing frequency on the ERIKS shop floor during 2020. That’s something that’s continued since.
“People just naturally seemed to open up to one another,” says Rachel. “So, we began to hear about what people were really thinking and how they were feeling, so it allowed us to review of what work we needed to do on the wellbeing front”.
Setting out good intentions
Rachel Palmer had been with ERIKS for around 14 years as an HR specialist, but the company’s growing awareness of the importance of workplace wellbeing saw her taking on her current role at the beginning of 2023, entering a potentially bewildering space as she did so.
“We knew we needed to put a big focus on wellbeing, inclusion and engagement,” explains Rachel. “The creation of my new role coincided with our becoming a Premier Account with Unum. The timing couldn’t have been better.”
Unum has covered ERIKS staff with Group Income Protection (GIP) since 2018. Becoming a Premier Client in 2022 saw ERIKS’ Account Manager Kristie O’Donovan paying them a visit to talk about the challenges the company was facing. Kristie explained how Unum’s wellbeing and rehabilitation services could help them.
Kristie says, “ERIKS hadn’t been overly engaged with our early intervention services such as Help@hand, workshops or rehab, but we could see a huge opportunity for them — particularly as the company really wanted to address its wellbeing offering. It was a perfect opportunity to sit down with them and carry out a Workplace Health and Wellbeing Review.”
“It was a bit like being give a handbook for my new role,” laughs Rachel. “The Review was carried out at the beginning of January 2023, when we sat down with our Rehabilitation and Wellbeing Consultant Chloe Benfield for an in-depth interview. We discussed exactly what health and wellbeing measures we already had in place that helped ERIKS incorporate the six core standards for great workplace wellbeing outlined in the Review.”
Doing well on wellbeing
The first conversation lasted a good couple of hours and really got into the fine detail of what the company was already doing for its employees, and where Unum could see areas that weren’t being addressed, or simply needed more work.
“The good news for ERIKS was that there was already so much to be proud of,” comments Chloe. “For instance, we were really impressed with the way they tapped into wellbeing awareness dates, and that employees were appreciative of what was being provided. The webinar they organised for Mental Health Awareness Week was attended by more than 300 people or 1 in 5 staff — not bad engagement for a company as busy as ERIKS.”
The core findings of the Review suggested that centralising effort would be key to upping the wellbeing game at ERIKS.
“Chloe suggested we put together a calendar of wellbeing initiatives, so everyone was aware of what was going on and we had a consistent approach to promoting what we were doing,” says Rachel. “Other recommendations included ways to improve how we support employees who are off sick, or returning to work, plus line manager training.
“It’s one thing to encourage people to open up to their manager, but we really needed to be sure those managers were able to help once they knew what issues people were facing.”
Help where it’s needed most
Whilst ERIKS had no real pattern to sickness absence, other than sprains and strains or the typical seasonal flus and stomach bugs, the Review identified that the demographic of its employees may mean the workforce was at risk of a mental health flashpoint.
“Most importantly we were advised that we consider the importance of suicide support,” says Rachel. “Suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst men in certain age groups across the UK, so signposting employees to Business in the Community’s Suicide Prevention Toolkit was a simple but extremely important thing we could do for our employees.
“We also looked at how to embed mental health awareness into induction and ongoing training, as well as creating the role of Mental Health First Aiders. Unum has taught us that understanding our employees better will help us take care of them better.”
An ongoing effort
Fast forward to 2024: how are things going?
“We’re so impressed with ERIKS,” comments Chloe. “They took on board everything we suggested and they’re now incorporating all the six standards outlined in the Review. Most importantly, the company has not only adapted to our recommendations but also comes up with innovative ideas to help embed them.
“There’s no ‘one size fits all’ way to workplace wellbeing and ERIKS’ approach is the perfect example of how we can help companies build on their own foundations while working together to meet realistic goals, as well as setting new targets at each 3-monthly review over the course of a year.”
Rachel Palmer agrees. “A year on we’re in such a good space. Unum’s Wellbeing Calendar has given us a solid foundation to build on. Everyone is aware of what we’re focusing on and it makes it much easier to promote activities to the workforce. Having that plan means we give ourselves more time to consider how we talk to people about what we’re doing, and we’re much more aware of the potential for inconsistencies in our messaging or how we adapt to connect about their benefits with employees who don’t have PC access. Some things are easy to overlook, yet simple to fix and they have a big impact on what we’re trying to do.
“We’ve also had a big push on explaining the benefits of the Help@hand app and how to get the most out of our employee assistance programme. Registrations for Help@hand* have shot up by over 250%! We’re running and recording webinars to cater for the fact that not everyone shares the same working pattern. And we’re providing resources for neurodiversity and ‘male menopause’, not topics we ever thought we’d see ERIKS employees flock to.
“Thanks to the combined efforts of the business and its staff embracing the Unum offering and the guidance from Unum itself, I really feel we’re incredibly well set up to offer the best possible wellbeing resources for our employees — now, and in the future.”
What is a Workplace Health and Wellbeing Review?
All Unum GIP clients can undertake a Workplace Health and Wellbeing Review to benchmark their health and wellbeing provision. Following an in-depth interview, clients receive a report detailing where, and how, they can make improvements so they meet six core standards to ensure the best possible workplace health and wellbeing provision.
This initial review is followed up by 3-, 6- and 12-month reviews — and Unum’s rehab team is with them every step of the way, supporting and guiding as they work to meet the six standards.
*Help@hand® is a digital, value-added service provided to Unum Limited (“Unum”) by Square Health Limited which connects employees of Unum customers to third party specialists who can help manage their, and their families’, health and wellbeing. Access is facilitated by Unum at no cost to the Unum customer and with no increase in premium. However, employees will be liable for charges for medication and delivery, referral letters and private fit notes. Unum may withdraw or change this service at any time. The service is entirely separate to the Unum insurance policy and is subject to the terms and conditions of the relevant third-party specialists. Unum will not receive any payment or commission from Square Health Limited arising from any employee involvement with Help@hand. Available to UK residents only.
Square Health Limited is registered in England and Wales under company number 07054181 and has its registered office at Crown House, William Street, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1AT.