Day 2 of The Watercooler Event continued to deliver valuable insight from industry leaders about what has worked for them (and not worked) from a strategic to practical level.
For example, two executives from British Airways took to Theatre 2’s Stage – the Prevention, Intervention, Holistic and Inclusive Wellbeing stream – to talk about how the business has successfully reduced absence and increased productivity through its musculoskeletal health strategy.
As mental health sometimes attracts the limelight, the importance of physical health, and its close connection with mental health, can be overlooked. But as Lina Chauhan, Muscoloskeletal and Ergonomic Specialist at BA Health Services pointed out, a quarter of all absence from work is actually attributed to musculoskeletal ill health, a figure that is only set to rise with the ageing workforce and later retirement ages.
Link between physical and mental health
Recognition of the link between musculoskeletal health and mental health is central to the way BA is now supporting its colleagues, the vast majority of whom have jobs which require constant heavy lifting, pushing and pulling.
The employer reinvented its approach to physical health to “encapsulate the person as a whole”, said Chauhan, recognising that physical injuries “affect everyone” in terms of “how we feel in work or at home”.
She added that the new strategy moved British Airways towards “preventative and proactive management”, rather than reactive, which has traditionally been the way occupational health has typically dealt with musculoskeletal problems.
“Our vision was to transform from a reactive to a more strategic and impactful approach,” said Chauhan. “We wanted work to be seen as part of the rehab because it’s important to be in work for body and mind. But, in the past, the model has been ‘fall ill, take time off work, get well, come back’.”
New rehab centre in T5
The first step was to use data, analysing what colleagues had said in surveys had affected their work in terms of physical health and British Airways used this to set up a rehabilitation centre in the heart of the new T5 terminal. The fact that this is prime retail space in the airport sent a strong message to employees about how seriously leadership is taking the health and wellbeing of its people.
But as she stressed, the message isn’t only related to work; it’s important to her that employees understand British Airways wants to keep people “strong and fit so they continue to have a good quality of life into retirement too”.
Rehabilitation, however, goes much further than just standard physiotherapy support; all support is now personalised and tailored to that person’s job and the physical strength they need for the activities they do. Support also includes tailored rehab classes on an ongoing basis.
Collaboration with Health and Wellbeing
“The feedback has been great. Employees are astonished that British Airways has invested in them like this, and it’s something they can do in work time,” said Chauhan.
Key to the success of the new strategy has been collaborating with the wellbeing team, especially given the well-evidenced links between poor physical health leading to poor mental health, with those suffering persistent pain four times more likely to develop depression.
Maurice O’Connor, Wellbeing Manager at BA, explained that alongside the focus on musculoskeletal health the employer has launched new communications aimed to encourage employees to use the breath of support available.
The ‘Big Check In’
For instance, ‘The Big Check In’, raising awareness of the importance of learning your key numbers around your health, and the ‘Personal Safety Card’ detailing ways employees can be proactive about their health, with details of health provision on the back of the card.
The most successful element of this awareness campaign, however, has been offering access to the celebrity fitness personality, the Body Coach Joe Wick’s app.
“This is probably one of the most successful launches we’ve done in terms of engagement because there’s an awareness of him already so they can see a real benefit in free access to his app. Not only that, we took the off the shelf product and tailored some content just for British Airways, with Joe recording workouts on site,” said O’Connor.
Measuring beyond absenteeism
To measure success, the team looked at the usual effect of physiotherapy on return to work rates over the last few years in order to predict the ROI for the impact of an intervention like the new centre. But as well as this the team stressed the importance of measuring the value that employees say this kind of support brings them and how engaged they are in the provision.
“We want to look at what really matters to individuals and how they feel about their day to day activities as a result,” said Chauhan.
This echoed what other speakers said at The Watercooler throughout the day about the importance, and benefit, in developing a broader understanding of Health and Wellbeing and related metrics beyond the usual measures like absenteeism.
