Why HR should adopt a ‘high tech’ approach to sickness & wellness at work
Guest blog by By Lisa Baker, Editor, HR News

The digital blending of work and home gets blamed for rising levels of workplace stress, but usually employers don’t insist we answer emails at weekends- most of us choose to.

Step back a hundred years, we communicated by letter.  Home phones were rare and nobody expected instant answers – in an emergency, you sent a telegram.  Skip forward, answerphones and email saw expectations increase to a response within hours.  Now, we have a multitude of messaging tools accessible 24/7, we expect an instant response.

France has banned access to work emails outside the office, but emails are only one means of digital contact anyway.   Digital technology is such a huge part of our lives these days that seeking to put barriers to the age of information is, in my view, pointless.

However, we can’t just keep seeing stress increase in line with our expectations of instant communication.

While blamed for the problem, tech holds the key.  The same technology staff use already can be used to enhance employee wellbeing and improve mental health.  With digital applications available to benefit both employers and employees, employers can derive maximum benefit for a fraction of the time and financial costs of a traditional wellness programme and can streamline all aspects of HR.

Absence Management Software is a perfect example of the new applications which offer a win/win for employer and employee.

Most online leave planners offer self-service staff holiday planning, but the more advanced absence management tools, like Activ Absence for example, also offer comprehensive analysis, reporting and recording tools that help managers cut the frequency and cost of sickness absence.  Here’s how they work:

The admin burden for annual leave queries is practically eliminated, along with the need for messy paper systems and spreadsheets. This dramatically frees up HR time and reduces stress in itself.

Self-service leave planning means leave allowances are calculated automatically, and staff can place holiday requests online anywhere, anytime with any device. 
Employees can easily co-ordinate leave with other family members and seeing the team calendar when booking encourages sensible leave requests.  This engages staff and prompts them to take their full holiday entitlement, necessary to ensure wellbeing.

Similarly, line managers see team absence information when they see the leave request, so holiday requests can be accepted/rejected with a single click, directly from the email.

The software also gives sufficient visibility if staff work remotely, letting other staff know exactly when they are working and where. Home working is one of the most requested benefits to achieve a good ‘work/life balance’.

Line managers see sickness absence history, with patterns and trends being monitored. This helps differentiate between absenteeism and illness, and combined with best-practice HR, means that mental health challenges can be identified early on, enabling better support and treatment.

Reporting data will show trends and patterns of absence such as who’s off, when and why. This enables HR to target wellness initiatives to tackle specific absence challenges, rather than wasting valuable budget on a ‘hunch’.


Wellbeing & Digital Healthcare

Most EAP’s now include some form of mental wellbeing app for employees, but for mild stress, employees can even access free options themselves on their phones, such as the De-stressify app which claims to reduce stress by 20% in 4 weeks.

Harnessing digital tech means even the smallest employer can obtain professional support for their staff.  A quick online search reveals a number external occupational health professionals who increasingly receive enquiries online.

Online counsellors are taking this a stage further, offering counselling for staff online via telephone or Skype.  The advantage is that counselling can be delivered outside working hours in the privacy of the employee’s home, or even in a quiet room at work during workplace hours.  The cost is usually substantially lower, access is easier and often quicker, and the impact on the business is substantially reduced.

Primary Healthcare

Primary healthcare is getting a makeover too.   Whilst traditional all-encompassing PMI benefits are seeing costs rise, and accessibility reduce, digital healthcare is growing fast.  Access to affordable private GP treatment is being revolutionised by apps like babylon, which gives access to a GP 7 days a week for just £5 a month, with similar services from PushDoctor and Now GP.  Consultations are carried out via video or telephone and private prescriptions are sent to a local pharmacy, and the employee can collect after work.  It’s a useful benefit when it is increasingly difficult for staff to obtain GP appointments.

In my opinion, staff wellbeing is not likely to be achieved by an email ban, but the new technologies employees use anyway can be easily and affordably recruited to enhance staff wellbeing and improve engagement.  What employer doesn’t want that?