Andrew Kinder

Really encouraging that the government is supporting counselling in the workplace and not taxing employers for providing this valuable service.

BACP have said “The Government yesterday published its response to Dame Carol Black and David Frost CBE’s Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence, setting out its plan to minimise sickness absence and help employees as they return to work.

We welcome the Government’s ministerial statement, which retains existing tax relief on Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs). However, as organisations seek to cut costs, EAPs and counselling services are often targeted, when the prudent solution would be to increase investment in such services. Workplace counselling services have been proved to offer a positive cost benefit to employers, help reduce sickness absence and impact positively on employee wellbeing, collectively generating a more productive workforce.”

Full response can be downloaded from DWP’s website:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare-reform/health-work-and-well-being/

This is an important subject:

“Bullying is one of the most difficult workplace issues and often the ‘elephant in the room’ that seems either too complex or risky to challenge.  However, with surveys indicating that more than two million people consider themselves as being bullied at work at any one time and 18.9 million working days (£2bn per year in sick pay) being lost in the UK each year as a direct result of workplace bullying, it is a problem that needs to be tackled.”

More information is available here:

http://www.rawlisonbutler.com/events/our-events/bullies-at-work

This major international book was published earlier in 2012 – have a look inside using this link:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=keUb4rneCjEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=workplace+trauma&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GZ_IUIz4AcbJ0QW50YDQDg&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=workplace%20trauma&f=false

See the attached link for these new guidelines just released by the EAPA

http://www.eapa.org.uk/news–eap-guidelines-published.html

Manager support for helping employees return to work following long term sickness absence

Some helpful research highlighting manager actions available from the CIPD website: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/_manager_support_long_term_sickness

– The full research report can be downloaded from the BOHRF website: http://www.bohrf.org.uk/projects/rehabilitation.html

Article in Employee Benefits (Sept 2012) around National Stress Awareness day.

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/comments/andrew-kinder-what-are-employers-doing-around-stress-in-the-workplace/100055.article

Interesting research here which shows that EAP/counselling at work is much quicker than NHS Counselling but is broadly just as effective:

http://www.eapa.org.uk/news–research-confirms-effectiveness-of-eap-counselling-intervention.html

http://www.wsandb.co.uk/wsb/news/2217370/eap-treatment-quicker-than-nhs-but-recovery-levels-even

This conference looks interesting:

http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/health-work-summit-2012/

Interesting conference again for next year:

http://www.healthatwork2013.co.uk/

EAPA have published a good summary of EAPs which is downloadable from this link:

http://www.eapa.org.uk/page–eap-buyers-guide.html