An expansive survey conducted on nearly 44,000 employees revealed startling data regarding mental health in relation to workplace well-being. Almost half of all employees report mental health troubles like anxiety, stress, and mood problems, 84% of those employees report to work anyway and only 42% of them believe their managers would notice that they were suffering from these issues.

Considering the number of people plagued by mental health diagnoses worldwide, it can be assumed that nearly every workplace is impacted, workplace well-being is one of today’s biggest business challenges:

  • 300 million people globally suffer from depression
  • 11 Million working days lost to Stress in the UK
  • 0.5 Million employees suffering Work-Related Stress in the UK
  • 1 in 5 American adults suffers from mental illness and 1 in 25 have a serious mental illness
  • The most common mental illnesses in the United States are anxiety and depression

In addition to these alarming statistics, research shows that even a healthy employee’s work environment can have an impact on their mental health. Things like lack of autonomy, poor communication, unclear organizational objectives, and poor support in their roles can cause changes in mood, symptoms of mental illness, or increased likelihood to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol.

Neil Shah; Founder and Director of the Stress Management Society, describes the business case for a well-being programme in an article for The HR Review like this;

“It is estimated that workplace stress is directly responsible for 25% of sickness absence, 70% of visits to the doctor and for 85% of serious illnesses. At an organisational level, it is estimated that the average amount of stress-caused sick days to a company with 1000 employees would cost that company £269,730 annually.

Workplace stress doesn’t just burn money though absenteeism; employee retention is another major financial factor. Over 300,000 employees leave their jobs each year because of stress. When you look at advertising costs, time spent on recruiting, training costs and loss of productivity during the subsequent induction period – according to the CIPD, recruiting a replacement can cost up to six months’ salary.”

Aside from leading employees in a way that promotes workplace well-being and offering adequate mental health coverage, employers can improve mental wellness among staff by providing free access to awareness courses for both staff and managers.

The mental health training for staff developed by VinciWorks has these key objectives:

  • To help employees identify and either eliminate or manage potential sources of stress in their work environment
  • To teach employees to identify the difference between healthy stress and unhealthy stress
  • To give employees the tools and resources they need to manage stress and get further help when needed
  • To empower employees to talk to their managers about how they’re feeling at work

Managers have a key role in any Workplace Well-Being Programme

Stress awareness training for managers needs to take a slightly different approach. Managers need to be empowered with the skills they need to talk about stress and mental health with their team members, create meaningful and rewarding jobs, identify the warning signs of stress and mental illness among their teams, and provide the tools and support their employees need to achieve and maintain optimal mental health. Managers who are armed with information and resources are more likely to succeed in providing employees with the support they need to overcome stress and other mental health challenges.

Many companies have found that their investment in both the physical and mental well-being of their employees has improved their company culture, decreased healthcare costs, and improved productivity, along with simply feeling like the right thing to do.

Looking for in-depth and engaging mental health and wellbeing? Explore our comprehensive eLearning library and try any of our courses for free. 

Your business has probably invested in security to protect your physical property, but how much care is given to the intangible property that your business relies on?

It’s normal to lock down valuable equipment, but organisations are waking up to the fact that some of their most valuable possessions can’t be locked in a box or guarded with cameras.

Consider the difference between recovering from the theft of equipment and rebuilding a business that has lost its competitive advantage. Equipment may be costly, but it can be bought again. Intellectual property, and the things that make your business unique, are harder to replace.

Such intangible assets can be copied, stolen or leaked to third parties, and the loss may not even be detected until a rival puts these valuable secrets to work.

How difficult would it be for your organisation to deal with a competitor that suddenly has access to your customer database? Or your secret recipe? Or your manufacturing specifications? These kinds of threats are truly existential. And yet they are often ignored.

What can your company do to protect intangible assets and intellectual property?

Define your property

Before you figure how to protect your intangible assets, you need to know what you’re protecting. An audit of your business can help to identify unseen valuables, such as:

  • branding
  • processes
  • databases
  • software
  • product designs
  • customer research.

Update contracts

Confidentiality must be bound into your contracts with employees, contractors, suppliers and customers. Define the obligations for all stakeholders so that any breach of contract can be quickly resolved.

The ISO 27001 information security standard

The ISO 27001 standard focuses on information security. Attaining this standard is a good way to protect your business from risks and reduce the chances of losing intellectual property or other intangible assets.

Some organisations insist on ISO 27001 compliance as a prerequisite for doing business, because accreditation means that the organisation has taken steps to protect their information, which in turn means that your data is protected when under their care.

Has your organisation implemented systems to protect intangible assets?

Visit www.delta-net.com/compliance to view Protecting Assets eLearning from DeltaNet.

The General Data Protection Regulation has now come into force. The UK’s third generation of data protection law has received Royal Assent and its main provisions commenced on 25 May 2018. The new Act aims to modernise data protection laws to ensure they are effective in the years to come. VinciWorks has hosted a number of webinars to help businesses prepare for the EU-wide law.

On 24, VinciWorks hosted a full-day live webcast to answer questions, interview experts and review the changes to data protection law under GDPR.

Watch #GDPRday highlights

Full-day live GDPR webcast schedule

10:00am – Q&A on lawful basis for processing, Gary Yantin and Nick Henderson, VinciWorks

11:00am – GDPR Mythbusters, Webinar replay

11:30am – So you’ve been appointed DPO. What now? Interview with Andrew Moyser, MHA MacIntyre Hudson Chartered Accountants

12:00pm – Live Q&A on privacy notices and DPIAs, Alyssa Redsun and Nick Henderson, VinciWorks

1:00pm – Data Protection Impact Assessments, Webinar replay

2:00pm – The ICO’s view – what will change after GDPR? Richard Nevinson, Information Commissioner’s Office

2:15pm – GDPR – getting it right, Alex Brown, Simmons & Simmons

2.30pm – Live Q&A – ask us anything (about GDPR), Gary Yantin and Nick Henderson, VinciWorks

3:30pm – Privacy notices, Webinar replay

4:30pm – Dawn raids – preparing for the unexpected, Karla Gahan, VinciWorks

5:00pm – Closing remarks and guidance

View full schedule and presenter bios

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Workplace wellness is not a new idea. Organisations have offered wellness programmes for years, but these have traditionally been focused on reducing illness, encouraging people to quit smoking, eat well, and exercise more.

The latest wave of wellness initiatives, led by giants like Google and Apple, is taking a more holistic approach to health and encouraging people to take care of their mental and emotional health as much as their physical fitness. These schemes aren’t simply about getting people to meditate during their lunch break. The focus is on creating an environment and work processes that are conducive to good health.

Why are organisations investing in their employees’ wellbeing? There seem to be a few drivers behind the latest push for wellbeing.

Retention

Happy employees are more likely to stay. If people find that their work is fulfilling, enjoyable and not damaging to their physical, mental or emotional health, then they have fewer reasons to leave. Organisations that succeed at retaining employees save money and time on recruitment, and also enjoy the advantage of retained knowledge and skills – not to mention the continuity of service and a greater sense of community.

Recruitment

Your reputation as an employer counts for a lot. And in a competitive hiring market, that reputation could be the difference between attracting the best people – or vacant seats.

Job seekers are looking for more than financial rewards. They consider the complete package, including benefits and workplace environment. If you can’t tell a positive story about the long-term wellness of your colleagues, you may lose top recruits to your rivals.

Productivity and sustainability

If your employees are healthy and happy, they are more likely to be ready for work. Conversely, people who are struggling with mental, physical or emotional health issues are likely to be distracted while at work – if not absent entirely.

By giving people the tools to maintain all aspects of their health, you can improve their chances of working effectively. It’s also important to create an environment in which all health issues can be discussed, and the connections between work and wellbeing are accepted openly.

Insurers value wellness

From a purely financial perspective, insurance companies may offer lower rates to companies that care for their employees’ wellbeing.

Has your organisation implemented a well-being programme? If not, what barriers are standing in your way?

GDPR webinar banner

Under GDPR, you need an approved ‘condition for processing’ for every data processing activity, but you don’t always need to seek consent. With just a week until GDPR comes into force, Director of Course Development Nick Henderson and Director of Best Practice Gary Yantin hosted another webinar to take a deep dive into understanding the conditions for processing data which underpin all uses of personal data.

The webinar covered:

  • When do we need consent and when do we not?
  • How to rely on legitimate interest
  • Data processing scenarios
  • Answering your questions on the topic

Watch now

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The Fire Safety Online course  is designed as entry-level understanding for all employees. The course educates them on the importance of following fire safety procedures. It reinforces the need to take an active role in spotting fire hazards and possible impediments to evacuation in their place of work.

The course follows Joe through the scenario of a fire in his workplace. The learner is shown the profound consequences of Joe’s initial poor response to the situation, and how his previous behaviour may have exacerbated it. The learner is then given the opportunity to rewind time and take different decisions on Joe’s behalf. If done correctly, these learner-led decisions lead to a more positive outcome.

Specific additional information is included in the course about Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs). These are explained both from the point of view of someone who needs a PEEP, and someone who might need to assist a colleague or visitor with a PEEP.

There is also a new section included which covers Emergency First Aid for non-specialists with basic advice on how to help a burns victim while waiting for the first responders.

Throughout the 40-Minute course, there are a host of new interactions to engage learners with the content.

As with all eLearning courses from VinciWorks, the new online Fire Safety eLearning course is SCORM compliant and editable to allow companies to include specific information about Fire Safety procedures in their workplace.

Reducing MSDs in the Workplace

In March, the HSE updated its advice around Manual Handling as part of its goal of reducing MSDs in the workplace. This has led to a spate of articles that have focused on the problems associated with a one size fits all, off the shelf approach to training.

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The HSE stated – 

Research has shown that general training in lifting techniques is an ineffective way of controlling the risks of manual handling in businesses.”

And do you know what – we agree!

Whether a generic unengaging eLearning course or the same old PowerPoint delivered by the same old hand who knows it all, training can miss the mark and be boring too, especially for the person delivering it!

Where this becomes problematic is when “eLearning” is taken to be synonymous with “out of the box” – It is not necessarily the case. Here at VinciWorks, we’re keen that the medium is not mixed with the message.

HSE Article about Manual Handling Training

In a recent article entitled “How To Learn” leading Health & Safety Consultant, Bridget Leathley, described an example of how a blended approach to Manual Handling Training could be adopted. The example below is how she envisaged the optimal learning outcomes:

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A blended approach to reducing MSDs

On-the-job– at induction Jim is walked around the workplace and shown some simple handling tasks he can do and told which tasks he shouldn’t do until he has more experience. During the first week, his supervisor keeps an eye on him and reminds him when he needs to use the equipment.

After a couple of weeks, Jim goes to a ½ day structured classroom course which explains the principles of muscles and levers and good handling technique, including team lifts. After the course, Jim’s supervisor assesses him on the job for team lifting.

After six months, Jim’s supervisor suggests he sits an e-learning course. This provides a refresher of what he learned before and teaches him about manual handling risk assessment. On successful completion, Jim has an on-the-job discussion with his manager and makes some suggestions for improvements to the workspace that will make handling tasks easier.”

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Editable eLearning & reducing MSDs

If an organization is serious about reducing the incidence of MSDs amongst its workforce, then it needs to take issues like manual handling seriously. Yes, we offer a Manual Handling eLearning Course, but like all of our courses, it is fully editable by the customer using WorkWize Author.

This means you can tailor the eLearning to the specific requirements of your environment, adding images and videos of the workplace giving the course relevance to your employees.

WorkWize can also deploy People Based Risk Assessments and Training Needs Analysis. So, with a little thought and investment, eLearning can form an essential part of the training strategy. Not just around Manual Handling, but areas like Workstation Ergonomics and DSE Assessment, thus playing a pivotal role in reducing MSDs in any working environment.

A logistics company was recently fined £373,000 after a worker suffered crush injuries while unloading a visiting lorry. An agency worker was unchaining a vehicle ramp from a delivery van when it moved forward with a chain still attached, crushing the worker between the ramp and a barrier.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the company had not adequately controlled the risks associated with the unloading ramps and the unloading procedures. Nor had they given sufficient training to workers on their role, and visiting drivers were not given adequate training on their obligations while on site.

ERIKS Industrial Services pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The HSE inspector Tim Underwood said: “This incident could have been avoided if the company had created a more detailed risk assessment and introduced a fully considered safe system of work. Removing the visiting lorry driver’s keys until the procedure was safely completed, is one such method which could have prevented such an occurrence.

“Companies have a responsibility to provide sufficient information, instruction and training to all those involved in workplace transport operations (including visiting delivery drivers), in order to control the risk of serious personal injury.”

Protecting visitors and temporary workers

This case is a reminder of the different categories of people that health and safety policies must protect. Policies and action plans often focus on employees, but companies also have a duty to protect other visitors, such as contractors, agency workers, delivery personnel and other visitors who may spend a few hours or a few minutes on your premises.

The Health and Safety Executive recommends that companies discuss health and safety issues with external contractors so that people are aware of the risks and understand the correct procedures to follow while on site.

Clearly, a challenge for any organisation is how to brief visitors on the essentials, without introducing unnecessary hurdles or reducing productivity. A risk assessment is clearly the place to start. From there, organisations can consider how best to manage the risks in a way that is appropriate.

Work with partners to address safety risks

Where serious risks exist, such as with machinery operators and manual handlers, it might make sense to liaise with the partner organisation to create a plan for briefing all drivers – including temporary and agency workers – on appropriate safety processes.

For general on-site visitors, it might be simpler to incorporate safety messages into a site induction, or attach messages to welcome emails or meeting invitations. Reception teams could point out important safety messages – or add them to the reverse of ID badges.

Regular training is always a core component of a robust health and safety regime. Organisations also have to consider how they will provide training for new and temporary workers. This can be particularly challenging in companies with regular staff turnover, or lots of transient workers. A flexible eLearning solution is one way to ensure that staff are aware of their role in staying safe, and it can be delivered quickly, conveniently and at a low cost.

GDPR: An American Perspective GDPR course screenshot

While the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU-wide regulation, its reach is global. Facebook, for example, look like they will be complying with GDPR following Mark Zuckerberg’s hearing and mixed reports on whether the social media platform will comply on a global scale. EU-based businesses with offices in the US will need to ensure they comply with GDPR. VinciWorks’  course, GDPR: An American Perspective, allows businesses to train their staff based in the US on GDPR from the perspective of an American.

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We’re very pleased to announce the arrival of our latest compliance course: The Using Social Media Challenge.

Written and directed by our talented development team, the course combines a refreshing mix of story-telling, gamification, and immersive eLearning to offer learners an interactive video experience that’s sure to wow!

Fresh, fun, and informative, The Using Social Media Challenge is designed to raise awareness about hacking threats on Social Media.

To take the challenge, users must take on self-confessed cyber-criminal, John (and his fiendish team of hacking experts), and prevent him from accessing their data and infecting their computer by making the right choices whilst using social media. Each time learners thwart John’s efforts successfully, they will be rewarded with a shield. Making the wrong choices, though, will result in a win for the cybercrime syndicate and a ‘virus’ for the unsuspecting victim.

How many shields will you collect?

View a trailer for The Using Social Media Challenge: