The Cost of Living Crisis | Supporting Employees with Drug and Alcohol Problems

From the pandemic to the cost of living crisis, the upheaval of the last two years has taken a toll on people’s mental health, and provided a perfect breeding ground for drug and alcohol abuse.

For many, recent factors such as prolonged isolation, significant work changes and political uncertainty have contributed to feelings of stress, anxiety and depression – now made worse by fears of a bleak winter ahead as energy costs spiral.

Some may turn to drugs and/or alcohol as a coping mechanism, however, regular overuse or misuse of these substances can worsen existing issues and even create further problems, not least at work.

After all, consuming alcohol negatively impacts an individual’s ability to concentrate, problem-solve, and react to problems quickly. It can also impede their judgement, memory and decision-making skills. This will naturally concern employers, as it could increase the potential for mistakes to be made, as well as pose real health and safety risks.

Even in low-risk industries, working while under the influence may affect an employee’s attendance, performance, professionalism and relationships with colleagues, all of which have negative business consequences. Of course, there will also be concerns for the employee’s health and wellbeing.

Unfortunately for employers, the issue is intensifying. According to IOSH, the pandemic has increased the number of employees misusing drugs and alcohol; positive drug tests in the workplace have increased 54% since 2019, and 25% of employees admit that drugs and alcohol have affected their work.

On top of this, research points to a link between financial hardship and poor mental health, which may in turn prompt people to self-medicate. Given the fall in ‘real’ incomes that the UK has experienced since late 2021, and the stress and worry this is causing for many people, it’s likely that alcohol dependence may become a deeper problem.

Because of this, it’s essential that employers know how to spot the signs of substance misuse and what to do if they suspect that an employee may be struggling.

First, know what to look out for

Knowing the signs of drug and alcohol misuse will enable managers and team leaders to intervene early so that they can support employees and prevent workplace issues before they arise.

Indicators of drug and/or alcohol misuse at work include:

  • More frequent absences
  • A drop in performance
  • Behavioural changes
  • Conduct issues
  • Changes in appearance

Of course, these aren’t always indicators of substance misuse; the employee may also be struggling with family stress, illness or a work problem. It’s therefore important not to jump to conclusions – if an employee is exhibiting any of the behaviours outlined above, a sensitively handled conversation in private would be advisable to try to understand the reasons why and to work out how to manage this.

Address concerns carefully and compassionately

It’s important for managers to handle potential substance misuse or abuse at work tactfully.

Openly accusing someone of using drugs or coming to work drunk or high can be feel like an attack and lead to heated confrontations, which will only make matters worse. It could also result in the employee resigning and making a successful constructive dismissal claim.

If you suspect that drugs or alcohol are influencing an employee’s actions, it’s a good idea to document the specific behaviours causing suspicion and worry. You can then present these observations to the employee in an objective, compassionate and non-accusatory manner with the aim of identifying ways to help.

Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training can help your employees recognise early warning signs in themselves and their colleagues. It will empower managers to be able to provide effective, meaningful support to employees who may be struggling. For more information on our Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training for employees click here.


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DeltaNet gives businesses free access to Diversity and Inclusion eLearning courses for National Inclusion Week 2022

This week, we are providing free access to our full Diversity and Inclusion eLearning courses for businesses to improve their D&I training for all employees during National Inclusion Week 2022, which takes place from 26th September to 2nd October 2022.  

In support of the awareness week, led by membership organisation Inclusive Employers, the 15 training courses created for all employees and managers will be available for free for 7 days, and include:  

 

The need to educate on diversity is made clear by Google search data which shows online searches for ‘gender pronouns in the workplace’ has risen by 500% over the past three years (April 2020 – April 2022). 

There has also been a significant increase in searches for ‘unconscious bias at work’ of 58% during the same period. 

‘Bullying, harassment and discrimination at work’ searches grew dramatically by three-fifths (62.5%), ‘disability discrimination at work’ searches increased by half (51.25%), ‘racial discrimination at work’ searches rose by 40.3%, and ‘age discrimination at work’ searches grew by almost a third (30.6%).

Darren Hockley, Managing Director at DeltaNet International, said: 

“We must educate employees at all levels to be more aware of unconscious bias to help change viewpoints and build an inclusive culture. Therefore, businesses cannot underestimate the importance of training. 

“Training allows organisations to create a compliant culture and educate employees on common issues, from using the correct gender pronouns to treating disabled workers with respect. 

“Employee Tribunal Data from WorkNest showed that nearly half of the Employment Tribunal Claims they received during January 2019 and December 2021 included some form of discrimination.  

“Disability was the protected characteristic most relied upon by Claimants during this period, and there was a 52% surge in sex-related discrimination claims and a 27% rise in claims related to race between 2021 and 2019. 

“Unconscious bias and sexual harassment remain apparent in the workplace, so employees must understand what behaviour is expected of them. Likewise, line managers must learn to manage the situations they may find themselves in dealing with diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace. 

“Stamping out discrimination in the workplace is critical for organisations to thrive and enhances their internal creativity and ways of thinking. Research has even shown that diverse businesses are more profitable, but in order to have a happy, diverse workforce, it must be truly inclusive.” 

“Our diversity and inclusion online training solutions are up-to-date to be reflective of the current workforce, address issues most commonly seen and take into account the most recent updates to equality legislation.” 

DeltaNet International’s courses allow employees and managers to understand the UK equality legislative requirements. This includes gender equality, disability inclusion in the workplace, and addressing sexual harassment.  

To access the free courses, sign up here between 26th September and 2nd October 2022, and you will have free access to the platform for seven days.  

There are 15 courses in total and each course takes on average 15 minutes to complete.  

Online training – Our top 6 business benefits

Keeping your employees’ skills up to date is a vital part of business success. Regular training can help your team develop new skills, keep up with evolving industry standards, and become more effective within their roles.

However, training can be expensive. In the UK, employers invest around £42.0bn in training each year, with an average spend of £1,530 per employee, according to 2020 government figures.

With rising bills and operational costs, many businesses may be looking for alternatives to traditional classroom or in-person learning without compromising their employees’ development and mandatory compliance responsibilities.

Is eLearning cheaper than traditional learning?

We’re often asked this question and the answer, in most cases, is yes! eLearning can save on huge segments of training and development budgets but also deliver business efficiencies and improvements. Some of our clients have told us that using online learning for mandatory H&S and compliance courses has saved them as much as 80% compared to the cost of classroom learning.  eLearning avoids some of the typical overheads that come with traditional training, such as:

  • Meeting room or venue hire – in multiple locations if you have a dispersed workforce or staff working in different geographies;
  • Travel and accommodation – for both the trainer and the trainee if they need to travel to a location to take part in a training session;
  • Instructors or facilitators’ salary and expenses – they don’t do their jobs for free!
  • Printing of materials – which will result in wasted resources and more printing costs if your company decides to update a policy or if legislation changes;
  • Time spent away from work – classroom training requires the instructor and the trainees to leave their workplaces, which can impact the business’s productivity.

What is the ROI of eLearning?

Like any other investment, a successful eLearning initiative must demonstrate value for money.

Calculating your online learning programme’s return on investment, or ROI, involves comparing the costs of designing and rolling out your training courses with the benefits of your online training. You can determine if your programme has been successful when you can demonstrate that the value and benefits outweigh the costs.

According to a study by IOMA, corporations can save between 50% and 70% when they replace instructor-based training with eLearning (IOMA 2002). For example, IBM found that up to 40% of its classroom training costs were spent on travel and accommodation, and when the company moved half of its training programs to an eLearning format, it saved $579million (approx. £479million) over just the first two years. And Microsoft‘s move to video-based training helped the organisation reduce costs by $303 per learner (approx. £250), from $320 to just $17 (approx. £14).

6 benefits of using online learning as opposed to traditional learning

The benefits of using eLearning to deliver staff training extend beyond the obvious financial savings. They are realised in several other efficiencies too.

For instance:

  1. Higher productivity – eLearning helps keep downtime to a minimum, allowing staff to log on when they can and complete their training quickly. Courses are interactive, making them highly engaging, and can be delivered in shorter sessions and spread out over a certain period so that businesses don’t lose employees for entire days at a time.
  2. No time wasting – Rather than being on a group course with people at different levels and learning speeds, online training puts people in charge of their own development and enables employees to complete training at their own pace. In addition, courses can be more specifically tailored to an employee’s job role and existing knowledge and understanding of a subject through adaptive learning. This short video explains more about adaptive learning and how it can deliver next-level ROI on your training investment.
  3. More inclusive – With eLearning, course content can be translated into many different languages. Providing training in an employee’s first language not only helps to improve learning outcomes and understanding, but it can also help employees feel more included and motivated and can help build a happier and more culturally inclusive work environment. At DeltaNet, our courses can be translated into over 100 different languages, so regardless of location or language preference, you can provide your employees with the right training.
  4. Flexible solution – eLearning is a fast and flexible solution to your compliance training needs which can be rolled out quickly to anyone in any location. Online delivery avoids many of the expenses and logistical planning associated with traditional learning, as well as the costs related to missed training sessions if a staff member is off sick. eLearning can simply be picked up when the employee is back at work.
  5. Promote long-term learning and behavioural change – German psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus, carried out numerous memory studies and found that people forget what they’ve learned shortly after learning it. He suggested that we forget about 50% of our learnings after the first hour and around 90% after a month. This is because people will forget what they don’t use – ‘Use it or lose it’. So for training programmes to be successful, training can’t be looked at as a one-off, box-ticking exercise. Instead, information needs to be refreshed and reinforced regularly to achieve long-term learning and create behavioural change across the organisation; this can easily be done with online refresher training courses.
  6. Identify and close skills gaps – Learning management systems allow you to automatically collect and interpret data about your learners so you can track progress, ensure employees are meeting their compliance objectives and determine how individual parts of your businesses are performing. Combining and comparing these figures will help you to draw an accurate picture of the overall health of your organisation, promote future learning opportunities and address gaps in knowledge that hold your organisation back or put it at risk.

With the right training provider, eLearning can significantly benefit your employees and your business. So it’s no surprise that more and more companies are modernising their digital learning strategy by having eLearning in the workplace.

Book a free tailored demo today, and we’ll show you how we can help you solve your biggest training challenges with people-centred eLearning.


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Revealed: the common root causes behind ‘wholly avoidable’ workplace accidents

According to new research by our sister company, WorkNest – , 200 organisations have faced over £47million in fines since 2005 for workplace accidents judged to be ‘wholly unavoidable’.

The study looked at 200 health and safety prosecutions brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) dating back to 2005, spanning ten different sectors, to establish common root causes. WorkNest specifically examined the prosecutions with commentary containing phrases such as “wholly unavoidable”, “could have been prevented”, and “entirely preventable”.

In 97 of the 200 cases that were reviewed (48.5%), inspectors stated that the employer had failed to put in place adequate risk control plans and strategies to manage health and safety risks – a fundamental error which resulted in serious injuries and even fatalities.

The fact is, the vast majority of workplace accidents are preventable. These statistics are especially alarming, as in 2022, there is simply no excuse for organisations not to be managing their health and safety risks, and for business owners not to know what is required of them under health and safety law. Still, annual fatal injury statistics continue to remind us that serious incidents can and do occur in all manner of workplaces, and in order to drive down the numbers, business leaders need to know why.

So what health and safety mistakes are employers still making?

Whilst some accidents have multiple contributing factors, the three most common primary root causes of serious safety incidents in the workplace, according to WorkNest’s research was: Lack of planning (48.5%), Failure to risk assess (32.5%) and Lack of machine guarding/ maintenance (8%).

Other underlying failings cited by the HSE included a lack of training (3.5% of cases), poor supervision (1.5% of cases) and poor management systems (1% of cases).

A lack of training is a key mistake

The HSE’s Accident Prevention Advisory Unit has shown that human error is a major contributory cause of 90% of accidents, 70% of which could have been prevented by management action. Enrolling employees in courses such as Health and Safety Essentials and Introduction to Working Safely – as well as immersive training challenges – will help to prevent accidents by ensuring everyone in your organisation is aware of their responsibilities.

Note that training was also identified as a secondary reason behind many of the incidents that formed part of the research, so it’s importance should not be overlooked.

What does this analysis tell us?

Examining the root causes of these cases highlights that even in 2022 – nearly 50 years on from the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act – many organisations are failing to implement even the Plan and Do phases of Plan, Do, Check, Act. These are the basics of good health and safety management, and the fact that some employers are still not taking these steps – and are running the gauntlet for whatever reason – is very concerning.

Aside from the devastating human impact, these oversights are costing employers significantly. In fact, taking into account the fines and legal costs involved, these 200 prosecutions cost employers over £47 million, plus almost £4 million in legal costs.

Often, the rationale for poor practices is “I wasn’t aware”, “I don’t have the time”, “that’s not my job”, “we don’t have the funding” or simply “it will be alright”. When you run a business, time and money is precious, but a lot more time and money will be consumed by a serious incident or fatality – and many organisations have learned the hard way, so invest in good health and safety training practices now.

Not sure your safety training processes are up to scratch?

DeltaNet can help your organisation take a proactive approach to health and safety compliance through a comprehensive suite of Health and Safety e-Learning courses. Our RoSPA Assured, IOSH Approved and CPD Certified Health and Safety solutions that fit flexibly around the needs of your business. Whether you’re looking to deliver a ready-made online learning programme, or create something entirely bespoke, we’ll work with you to enhance your business performance with our health and safety training solutions.


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Why workplace education is key to supporting LGBT staff

Following a recent survey by YouGov, the TUC has called for the government to introduce a range of measures to support LGBT people at work.

Along with pay gap reporting, which indicates that LGBT workers are paid 16% less (effectively £6,703 per year), the government is being urged to consult with unions to protect LGBT people from workplace bullying and harassment, by introducing a new duty on employers to make workplaces safe.

The poll of around 1000 HR managers, also found that:

Bullying and harassment: Only half (51%) of managers surveyed said they had a policy prohibiting sexual discrimination,  bullying and harassment against LGBT workers in their workplace.

Less than half (47%) said they had a clear reporting route for workers to raise concerns about discrimination, bullying and harassment against LGBT workers – even though one in seven (15%) managers had responded to bullying, harassment or discrimination against one or more LGBT workers.

Trans workers: Just one in four (25%) managers said that they had a policy setting out support for trans (including non-binary) workers who wish to transition to live as another gender.

Family-friendly working: Less than half (47%) of HR managers told the TUC that they had family policies (such as adoption, maternity, paternity and shared parental leave policies) that apply equally to LGBT workers.

Of those HR managers whose workplaces that have LGBT policies in place, only around one in three (34%) have reviewed those policies in the last 12 months.

More than one in four (28%) can’t remember when they last looked at them.

Ensure your bullying and harassment policies are clear and inclusive

It is quite shocking that so many workplaces don’t have specific policies in place to support their LGBT staff, and without these policies, too many LGBT workers experience bullying, harassment and discrimination at work.

To combat discrimination or harassment at work, business leaders should have stringent internal policies which are critical to supporting LGBT staff. Policy documents should highlight the consequences for any customers, clients, colleagues or third parties who are guilty of harassing employees, including LGBT.

It’s also critical to make the process easier for employees to raise grievances and challenge harassment, so this behaviour never gets repeated to another colleague or person in general. Employees must visibly see that their business leaders take harassment cases very seriously and recognise that any issues get tackled straight away, so colleagues feel comfortable raising issues and know what they say matters.

Education is key to preventing workplace misconduct

Everyone deserves access to a safe working environment, and education is key to preventing bullying and harassment at work. Prioritising compulsory equality and diversity training to prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace, as well as training on how to respect one another, will help reinforce the behaviour that employees should adhere to while at work.

Diversity and inclusion measures don’t just stop there. It also includes educating employees to be more aware of unconscious bias, often based on appearance, cultural, social behaviour or experience, to help change viewpoints and build an inclusive culture.

In addition, training should include implementing inclusive family policies such as adoption, maternity and parental leave, making it easier for LGBT workers to recognise their inclusion. Business leaders must also support the use of gender-neutral pronouns in the workplace and how its use can be effective in making LGBT employees feel more comfortable in the workplace.

Take a look at our full range of Diversity and Inclusion online training courses and improve diversity and inclusion awareness among your employees and managers.

From compliance to cultural normality – the case for getting diversity and inclusion right

If employers were hoping that the issues of diversity and inclusion were just a passing storm to be weathered, they would be very wrong. Societal and legal pressures are coming together as employees demand change.

Research into Google’s online search habits shows consistency in growth across diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace over the last three years.

Searches online for ‘gender pronouns in the workplace’ has risen by 500% over the past three years (April 2020 – April 2022). It remains unclear if this is employers finding out what they need to do to be supportive in the workplace or employees trying to find out their rights.

Further data showed a significant increase in searches for ‘unconscious bias at work’ of 58% in the same period. Interestingly, it also revealed a noticeable spike in March 2022, coinciding with International Women’s Day, where this year’s theme surrounded ‘breaking the bias’. March continues to be a prominent month for diversity and inclusion related searches as organisations endeavoured to compile their mandatory Gender Pay Gap reports in line with Government reporting deadlines.

Most alarmingly, the findings revealed that several types of discrimination continued to fuel search results in the same period. It found that ‘bullying, harassment and discrimination at work’ searches grew dramatically by three-fifths (62.5%), ‘disability discrimination at work’ searches increased by half (51.25%), ‘racial discrimination at work’ searches rose by 40.3%, and ‘age discrimination at work’ searches grew by almost a third (30.6%). Definitely not a passing storm.

Interestingly, this same pattern is also reflected when looking at Employee Tribunal Data. WorkNest, an employment law and HR advisory firm, revealed that nearly half of the Employment Tribunal Claims they received during Jan 2019 – Dec 2021 included some form of discrimination. Disability was the protected characteristic most relied upon by Claimants during this period.

This same period saw an almost one-fifth growth (17.9%) in disability-related discrimination claims, a 52% surge in sex-related discrimination claims, and over a quarter (27.3%) rise in discrimination claims related to race. Racial discrimination claims also saw a considerable spike during 2020, 42.9% more than in 2019.

Whilst the prevalence of Covid during this reporting period could account for a proportion of claims due to shielding requirements for many employees and their dependants requiring adjustments to their roles – it certainly does not account for it all.

Against this backdrop of growing interest and updates to equality legislation, DeltaNet International, a global compliance and performance eLearning provider, decided to launch a new diversity and inclusion collection of online training solutions. The 15 new courses released aim to help organisations improve their diversity and inclusion awareness among their employees and managers to reduce discrimination in the workplace, both in the UK and globally.

“The data reveals that discriminatory issues continue to rise in the workplace; business leaders and HR teams are responsible for tackling these issues to provide a safe and welcoming working environment for all employees to thrive in,” said Darren Hockley, Managing Director at DeltaNet International. “We believe that diversity and inclusion must be at the core of an organisation; we want to help employees and employers evolve from a compliance-based model to embracing true cultural change.”

With management and HR teams increasingly facing scrutiny for diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace, DeltaNet International’s courses allow employees and managers to understand the UK equality legislative requirements. This includes gender equality, disability inclusion in the workplace and addressing sexual harassment.

These latest training courses allow organisations to create a compliant culture and educate employees on common diversity and inclusion issues, from using the correct gender pronouns to treating disabled workers with respect. Available in various formats, including: immersive learning, detailed studies and microlearning, the eLearning courses have been developed with subject matter expertise, reinforced through the diverse range of characters and accents used by voiceover actors.

“Creating a diverse and inclusive culture starts with education to change behaviours and reduce discrimination.”

For more information on DeltaNet’s diversity and inclusion training collection, please visit: https://www.delta-net.com/equality-and-diversity/.

GDPR four years later – How are businesses getting on?

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) marks its fourth anniversary after coming into effect on 25th May 2018. Since then, it has paved the way for other data protection regulations, including the CCPA, and 1.6 billion euros of fines have been issued. 

While the UK has adopted its own version – UK GDPR, companies of all sizes continue to fall short of GDPR compliance due to data protection violations such as data breaches.  

Four years on, despite the record number of fines issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) over the past financial year (2020/21) at £42m, organisations have taken complying with GDPR and other data protection regulations more seriously.  

Unfortunately, recently, the ICO fined facial recognition database firm Clearview AI £7.5 million for breaching UK data protection rules – which is still a significant reduction from its original fine of £17m in November 2021. The organisation was fined for developing an online database by collecting over 20 billion images of people’s faces and data from publicly available information sources on the internet and social media. It did not notify any of the individuals involved that their images were being collected or used in this way – which goes against data protection regulations. 

What’s the biggest challenge with GDPR? 

We spoke to our CTO, Jason Stirland, who highlighted, “the biggest challenge with GDPR remains that it’s not always fully understood by employees.  

“This is why regularly refreshing data protection training in all employees is crucial – no matter their level – as it ensures that every employee understands their GDPR obligations to protect themselves and the organisation.  

“Data breaches can happen for several reasons, and with employees being the most vulnerable resource, human errors will tend to occur. Be that as it may, reducing the likelihood of data breaches happening remains an organisational responsibility to train employees on cybersecurity awareness training – e.g., learning how to spot a phishing email and not sharing any personal or confidential information with third parties.” 

GDPR and the Great Resignation – Is there an impact? 

Jason revealed that the pandemic created pathways for significant people changes in organisations of all sizes, thanks to the Great Resignation.  

“With this in mind, organisations must remember to do their due diligence and ensure newer team members are provided with GDPR training to ensure compliance. It’s worrying how many organisations fail to consider this within the onboarding process, especially with many employees now joining companies on a remote working or hybrid basis – ensuring they can learn this from home will be vital.” 

If you’re looking to reduce GDPR training gaps within the onboarding process or improve GDPR compliance overall in employees, then take a look at our data protection courses and get in touch with us today for a free demo.