Workforce Management

Tuesday December 2nd 2008, One Great George Street - London, 08:45 - 16:00

Workforce Management: Reducing Absence, Improving Well-Being, Increasing Effectiveness

CONFIRMED: Lord McKenzie of Luton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lords), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

"We must act now to build on the emerging consensus around a new approach to health and work in Britain. We will not be able to secure the future health of our nation without it."

Dame Carol Black, 'Working for a Healthier Tomorrow,' March 17 2008.

Overview

As the UK economy grows, so does the nature and culture of its workforce. Organisations are now using absence management as a key tool in measuring performance. A recent CBI survey puts the cost of staff absence to UK employers at over £13bn a year. Absence rates are highest in larger organisations and are constantly higher in the public sector than the private sector with indication that the gap is increasing. Therefore, the management of workplace absence in public sector organisations is becoming ever more important as it ultimately affects an organisations’s productivity.

The UK government has introduced a number of initiatives to reduce the amount of people on incapacity benefit by trying to decrease the numbers who fall into long term sick leave and by helping laid up people return to work. The ‘Welfare Reform Act’ (July 2007) replaces incapacity benefits with an Employment Support Allowance and Personal Capacity Assessment targeted at supporting individuals to return to work.

Furthermore, the government has issued ‘Pathways to Work’ (December 2006) pilots to support individuals returning to work, and is trying to enhance access to occupational health advice for small and medium sized enterprises through ‘Workplace Health Connect’ and ‘NHS Plus,’ an NHS-based occupational health service.

On March 17 2008, the government's national director for Health and Work, Professor Dame Carol Black, published the cross-departmental ‘Working for a Healthier Tomorrow’ - a strategy to extend workplace health services to more employees and create a "fit-for-work" service to provide multidisciplinary support for people in the early stages of sickness absence. Once established comprehensively, such a service would be extended to people on incapacity and other out-of-work benefits.

The changing dynamics of restoring, managing and sustaining employees back to work are part of changing health, safety and legislative conditions. All of which are aligned with the productivity effectiveness of organisations themselves.

Agenda

As the government seeks to address an issue which remains high on its agenda, delegates at this event will have the opportunity to examine the main measures to manage and reduce absenteeism, promoting general health and well-being and in turn improve productivity and competitive edge for organisations, most notably:

08:45	Registration and Coffee
09:45	Chair’s Welcome Address Lord Archy Kirkwood, Member of the House of Lords and Former Chairman, Work and Pensions Select Committee
09:50	Keynote Address: The Government’s Role In Creating A Productive Workforce The progress so far? Joining up government objectives and local community partnerships to create productive workforces Driving the workforce agenda – creating partnerships between employers and business Promoting Health, Work and Well-being Delivering sustainable employment for all Future plans? Lord McKenzie of Luton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lords), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
10:10	Minister Questions and Answers Session Lord McKenzie of Luton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lords), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
10:20	Work Productivity Through Work Well being Health and well being - Not just duty of care and increasing productivity, it is the right thing to do. The importance of all stakeholders, service providers and partners working together Communications, priorities, information and people involvement Living Well, Working Well a long term aim - Being an Employer of Choice Jonathan Russell, Head, Health, Safety and Well Being, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
10:40	Capitalising On Human Capital To Improve Organisational Performance Research into the link between people management practices and business performance Why the link has been highly contested and the evidence complex and confusing? What practitioners could and should measure and what makes the difference in terms of the link to performance? Measures to improve organisational practice and performance Penny Tamkin, Director, Management & Leadership, The Work Foundation
11:00	Fit To Work: Working For A Healthier Tomorrow Update on the ' Health, Work and Well-being' strategy Promoting health and preventing well-being in the workplace, and the need to engage staff in health and well-being initiatives The importance of making the business case to employers of investing in the health of their staff The vital role of line managers in recognising the early signs of health problems and enabling the return to work process The importance of early intervention by occupational health and other healthcare providers when health problems develop Dame Carol Black, National Director for Health and Work, Health Work Well being
11:25	Questions and Answers Session 1
11:55	Coffee Break and Networking
12:15	Preventative Strategies To Provide Better, Safer Workplaces Better workplace relations Retention of valued staff Safe and healthy workplaces Improved business performance Peter Brown, Head, Health and Work Division, Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
12:30	Implementing Effective Stress Management Standards Successful stress management systems at De Montfort University - Staff surveys, annual symptom body mapping, occupational ill health reporting, absence monitoring; In-house use HSE Management Standards as part of a stress management programme The use of the categories option within the Indicator tool to analyse the results by department and job group so as to identify strengths and weaknesses within each area. The use of focus groups and departmental stress committees to identify specific stressors for each question and of a generic risk assessment in the production of specific assessments for department. Monitoring the results using other data. Rod Weston, Head of Occupational Health & Safety, De Montfort University
12:45	Improving Attendance Without Managing Absence The level of absence and impact Why are people absent Absence as cultural and management issue Examples of good practice in local government Sarah Messenger, Service Director, Local Government Employers (LGE)
13:00	Questions and Answers Session 2
13:30	Lunch and Networking
14:30	Case Study Session: Wychavon - Love What You Do, Do What You Love - Motivation and Meaning in the Workplace What’s in the water at Wychavon? Things to help build happy and healthy staff The Staff Engagement project with the IDEA Learning between private and public sectors Fiona Narburgh, Head of Strategy and Communications, Wychavon District Council. (Wychavon was UK Council of the Year 2007 and Top for Leadership in the Times Best Council to Work for Survey 2008).
14:50	Case Study Session: The Role of Employee Engagement in Promoting Well being, Increasing Productivity and Driving Down Absence Changing a culture from low energy high and/or high absence to a dynamic, productive organisation The role of leaders and line managers in driving engagement and wellness in the workplace Applying data analysis to spot problems in teams and departments Use of flexible working Dr Olivia Carlton, Head of Occupational Health, Transport for London (TfL). London Underground was winner of the Peter Isaac Health at Work Award 2007 and the Employee Benefits Award for Most Effective Healthcare Strategy 2007
15:10	Developing a Trust Strategy for Workplace Well-being Starting from where you are now – you’ll be surprised at what you already do Engaging managers and staff – gaining credibility Managing the change – embedding it in the fabric of business Fad or permanent change for the better? Julian Topping, Head of Workplace Health and Regulation, NHS Employers
15:30	Questions and Answers Session 3
16:00	Close

*programme subject to change without notice*

Audience

Delegates will include heads and directors of health divisions, human resource heads and directors, health and safety teams, absence managers, welfare and well-being teams, risk managers, heads of training, heads of operations, occupational health managers, contact centre managers and be drawn from public central government departments and agencies, local authorities, criminal justice, health and education sectors, insurance companies, legal practices and advocacy organisations, businesses and employers, academia, the third sector and the private sector.

Workforce Management

Tuesday December 2nd 2008, One Great George Street - London, 08:45 - 16:00

Workforce Management: Reducing Absence, Improving Well-Being, Increasing Effectiveness

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