British Safety Council roundtable explores future of workplace wellbeing

Bringing together representatives from the public, private and charitable sectors, the event sought to understand whether the development of a single definition of wellbeing would help or hinder employers in keeping their staff safe and healthy amid a changing world.

This event built on the success of Being Well in a Changing World, a joint research project between British Safety Council and the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), which was conducted between June 2023 and September 2024. Its findings and recommendations were published in late Autumn 2024.

The discussion was formed of two sessions, the first focused on defining wellbeing and the second on measuring wellbeing on a macro and micro level.

Defining Wellbeing

Discussions around a definition of wellbeing focused on practical application and whether employers would find an agreed legal definition to help or hinder their efforts to maintain or improve the wellbeing of their workforce.

Rob Bullen, Senior Solutions Consultant at HandsHQ, a health and safety software provider, welcomed a definition but warned that “businesses like to take more control.” This tapped into larger themes of the discussion around ensuring that any legislation or regulation would afford employers the freedom to translate wellbeing legislation, regulation or guidance into the language of their workplace and workforce.

A wider discussion about whether legislation was the right approach saw attendees agree that any new duties should be clearly communicated to employers and should also lay out who is responsible and what for. This question was also picked up around accountability for wellbeing, which cannot rest with an employer alone: owing to the fact that our personal lives also shape our wider wellbeing.

Clare Walsby, Senior Operations Manager at mental health charity, the McPin Foundation, discussed the relationship between employers’ and employees’ duties and how these could be communicated to best support the individual and collective wellbeing of the workforce. For example, she said this might include having “conversations with the team when things aren’t going well” about where responsibilities lie, for what, and whether employers can be reasonably expected to provide support on stressors that originate from outside the workplace.

Measuring Wellbeing

Measuring and monitoring formed the second half of the discussion, which focused on how far standardised metrics might improve wellbeing indicators both within organisations and across wider society.

Rebecca Canham spoke of the value of data collection, but cautioned against a national set of metrics: “We need to see formal measurements, time-stamped, on a regular basis [among organisations]. The goal posts are constantly moving.” This reflects the wider problems with documenting wellbeing, as one survey only documents a single moment in time. Only through regular and routine monitoring can long-term trends, developments and changes be tracked.

Jo Southan, public health service manager (wellbeing and workforce) at Warwickshire County Council, spoke of the invaluable nature of in-person events for knowledge sharing, giving the example of a workplace wellbeing forum which the council regularly runs. These free-to-attend events provide the perfect opportunity to find common concerns across economic sectors, with Jo noting the shared concerns of nurses and construction workers around 12-hour shifts. “The conversations in the room are fantastic,” she said, “people [are] willing to share the good, the bad and the ugly.

In closing what had been a valuable discussion around the future of workplace wellbeing, Jigna Patel noted that “Scores are not as important as what you are getting out of it, to get the rich data you need to plan and to get the best data, you need to understand how best to engage with staff.”

Click here for more information on British Safety Council's programme and campaign on workplace wellbeing.