HUS year 2022: Wellbeing at work and occupational safety and health
The motto of our wellbeing at work program is ‘Healthy at work, healthy at home’. At HUS, we help employees cope and support their wellbeing at work in many ways. In 2022, we focused particularly on helping employees cope with stress.
Employee wellbeing
Defusing made available to all
We developed our defusing model, meaning a process for debriefing mentally stressful and demanding experiences immediately after any unpleasant or unexpected occurrence. We coordinated expansion of the availability of this model to the whole of HUS. A defusing session helps deal with traumatic situations and prevents potentially harmful stress loading. This activity got off to a good start and has been well received.
Virtual assistant available 24/7
The virtual assistant adopted during the coronavirus pandemic was adapted to help personnel deal with stress at work. Hosted in the intranet, the virtual assistant is available at all times to provide guidance for support services depending on the user’s symptoms and needs. The most frequently used forms of support were supervision of work and occupational health care services.
Wellbeing support given
Apart from mental health issues, musculoskeletal disorders are the most common cause for employee sick leave. Concerns were raised particularly regarding the coping capacity and absences due to illness of young employees.
Although the total number of absences due to illness increased in the year under review, the number of employees retiring on a disability pension was small, thanks to active working capacity support. We sought and arranged opportunities for partially incapacitated employees to remain at work, because we need all hands on deck.
Hosted in the intranet, the virtual assistant is available at all times to provide guidance for support services depending on the user’s symptoms and needs.
A smoothly running workplace community
‘Resources at work’ is a wellbeing tree with supportive branches
We compiled the work and wellbeing support services available at HUS into a ‘Resources at work’ wellbeing tree. This material was very well received and was used not only as training material but also as a toolkit for supervisors and employees alike.
Exploring the employee experience and the state of wellbeing at work
Employee experiences were gauged with a personnel survey and the Leadership Pulse survey in 2022. The responses showed that investments made in supervisor work in the past years now manifest themselves as increased satisfaction of employees with their supervisors; however, the perceived level of overload remained as it was.
In order to identify key challenges in the employee experience, we analyzed several personnel surveys from previous years. We compiled the results and brainstormed solutions to the challenges identified. We aim to be the most desirable workplace in the future, so that we can safeguard services for residents of our wellbeing services counties. We will continue our efforts in this area in 2023.
Wellbeing activities to support recovery
Our wellbeing activities included numerous coaching sessions, events and online courses on exercise, on nutrition, on sleep and on improving wellbeing in general. The main focus in the coaching was on support for recovery from stress. Customized wellbeing coaching was offered to supervisors and was well attended.
Further information on this topic:
New wellbeing at work program to guide through changes
We aim to be the most desirable workplace in the future.
Safe workplace environment
Aiming for zero accidents
Long-term occupational safety efforts and study of deviations have helped us keep our accident numbers low, at a level that is good by national comparison. Campaigns, multiple ergonomic activities and good risk management helped us reduce the number and severity of the most common types of accident. Our aim is zero occupational accidents.
Clarifying risk assessment processes
Identifying work stress factors and the related risk assessment involves cooperation among a number of operators. Inspections carried out by the occupational safety and health authorities focused particular attention on the management of threats and violent situations. We clarified the risk assessment process and the roles of the various parties involved and further specified our guidelines on how to assess risks of violence and how to prepare for threat scenarios.
Safety instructions compiled in a single volume
We published an occupational safety guide in the intranet in December. This guide is a concise presentation of the key occupational safety guidelines, with references to further information.
Online training allowed flexible participation
We devised an online course on wellbeing at work to safeguard employee wellbeing and safety. Online training on occupational safety for OSH pairs was also completed along with a course for employees making house calls on how to assess and improve their safety.