The Princes Trust raise some very important points about how being without work can affect young people. Our society presents many pressures for young people, to belong, to posses, to participate, to contribute. This would be hard enough, but without work the pressure is even greater. Today the Princes Trust has published a significant insight into how being jobless affects our young people. The effects are profound, lack of identity, insomnia, family breakdown, self harm, depression and suicide. These are not things we should be proud of as a society, and not things we should accept for
The difference in happiness and confidence between those in work and education and those who are not are stark. What I see are young people who do want opportunity and without this there is an underlying hopelessness, this isn't the reaction of people who don't want to work, who don't want to contribute. We have to try to help younger people to get into work and education, I don't see how the current government is doing this with its cut backs, and the increase in tuition fees. It is organisations like the Princes Trust that seem to be trying most. What are large corporate organisations doing to help? They have opportunities for young people, they also have skilled people who could mentor and support young people.
They are our future.
The whole report is here http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/pdf/Youth_Index_jan2011.pdf
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Wellness or Wellbeing
I had an interesting request the other day to review a wellbeing policy. Great I thought, and loaded the document from Outlook. The reading was, I thought quite painful. Why I hear you ask, well, it was because the author had used wellness throughout the document, with an occasional wellbeing thrown in. For me they are not interchangeable, wellness is part of wellbeing. It's on the continuum of health from illness to wellness. The policy was aimed at a corporate client, but failed to understand many of the basics. Firstly policy sets out intention and direction, the "work" to implement follows and is the actions that result. Such actions follow the policy.
Making organisations responsible for wellness is a tall order, but it is possible within wellbeing.
The words we use are important, many words used in the wellbeing arena are of the wrong intention, they signal power and often show contradiction.
Be careful with the words!
Making organisations responsible for wellness is a tall order, but it is possible within wellbeing.
The words we use are important, many words used in the wellbeing arena are of the wrong intention, they signal power and often show contradiction.
Be careful with the words!
Friday, 3 December 2010
Global Wellbeing
I went to a session at the Work Foundation the other week, one of the banks was presenting their wellbeing program. There was nothing earth shattering in the program, it had all the things you might expect, PMI, HRA, portal, on-site promotions, EAP. For me what was most important was that wellbeing had become a culture, just as safety has become a culture. It shows that organisations can achieve great things without massive work and that a wellbeing culture can exist. Making someone responsible for it has massive advantages, as the work actually gets done.
Their biggest challenge was making it global. What they didnt have was data on what was out there across their global business, and performance stats. This is a big problem that i have seen many times globally and in the UK. Without data its all uphill. Absence is a base metric that an organisation must understand, it drives so much else. It shows the culture and attitude, management approach and solution focus. From good absence data an organisation can begin to undertsand itself and look to resolve any problems in their health management.
Their biggest challenge was making it global. What they didnt have was data on what was out there across their global business, and performance stats. This is a big problem that i have seen many times globally and in the UK. Without data its all uphill. Absence is a base metric that an organisation must understand, it drives so much else. It shows the culture and attitude, management approach and solution focus. From good absence data an organisation can begin to undertsand itself and look to resolve any problems in their health management.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
EAPA conference
Day one 6 October 2010
The first day of board meeting was yesterday, mostly finance and strategy which is generally OK and is needed as we are running a business here. Its a long day after the travelling and the rather poor sleep. We did get served a three course lunch that did prevent the working part of the lunch.
The day ended well and off to the gym I went to get the old body moving. I chose a snazzy bike that simulated a mountain climb. That was a bit of a mistake as after ten minutes i was panting away at a slow pace climbing a virtual hill. Afterwards i went outside for a lovely waterside run. Joining the throngs of keen joggers enjoying 28 degree sunshine, leaving trails of sweat behind them.
Day 2
We met the full time staff this morning, and this is always nice. There is a real sense of commitment from the staff. Its odd being a board director and responsible for the staff when you are an elected part time director. Im used to this from other directorships i hold. We had a surreal moment when we sang happy birthday to one of our number. After talking about directorial responsibility we moved on to a pleasant luncheon with some awards. Its kind of fun, but im desperate to get outside for a while, and make my excuses to escape into the Florida sun.
Day 3
Conference opened full time today with a 7 am breakfast for delegates who are non US, its great to see so many nations doing counselling and EAP work. I have to do a welcome speech as too does the President and CEO. We move on to the grand ballroom and are entertained by two gauchos, drumming, dancing and spinning balls on rope. That was great fun. The opening keynote was Dr David Ballard of APA who talked about psychologically healthy workplaces and how EAP can fit in. I liked it, although the wellbeing model and positioning is really not new to me. He presented some interesting ideas on culture that i will take away. David is a tweeter and Ive tweeted him already. Next was a World Update from latin America and Portugal. My good fried Eduardo spoke, he addressed me by name a couple of times in the presentation. Lunch was a boxed sandwich with a dash to get ready for my regional meeting. We discussed the relevance of EAPA and in particular the CEAP exam. This was very lively and I'm torn about the relevance of the exam at all. We need something new that will work outside of the US.
The afternoon session was Dr Tom Amaral who discussed research and ROI for EAP's. This is a really important subject and deserves its place at the conference. Tom is just excellent and has a great command of his subject. His data showed the impact of issues upon performance and absence is profound. The greatest impact upon issues comes from formal referrals according to data. He also identified that the average number of Counselling session is 4.3 including assessment.
Day 4
Todays Key note was Dr Carol North, she presented some excellent insight into 9-11 PTSD. She started by stating that many PTSD screening tools dont even assess for the diagnostic criteria, I guess thats a bit scary since they are supposed to screen! She presented some excellent data from several major trauma incidents.
There seems to be a persistency of PTSD in many cases, however these cases have an association with psychological illness, this seems to be a predisposition.
9-11 data examined symptoms and proximity, this showed that distant proximity and long distance viewing on TV did not lead to PTSD. A very interesting finding.
When looking at support, the number one identified support mentioned by employees was counselling. This is useful for any employers who are wondering if trauma support counselling will be useful.
Today we had an awards luncheon, which went well. My good Friend Lucy got an award, and I was sworn in to the board again.
My next session was to look at an outcome measure. I have to say without naming names that I really was not that impressed by the tool, and in particular the sheer size of it. The research had an N of 51, somewhat thin to present a paper I thought.
I finished the day with the EAPA business meeting, this is usually a dry affair and a time for the directors to talk about the associations's performance. It ran over by quite a bit and meant I was rather late for the international dinner I was hosting. We had some 50 people come to dinner, from 20 countries. What an excellent time we had chatting, and the entertainment was Salsa dancing lessons.
Day 5
Today we have discussion sessions, this is good as it switches out the format somewhat.
The first presentation today was EAPA's own Marina London, who showed us all how to use blogging better. Well done Marina a learned a lot from this.
John Burke presented a discussion about the so called "free" EAP's. This has become a major industry issue, and is seen by many as destroying the market. Interestingly they had calculated from research that the cost of such a provision was 10 cents to $1.20 per employee per month. So free is not free!
An important point is that many of these free EAP's do provide a good service, and buyers need to check what they are getting with the program. In addition EAP providers need to show the value of what they are providing as its not clear. the commoditisation is in danger of dumbing down the service. I have to say I am most concerned about this, how much can the industry cut back without quality being compromised.
The final session covered E counselling, and Dee Anna Nagel spoke about the future of electronic based counselling. Dee Anna looks nothing like her Avatar, and I didn't recognize her to introduce myself.
Dee Anna is in my opinion one of the world experts in this field and has contributed so very much to developing this area, and creating standards and safeguards.
I do feel this will be one of the major interactions of the future in counselling, something to embrace.
Needing to do some work I went to the hotel lobby, here I caught up with Dee Anna again, she is most amusing, and we tweeted each other whilst sat across a table. The source of much amusement to others!
The conference ended with a Busch Gardens visit. I have to say I really disliked that as it was too busy, full of teenagers out for a halloween special.
The first day of board meeting was yesterday, mostly finance and strategy which is generally OK and is needed as we are running a business here. Its a long day after the travelling and the rather poor sleep. We did get served a three course lunch that did prevent the working part of the lunch.
The day ended well and off to the gym I went to get the old body moving. I chose a snazzy bike that simulated a mountain climb. That was a bit of a mistake as after ten minutes i was panting away at a slow pace climbing a virtual hill. Afterwards i went outside for a lovely waterside run. Joining the throngs of keen joggers enjoying 28 degree sunshine, leaving trails of sweat behind them.
Day 2
We met the full time staff this morning, and this is always nice. There is a real sense of commitment from the staff. Its odd being a board director and responsible for the staff when you are an elected part time director. Im used to this from other directorships i hold. We had a surreal moment when we sang happy birthday to one of our number. After talking about directorial responsibility we moved on to a pleasant luncheon with some awards. Its kind of fun, but im desperate to get outside for a while, and make my excuses to escape into the Florida sun.
Day 3
Conference opened full time today with a 7 am breakfast for delegates who are non US, its great to see so many nations doing counselling and EAP work. I have to do a welcome speech as too does the President and CEO. We move on to the grand ballroom and are entertained by two gauchos, drumming, dancing and spinning balls on rope. That was great fun. The opening keynote was Dr David Ballard of APA who talked about psychologically healthy workplaces and how EAP can fit in. I liked it, although the wellbeing model and positioning is really not new to me. He presented some interesting ideas on culture that i will take away. David is a tweeter and Ive tweeted him already. Next was a World Update from latin America and Portugal. My good fried Eduardo spoke, he addressed me by name a couple of times in the presentation. Lunch was a boxed sandwich with a dash to get ready for my regional meeting. We discussed the relevance of EAPA and in particular the CEAP exam. This was very lively and I'm torn about the relevance of the exam at all. We need something new that will work outside of the US.
The afternoon session was Dr Tom Amaral who discussed research and ROI for EAP's. This is a really important subject and deserves its place at the conference. Tom is just excellent and has a great command of his subject. His data showed the impact of issues upon performance and absence is profound. The greatest impact upon issues comes from formal referrals according to data. He also identified that the average number of Counselling session is 4.3 including assessment.
Day 4
Todays Key note was Dr Carol North, she presented some excellent insight into 9-11 PTSD. She started by stating that many PTSD screening tools dont even assess for the diagnostic criteria, I guess thats a bit scary since they are supposed to screen! She presented some excellent data from several major trauma incidents.
There seems to be a persistency of PTSD in many cases, however these cases have an association with psychological illness, this seems to be a predisposition.
9-11 data examined symptoms and proximity, this showed that distant proximity and long distance viewing on TV did not lead to PTSD. A very interesting finding.
When looking at support, the number one identified support mentioned by employees was counselling. This is useful for any employers who are wondering if trauma support counselling will be useful.
Today we had an awards luncheon, which went well. My good Friend Lucy got an award, and I was sworn in to the board again.
My next session was to look at an outcome measure. I have to say without naming names that I really was not that impressed by the tool, and in particular the sheer size of it. The research had an N of 51, somewhat thin to present a paper I thought.
I finished the day with the EAPA business meeting, this is usually a dry affair and a time for the directors to talk about the associations's performance. It ran over by quite a bit and meant I was rather late for the international dinner I was hosting. We had some 50 people come to dinner, from 20 countries. What an excellent time we had chatting, and the entertainment was Salsa dancing lessons.
Day 5
Today we have discussion sessions, this is good as it switches out the format somewhat.
The first presentation today was EAPA's own Marina London, who showed us all how to use blogging better. Well done Marina a learned a lot from this.
John Burke presented a discussion about the so called "free" EAP's. This has become a major industry issue, and is seen by many as destroying the market. Interestingly they had calculated from research that the cost of such a provision was 10 cents to $1.20 per employee per month. So free is not free!
An important point is that many of these free EAP's do provide a good service, and buyers need to check what they are getting with the program. In addition EAP providers need to show the value of what they are providing as its not clear. the commoditisation is in danger of dumbing down the service. I have to say I am most concerned about this, how much can the industry cut back without quality being compromised.
The final session covered E counselling, and Dee Anna Nagel spoke about the future of electronic based counselling. Dee Anna looks nothing like her Avatar, and I didn't recognize her to introduce myself.
Dee Anna is in my opinion one of the world experts in this field and has contributed so very much to developing this area, and creating standards and safeguards.
I do feel this will be one of the major interactions of the future in counselling, something to embrace.
Needing to do some work I went to the hotel lobby, here I caught up with Dee Anna again, she is most amusing, and we tweeted each other whilst sat across a table. The source of much amusement to others!
The conference ended with a Busch Gardens visit. I have to say I really disliked that as it was too busy, full of teenagers out for a halloween special.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
EAPA conference Tampa 2010- setting out
Its that time of year again, EAPA conference time. This year it's in Tampa Florida, which does sound excellent. As a EAPA director i am expected to attend the event, and the various functions attached to it. For board members there is two days of face to face board meetings. Normally we have monthly board calls, and monthly directors calls.
The only decent flight i could get was BA from Gatwick, so the day starte early with 150 mile drive in lousy traffic. Not the greatest start to a long day. The whole process and experience of travelling is not my favourite way to spend time. Its all become a bit of a chore now, airports have such tiresome queues for everything, and the baggage weight has become a strict issue. Fortunately as im only out for a week the baggage is not so weighty, but business clothes are heavier than shorts and tee shirts that id normally need in florida.
The airlines try their best to keep the passengers entertained and quiet, theres music and video on demand se we can please ourselves. Boarding wasn't enjoyable, with a 20 minute queue to get to the seat, then nowhere to stow my bag in the overhead because the crew are taking up the space above me. Hang on, I'm the customer!
When were all strapped in a chap gets up and chances his arm for an upgrade having devised a story about how he needs more room, and he's a silver card holder. Why not just buy a seat in the next section? The crew are nice about it, but he gets nowhere.
I moved my bag from the overhead on the opposite side so that i didn't have to keep going all the way around. It was agreed to stow under a seat opposite, and then almost immediately another crew tells me it cant stay there. Im trying not to get upset about it, its all part of the experience of travelling. I fear someone is going to get told off for allowing a bag to be unrestrained under a seat.
Im waiting now for the drinks trolley, surrounded by a rather garlic odour of lunch, this is because I'm seated right at the back by the galley. Its nice here because you can pass time by chatting with the crew. I like it, I'm not so sure if they do! I'm closer to the snacks and drinks too.
The only decent flight i could get was BA from Gatwick, so the day starte early with 150 mile drive in lousy traffic. Not the greatest start to a long day. The whole process and experience of travelling is not my favourite way to spend time. Its all become a bit of a chore now, airports have such tiresome queues for everything, and the baggage weight has become a strict issue. Fortunately as im only out for a week the baggage is not so weighty, but business clothes are heavier than shorts and tee shirts that id normally need in florida.
The airlines try their best to keep the passengers entertained and quiet, theres music and video on demand se we can please ourselves. Boarding wasn't enjoyable, with a 20 minute queue to get to the seat, then nowhere to stow my bag in the overhead because the crew are taking up the space above me. Hang on, I'm the customer!
When were all strapped in a chap gets up and chances his arm for an upgrade having devised a story about how he needs more room, and he's a silver card holder. Why not just buy a seat in the next section? The crew are nice about it, but he gets nowhere.
I moved my bag from the overhead on the opposite side so that i didn't have to keep going all the way around. It was agreed to stow under a seat opposite, and then almost immediately another crew tells me it cant stay there. Im trying not to get upset about it, its all part of the experience of travelling. I fear someone is going to get told off for allowing a bag to be unrestrained under a seat.
Im waiting now for the drinks trolley, surrounded by a rather garlic odour of lunch, this is because I'm seated right at the back by the galley. Its nice here because you can pass time by chatting with the crew. I like it, I'm not so sure if they do! I'm closer to the snacks and drinks too.
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Into Europe
Last week proved interesting, more so than most.
I attended the Employee Assistance European Forum (EAEF) conference in Brussels. This is a full two-day programme of mostly european presentations. What is fascinating is how europe is so far ebehind the field of EAP provision and life management services, yet seems so keen to move forward quickly. The field of work has some very dedicated and talented people, the common goal is helping people in distress and crisis, and helping organisations. The cultural differences become obvious during the conference, particualrly when voting conventions are debated.
Anyway I have agreed to join the board of this organisation, it makes three boards for me, UK, USA and Europe.
I hope to do good work and help the European industry to advance.
I had a funny experience on the train to London last week. There was I working away when a chap came to sit next to me, he proceded to get his laptop out and do some work. As I glanced across I noticed his keyboard was absolutely filthy, I mean really filthy!!! Now if that isnt bad enough, he was eating a sandwich while typing, getting all that dirt on his hands.
Is it me, or would you avoid doing business with anyone who doesnt have the inclination to keep their keyboard clean?
Monday, 14 June 2010
Introduction
Hi,
Here I am in the world of Blogging. My aim to comment on health and wellbeing issues, as well as Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP).
First a bit about me:
Current Chair of EAPA UK
Director of EAPA Assoc
Keen commentator on EAP's health, engagement and wellbeing
I have worked in the health market for more than 20 years, with 13 years experience in EAP's.
You can follow my tweets at @HealthEFarrell
Today I've done an interview with Cover Magazine who are looking at Insurance, EAP and PMI. I do a number of press interviews, and I am available for comments in several capacities.
Eugene
Here I am in the world of Blogging. My aim to comment on health and wellbeing issues, as well as Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP).
First a bit about me:
Current Chair of EAPA UK
Director of EAPA Assoc
Keen commentator on EAP's health, engagement and wellbeing
I have worked in the health market for more than 20 years, with 13 years experience in EAP's.
You can follow my tweets at @HealthEFarrell
Today I've done an interview with Cover Magazine who are looking at Insurance, EAP and PMI. I do a number of press interviews, and I am available for comments in several capacities.
Eugene
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