Online Case Study: Promoting Employee Well-being at Callahan Packaging

In 2008, the findings of the Black Review into workplace health and well-being was published, advocating a shift in attitudes to ensure that employers and employees recognise both the importance of preventing ill-health and the key role the workplace can play in promoting health and well-being. The report reiterated the evidence that work is largely good for health and sought to promote among employers a greater understanding of the business case for investment in health and well-being initiatives and the message that good health is good business. Importantly, the review advocated greater consideration of management attitudes, working relationships, wider HR policies and practices and jobs themselves, in thinking about workplace health and well-being.

The Review made interesting reading for the senior management team at Callahan Packaging who had introduced a number of the initiatives that were advocated in the previous year. Callahan is a consumer packaging manufacturer based in South Wales which employs approximately 450 staff in a manufacturing plant producing rigid plaster containers for the food manufacturing industry. The majority of its workforce is employed on its 24-hour, 7-days-a-week production line, working 12-hour shifts in four shift teams. In the first half of 2007, Callahan had undertaken a workplace health audit, funded by a partnership between the local authority and a local university, to assess both the reported and actual health of its workforce and its link to workplace productivity. The local authority was keen for Callahan to be involved because it represented a sizeable employer in the area. Callahan was similarly keen to become involved in the project because senior management felt it might provide some solutions to a range of employment problems it was experiencing at the time, including unacceptable levels of employee sickness absence and turnover which were impacting on productivity, product quality and the company finances. Whilst the work that much of the workforce does is largely repetitive and routine, training employees to work a particular piece of machinery can be time-consuming and costly. Subsequently, absence and turnover have sizeable financial implications. Moreover, the hiring of inexperienced temps at short notice to work on the production line often has a negative impact on both productivity and quality. Senior management at Callahan also saw their involvement in the initiative as an opportunity to develop its focus on corporate social responsibility, as part of a wider marketing strategy, and to improve relations with the local community and position Callahan as an employer of choice in the area.

Callahan draws many of its semi-skilled and unskilled workers from an area of relative deprivation with high levels of unemployment and poor health. The workplace health audit found that most of the workforce displayed low levels of physical health, even among younger workers. Forty five per cent were smokers and over 60 per cent reported drinking to excess at least once a week. The audit also found low levels of physical activity (aside from their work) and poor dietary choices. Alongside its health audit, Callahan conducted its first-ever employee attitude survey. Of most concern, the survey found that only 48 per cent of employees were satisfied with their jobs, 28 per cent were actively looking to leave the company and 56 per cent would consider alternative employment.

Following analysis of the audit and staff survey findings, Callahan decided to fund a series of staff seminars, presented by health care experts and academics from the university, on health issues ranging from smoking to heart disease. Surprised by the level of staff interest in the seminars, senior management, with the assistance of local authority occupational health practitioners, decided to introduce a wider range of workplace initiatives with the following objectives:

• to improve employee quality of life both inside and outside of the workplace
• to raise staff awareness of health and well-being issues
• to improve the health and physical fitness of its employees
• to reduce the incidence of work-related injury and illness
• to improve productivity, employee attendance and staff morale.

These broad objectives continue to inform Callahan’s approach to workplace well-being. Since 2007, the company has invested heavily in its programme, not least in building an on-site gymnasium for use by both staff and their families. A number of long-term sickness absentees have successfully used the facility, with the guidance of a workplace well-being advisor, to rehabilitate themselves and returned to work. The company now employs a full-time well-being advisor with whom workers can discuss health problems and who undertakes risk assessments, supports workers in stopping smoking and ensures early intervention in alleviating workplace injury and illness. For example, a number of workers had been to see the advisor whilst suffering from repetitive strain injuries and she was able to offer advice on how to minimise pain and reduce strain in carrying out their work. The advisor also carries out routine health checks, offers counselling to deal with workplace stress or other mental health concerns and runs a slimming club and regular seminars advising on healthy eating. The staff canteen now offers only healthy options and all employees are entitled to two free meals per shift. Outside of the workplace, the company has developed a relationship with a nearby leisure centre who provide a range of regular activities and classes which staff can undertake at reduced prices, including tennis, badminton, tai chi, yoga and climbing. The company advisor runs a number of staff sports leagues, for example five-a-side football and badminton, to promote healthy competition among employees. The company has also set up a ‘cycle to work’ scheme to allow employees to take advantage of tax and NI savings on bike purchases in order to commute to work.

Importantly, the well-being initiatives have been put in place as part of a wider set of HR policies and practices designed to engage staff; for example, the establishment of a company council, an employee suggestion scheme and more formal performance management practices.

In order to monitor the impact of the well-being initiatives, Callahan conducts an annual health audit and employee attitude survey. Senior management has been very pleased with the results of the well-being programme and cites the following outcomes as an indication of its continued success:

• employee absenteeism well below the sector average
• reduced cost of hiring temporary workers
• increase in reported employee satisfaction
• increased productivity
• reduced employee turnover and intention to quit.

Questions

1. Identify the well-being initiatives discussed in this case study and indicate whether they represent primary, secondary or tertiary level interventions.
2. Having completed question 1, are there any notable areas that Callahan appears to have failed to address?
3. What are the potential long-term implications of the approach to employee well-being that Callahan has adopted?