Agenda item

Tessa Lindfield presented the statutory annual director of Public Health report (agenda item 12) which focussed on workplace health and wellbeing.  Tessa informed the group that she was the Director of Public Health across six Local Authorities in Berkshire. She informed the group that an individual report was produced each year. The purpose of Public Health was to help the population to be more healthy and to retire healthy. The report highlighted the fact that good work was really good for you. The report also highlighted that there were good levels of employment in Berkshire, 40% of employees were employed by the 1% of large employers and there were lots of managers and professional people in the population. 

Employment rates were lower among younger people. Some ethnic groups and disabilities also had lower levels of employment. The key metric was how long people lived, particularly important was the number of years a person had lived in good health.  Women tended to live longer however they also had longer years in poor health.  The population of people at work were experiencing long term conditions. The workforce was getting older and sickness absence had increased and therefore managers needed to look at presenteeism rates as well as sickness rates.

Tessa suggested that the group should look at the Public Health England blog called Public Health Matters.  Behind each tile were actions that could be taken as employers. One in ten people worked in a Gig economy, meaning that millennials wanted something different from work.  The key findings of the report highlighted that organisations needed to have sound HR policies.  A workplace needed to support health and some groups in the workforce required special attention. 

Councillor Martha Vickers asked if the Mental Health initiative was still running.  Matthew Pearce responded that it was still underway with one and two day packages available.  Tessa Lindfield reported that the were good case studies in the report detailing evidence. Councillor Steve Masters asked what work Public Health or Berkshire were doing to look into the Gig economy. He commented that the Gig workforce was less stable therefore there would be a greater impact on mental health.  Tessa Lindfield stated that she was not aware of local work on the Gig economy, however there was a Public Health workstream looking at this.

Tessa Lindfield commented on how the voluntary sector could help people in the gig economy.  Tools were required to look into workplace health.  Improving mental health would improve productivity which was a win-win situation.  Councillor Steve Masters queried the source of the sickness rates metric.  Tessa Lindfield responded that they had been obtained from the national HR organisation which only collected information from businesses. Councillor Lynne Doherty asked what work had been done to escalate the message to other businesses. Tessa Lindfield responded that it had gone out through businesses and the network and that she was happy for members of the group to forward suggestions to her. Matthew Pearce reported that he was trying to interpret data on learning disabilities. Andrew Sharp asked if there was any commitment from different parties. Councillor Rick Jones thanked Tessa Lindfield for the presenting report.