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Dr Tarun Gupta, Chief Medical Officer at Legal & General UK Protection, interviews Spectrum.Life Mental Health Promotion Officer Jenni Watson, to ask about the trends she is seeing, eight months into this newly created role.
Tarun: Last August, Legal & General Group Protection announced you’d be providing dedicated support to their Group Income Protection clients and intermediaries. Please tell us, in a nutshell, what your role involves.
Jenni: I examine data trends with clients and intermediaries, recommending strategies to increase organisational wellbeing and engagement with mental health (at an individual and organisational level). There’s a lot that goes into this – but that sums it up!
In other words, I analyse Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and digital data and trends, then recommend ways that employers can encourage the workforce to engage proactively with their wellbeing. This includes producing tailored resources, educational initiatives and guidance for HR, wellbeing champions, mental health first aiders and line managers. I aim to provide practical insights and support for all groups, especially those that are key to driving a positive culture of wellbeing.
I’m an employee of Spectrum.Life [a leading digital health, mental health and wellbeing platform] and following last year’s partnership announcement with Legal & General, I now work on a full-time basis, dedicated to supporting the Group Protection business.
Tarun: What’s your background and experience?
Jenni: I’ve got a background in clinical mental health and clinical research. I’ve worked in the NHS, as well as for EAP services, and on clinical research projects. I’ve focused on researching Clinical Mental Health Science, various therapies, and I’m currently studying for another MSc in Organisational Psychology. This is to consolidate my knowledge and understanding of the latest evidence-based practice and developments.
This experience relates directly to my role as MHPO for Legal & General. I work with clients and intermediaries to look at the ‘bigger picture’; the factors that may enhance or limit an organisation’s culture of wellbeing.
A key point of focus in my role is examining what a healthy workplace looks like and providing practical advice for employers. A lot of people think of wellbeing at the individual level. But we know that our workplace environment, workplace culture, and support from managers is critical for employee wellbeing. I aim to expand individual knowledge and awareness – but also provide wider support and guidance for the organisation. After all, getting the organisational foundations right is critical to any work on improving individual wellbeing.
Tarun: I don’t know how you fit it all in! But that all sounds really interesting. And, as an Occupational Physician myself, I’m totally with you on the need to focus on the foundations. The notion that ‘good work is beneficial for health’ is also a key focus for me as Chief Medical Officer here at Legal & General; it underpins our biopsychosocial (whole person) philosophy, informing our outcomes-focused wellbeing framework Be Well. Get Better. Be Supported. On that note, where does the work that you do fit within that framework?
Jenni: It mainly sits in the Be Well part of the framework, because my support is all geared towards helping employers boost proactivity and prevention when it comes to wellbeing. It’s about helping employers ensure better usage of services and support, create organisational conditions for wellbeing, and, ultimately, equipping employees with the right skills and tools needed to take care of their own, and very individual, everyday health and happiness needs.
Tarun: Have you got any case studies you can share, to help readers understand the kind of work you do in action?
Jenni: As my work is tailored to the data and individual organisational need, the work tends to be incredibly varied. To help readers understand what this looks like in action, I’ll share an example of support I provided in one organisation for line managers.
First, some context. We’re really pushing for manager involvement and engagement with the EAP and digital platform. This helps ensure they’ll cascade the benefits of such support to their teams.
Legal & General’s EAP saw an 87% surge in demand for mental health consultations towards the end of last year, according to the end-of-year report I coordinated. Employees made up the bulk of that usage. Only 3% of interactions came from managers.
So, against that backdrop, I held MI [Management Information] meetings for one organisation where their level of manager access to the EAP was very low. I proposed strategies to increase manager awareness of mental health and the EAP. I created assets for the organisation to help improve managers’ understanding of mental health within that organisation.
It became clear through the meetings that managers are often short on time and benefit from straightforward advice. So, I created manager specific educational communication. This was designed to create awareness of easy to implement, practical changes they can make to: foster a culture of organisational wellbeing; increase engagement; and help other employees’ wellbeing experiences at work. The most recent example of this is the Manager’s Guide to Workplace Wellbeing, which has already been rolled out to many organisations and intermediaries.
Tarun: Are you seeing any other key data trends, overall, right now?
Jenni: Anxiety – unfortunately. Presentations of anxiety have increased over the past four months. We’re seeing that almost one in three people are coming to the EAP for anxiety. There’s a clear need here. I’ve been working with organisations on resources and strategies they can use to help employees manage anxiousness. Each organisation I work with has a unique profile of EAP presentations, but this tends to feature as the most common difficulty experienced by employees.
Our support brings positive results. Clinical outcomes show that pre-counselling to post-counselling, on average, employees experience a 59% improvement in measures of low mood, anxiety and distress.
Employees usually start counselling with a moderate level of distress, low mood, and anxiety. But, by the time they’ve finished the course of counselling, this has reduced to a mild, bordering on subclinical, level (meaning they are undetected by our usual tests). This is great to see. So, although employees are presenting more often with anxiety, it shows us that the support we offer is effective in making a real difference to the lives of individuals.
And, of course, there are lots of ways to reduce anxiety that don’t involve structured support.
So, it’s great that, alongside the EAP, we’re also seeing increasing usage of our wellbeing platform. Legal & General’s aggregated end-of-year report shows 74% more interest in ‘digital detox’ content and 34% more interest in ‘goal-setting’. These are found in the Wellbeing Modules section, which contains regularly updated articles, videos and soundbites that provide practical advice to employees to help them Be Well.
Also, interest in ‘reducing stress’ has grown, accounting for 18% of all meditations in the ‘Be Calm’ section of the site. And ‘sleep aid’ now makes up a third of all employee meditations. Perceived stress and sleep difficulties are two experiences associated with anxiety and distress, so it’s great to see employees are accessing material that is proactive for their wellbeing.
Tarun: Have you received any feedback from intermediaries and / or clients to indicate what they think of this dedicated support?
Jenni: After MI sessions, intermediaries have commented to me that it was a “real eye opener” for them and that it’s been fantastic for bringing the data to life and looking at the wider picture.
Employers have said how grateful they are for the insights and resources I can provide. Organisations have approached me to tell me that the Manager Guide to Workplace Wellbeing, and Mental Health First Aider resources have been very useful.
It’s been a pleasure to receive this type of feedback. This is a unique role with so much potential to support intermediaries and employers with their understanding of wellbeing and data.
Data driven and holistic approaches to wellbeing are the future. It’s a privilege to be able to work towards that future.