EXCLUSIVE: Dr Shaun Davies (pictured), global director of safety, health, wellbeing and sustainability at postal organisation Royal Mail Group, will discuss why employers should integrate a health and wellbeing strategy with business strategy at Employee Benefits Live 2017.
The session, ‘Managing health and wellbeing at work’, will form part of the health and wellbeing conference stream on Tuesday 10 October. Davies will present the session alongside Gareth Mullen, head of safety, health, wellbeing and security, retail and group services at Thames Water, and Sharron Pommells, people operations director at Virgin.
During the session, Davies will discuss why it is important that employers integrate a health and wellbeing strategy into an organisation’s daily decision making and business operations, rather than having health and wellbeing initiatives as an add on to existing working practices.
He will also explore how an integrated approach to health and wellbeing can play a vital role in an organisation’s talent attraction and retention strategy, as well as the impact on productivity and engagement.
Davies will also speak about the broader benefits of integrating health and wellbeing into an organisation’s business strategy, for example its role in supporting an ageing population. Protecting the health of employees can impact how competitive and successful an organisation can be.
Davies said: “[Employers] have got to have [health and wellbeing] as an integral part of [the] business and the operations rather than it being an afterthought or an add on.
“Organisations need to be effective, productive and profitable, so […] not only does [a wellbeing strategy] mean that [employers] get good-quality, fit, healthy, well people, but through a wellbeing strategy, [employers] can keep them that way, which is good for them and good for business.
“If [employers] don’t protect and value [their] asset, [their] people, […] then [they] really run the risk of putting [themselves] out of business or out of competition by not having the right sort of people.
"The thing for me is about moving health and wellbeing up the agenda. It’s not [about] fresh fruit and water coolers, it’s a lot more than that. People need to understand that and think about the business benefits of a wellbeing strategy at work.”
Employee Benefits Live 2017 will take place on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 October at Olympia National, London.
