EXCLUSIVE: Employee Benefits Connect 2019 is drawing close, with less than two weeks to go before delegates will be able to attend a session presented by Sarah O'Neill (pictured), Sarah O’ Neill (pictured), chartered counselling psychologist and clinical director at Spectrum Life, an Ireland-based network of private mental health support services.
O'Neill's session, titled 'Embracing the technology while keeping it human', will take place as part of the health and wellbeing conference stream during the one-day event on Wednesday 27 February 2019.
During her presentation, O'Neill aims to address the core health and wellbeing challenges that HR professionals are currently facing, offering strategies and practical tips on how these can be overcome.
She will share trends within the health and wellbeing marketplace, discuss how to blend reactive and preventative responses and highlight how to ensure the quality and effectiveness of interventions.
She said: "Issues like musculoskeletal issues, or mental health difficulties and stress, these are all the leading causes of long-term absence and so, from an employer's perspective, it's about how [to] support team members that are going to encounter these challenges."
O'Neill will also discuss how employers can encourage staff to adopt a sense of responsibility and ownership around their own health. "So, not only how [to] support employees when they're in times if difficulty, but also how [to] support employees in looking after their health and wellbeing," she added. "That's a real, current trend. It can be really important for employers to focus on this."
O'Neill plans to offer practical advice to provide strategies that delegates can take away and implement at their own organisations in order to overcome health and wellbeing challenges and barriers. This includes assessing quality. She said: "How does somebody who doesn't have a clinical background both assess the quality of on-site interventions, and how do they monitor the utility or the effectiveness of those interventions?
"[This session] addresses some of the most topical issues that [organisations] will be trying to support their teams and employees around, but also addresses some of the challenges."
Employee Benefits Connect 2019 welcomes all senior in-house HR professionals and will take place on Wednesday 27 February 2019 at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge.
