This week on the UK Psych Health & Safety podcast, Sheila Lord and Peter Kelly are speaking to Richard Heron. Richard has worked as the chief medical officer and the global head of health for BP the last 16 years. He’s a member of the national forum for health and safety, the National Health Service expert advisory group for health and wellbeing, and also an Honorary Fellow at Nottingham University. Throughout this episode, they dive into numerous aspects of well-being in the workplace, and what organisations can do to improve well-being in the workplace.
This week on the UK Psych Health & Safety podcast, we’re having a fascinating conversation with Richard Heron. Richard has worked as the chief medical officer and the global head of health for BP for the last 16 years. He’s a member of the national forum for health and safety, the National Health Service expert advisory group for health and wellbeing, and also an Honorary Fellow at the Nottingham University.
Throughout this episode, we dive into numerous aspects of well-being in the workplace, and look at what organisations can do to improve well-being in the workplace.
In order to improve well-being in the workplace, we need to create a clear definition for well-being and implement methods of assessing and measuring well-being.
Richard shares his thoughts on how organisations can define well-being and some of the strategies they can implement for measuring well-being. Richard also shares his thoughts on how well-being has evolved and his take on where we should focus when we are developing strategies for well-being.
The way we work has changed drastically over the last few decades. With the implementation of technology, new legislations, new mindsets, we’ve come a long way as a civilisation. Richard dives into how these changes apply to well-being in the workplace and what changes may come in the near future.
Improving well-being within an organisation requires support from all stakeholders of an organisation, including the executive members. And great communication is a key requirement in the pursuit of getting support from business leaders. We asked Richard how we should shape our messaging in a way that allows us to effectively convey our message to business leaders.
Creating a safety culture calls for a massive change of mindset. Richard shares his thoughts on how this mindset change could be ignited in our workplaces and what changes our professional education curriculums would need in order to encourage this mindset.
Wrapping up the episode, Richard shares his thoughts on what we may see in the next decade in the well-being space and some key pieces of advice for business leaders.
Key Highlights
[02:16] Getting to know Richard – We start the conversation with a brief look at Richard’s career and his current work related to mental health & wellbeing.
[04:41] Measuring wellbeing – How organisations can define and measure wellbeing in the workplace.
[08:32] Meaning of wellbeing – Richard shares his take on whether wellbeing has been morphed into a large base with many tentacles and whether we need to contract it back to the core elements
[13:34] Wellbeing and mental health – Richard shares his thoughts on how well-being correlates with mental health.
[16:21] The future – We talk about how the work culture has changed over the last few decades, how those changes will shape the future of work, and how the mental health and well-being space will need to adapt to those changes.
[22:40] Working with leaders – How to effectively communicate with leaders of organisations about mental-health-related matters and how to utilise data for better communication.
[26:40] Behavioural changes – How to cultivate a safety culture in the workplace and initiate the mindset change that a safety culture requires.
[31:23] Education – Richard shares his take on incorporating health & wellbeing in business school curriculums and its effectiveness.
[36:40] The next 10 years – We asked Richard about the most important drivers for wellbeing in the next decade and opportunities for organisations to implement measures to improve health & wellbeing in the organisation.
[41:10] Advice for leaders – Richard shares his most important piece of advice for business leaders.
Resources:
Connect with Sheila
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheila-lord-bmr/
Connect with Richard
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richard-heron-57b252a
Quotes
“Anyone who wants to improve the wellbeing of an individual, or you want to do it yourself, you have to look at what’s driving that wellbeing, what’s positively or what’s pulling negatively, and those will be different for different people.”
“Garbage-in-garbage-out couldn’t apply more in the wellbeing and the mental health area than it could anywhere else.”
“I think occupational health professionals really are the intelligent purchasers of wellbeing datasets and solutions for their organisation.”