Workplace Health Connect
Started in April of 2006, Workplace Health Connect was a website serving as a government-funded service providing confidential, practical and free advice to small businesses on workplace health and safety, management of sickness absence and return to work issues to its clients in the United Kingdom. Its Adviceline offered to:
- Help clients understand their health and safety responsibilities
- Help ensure clients’ workplace safety
- Resolve work issues
- Provide quick access to quality health and safety advice
Workplace Safety
Workplace Health Connect served to manage small businesses in England and Wales which employed between 5 to 250 workers and to be a place to seek advice for those workers without access to specialist health and safety advice. Workers in the UK used the service to receive confidential, free advice and served to make their clients’ workplaces safer and healthier. Working in partnership with experts from the Health and Safety Executive, Workplace Health Connect offered:
- Up-to-date best practice and legislation
- Relevant business advice from professionals
- Complete confidentiality
- Cost-effective business advice
- Impartial counsel
- Free services to UK citizens
Health Benefits for UK Workers
Workplace Health Connect sought to help businesses reduce the risks of ill-health and injury from:
- Fewer absences
- Higher productivity
- Greater effectiveness
- Improved staff retention
- Higher morale
The service implemented good working practices for its clients to better identify workplace health risks and take simple, cost effective steps to reduce and manage them. Workplace Health Connect equipped its users with the knowledge and skills to handle workplace health and safety issues. Workplace Health Connect offered its users confidential, free advice appropriate to their individual workplaces. Key business risks for many types of businesses discussed include:
- Catering and hospitality
- Construction
- Delivery and transport
- Engineering
- Health and beauty
- Leisure and entertainment
- Manufacturing
- Office work
The website informs users that long-term sickness absences can have very serious effects on the health and well-being of the workers of an organization, as well as the competitiveness of a business itself. These effects are particularly damaging for small businesses.
Workplace Health and Employers
The site seeks to help users in regard to sickness absence and return to work by advising techniques and best practices to:
- Keep valued and experienced staff
- Avoid unnecessary recruitment and training costs
- Reduce sick pay costs
- Keep businesses productive
- Reduce the costs of hiring temporary staff to cover the absence
- Help meet legal duties and avoid discriminating against disabled workers
- Reduce the pressure on other employees who are covering the workload of a sick worker
Workers benefit from this program by:
- Benefitting from improved health and well-being
- Enhanced and improved employee sick leave pay
- less risk of long-term absence, social exclusion and the possibility of job loss
Workplace Health Connect enlisted a team of specialist advisers who helped its users plan for sickness absence from the workplace. The website ended in August of 2018.
