Business Action on Public Health

Employee Health and Wellbeing 

 Bedfordshire and Luton Employers Practitioner Event

‘Alcohol and its impact on workplace productivity’

6th November 2013

9.30am-12.00

Debbie LonghurstProject Manager, for Business Action on Public Health

Business in the Community – East of England

Transforming business

transforming communities

Taking Action To

tackle workplace health and wellbeing

consider influence on wider public

health

&

“Public health is everyone’s responsibility and there is a role for all of us, working in partnership, in tackling these challenges.”

Workplace Support•Workplace champions

•Mental wellbeing

•Healthy Eating

•Managing Alcohol

•Physical wellbeing

•No smoking

•Fact ‘Employees who are physically active take 27% fewer days off sick’•Fact ‘25% of sick days taken are as a result of stress’•Fact ‘On average smokers take 4.4 more days off sick than non-smokers’

Why Alcohol is an issue?

Alcohol is 45% more affordable than it was in 1980

Alcohol misuse costs England approximately £21bn per year in healthcare, crime and lost productivity costs

Average alcohol consumption has gradually fallen in many OECD countries between 1980 and 2009 with an average overall decrease of 9%. The United Kingdom however, has seen an increase of over 9% in these three decades

Alcohol is a causal factor in more than 60 medical conditions, including: mouth, throat, stomach, liver and breast cancers; high blood pressure, cirrhosis of the liver; and depression

Drinking behaviour•34% of men and 28% of women drank more than recommended (4 units for men, 3 for women) on at least one day in the last week. Excluding those who didn’t drink at all in the last week the figure rises to 52% of men and 53% of women

•18% of men and 12% of women drank heavily (at least twice the recommended limits) on at least one day in the last week. Excluding those who didn’t drink at all in the last week the figure rises to 27% of men and 22% of women

•9% of men and 6% of women drank very heavily (at least three times the recommended limits) on at least one day in the last week. Excluding those who didn’t drink at all in the last week the figure rises to 14% of men and 12% of women

Drinking behaviour

•Adults living in households in the highest income quintile are twice as likely to drink heavily as adults in lowest income quintile - 22% compared to 10%

•Older people tend to drink more frequently than younger. The proportion of adults who drank every day increased with each group - just 1% of 16-24 age group had drunk every day during the previous week, 4% in 25-44, 9% in 45-64 and 13% in 65+

•Younger people tend to drink more heavily (exceeding 8 units for men and 6 units for women) on a single occasion than older people. 6% of men aged 65 and over had drunk heavily on at least one day in the previous week, compared with 19% of men aged 45 to 64, 24% of men aged 24-44 and 22% of men aged 16 to 24. Among women the corresponding age groups were 2%, 12%, 16% and 18%

Project Successes

•200 employers support the project across East of England

• Free workplace support now available from Public Health teams

• Over 15 case studies available to showcase local good practice

•72 delegates gained benefit from a pilot programme for Mental Health lite across Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire

• Increasing use of Governments Public health responsibility deal to give employers a platform for their wellbeing strategy; local partners include•Mills & Reeve solicitors•Essex & Suffolk water•Unilever•Bourne leisure

Summary

Please complete the evaluation sheet

Presentations will be on our web page –link will be sent to you

S

Public Health Responsibility Deal

Sign up and pledge to improve public health in England

Health at Work network

“We will actively support our workforce to live healthier lives”

The Public Health Responsibility Deal taps into the important role that employers play in creating an environment that supports people to lead healthier lives and through them create healthier, more productive businesses.

Public Health Responsibility Deal

Gives workplaces a platform for their wellbeing strategy and demonstrates to staff the impact their health has on the business’ bottom line.

Signing up sends a strong public message about an employer’s commitment to taking action to improve the health of their employees, their business and the wider community.

Why pledge?

• H01. Chronic Conditions Guide •H02. Occupational Health Standards •H03. Health & Wellbeing Report •H04. Healthier Staff Restaurants •H05. Smoking Cessation/Respiratory Health •H06. Staff Health Checks •H07. Mental Health and Wellbeing •H08. Young People in the Workplace •H09. Domestic Violence •H10. Construction and Civil Engineering Industries

Health at work pledges

18-24 November 2013 The aim of Alcohol Awareness Week is to get people thinking about alcohol - how it affects us as individuals, families, communities and society. By encouraging people to have the right conversations about alcohol we hope to make changes to our relationship with alcohol in the UK.

See your event packs for more information and BITC web page

Our supporthttp://

www.bitc.org.uk/east/what-we-offer/business-action-public-health

Debbie.longhurst@bitc.org.uk

Thank you to our host E.ON and our presenters