E43: The Importance of Measuring Well-Being - with Richard Heron

Episode Summary

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 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 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.

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] Well-being 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 & well-being in business school curriculums and its effectiveness.

[36:40] The next 10 years – We asked Richard about the most important drivers for well-being in the next decade and opportunities for organisations to implement measures to improve health & well-being 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 well-being 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 well-being and the mental health area than it could anywhere else.”

“I think occupational health professionals really are the intelligent purchasers of well-being datasets and solutions for their organisation.”