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Government launches fund to boost occupational health for SME employees

Journalist: Arunth Sriganthan, People Management

ended 03. February 2023

As the government announces the launch of a new £1 million fund to improve occupational health for Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) I wanted to hear a HR/SME perspective on this:

  1. Will this be enough for SMEs? 
  2. Will this help HR deal with employees in SMEs who need occupational health? 
  3. What is HR doing to help occupational health/what more can HR do?

Link for the full government press notice: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1-million-fund-for-fresh-ideas-to-boost-health-at-work

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Scott GallacherVerified
Director at Rowley Turton
The country obviously needs a healthy workforce for the economy to recover strongly from the pandemic. So, Occupational Health is clearly an important issue for the UK. However, given the the paltry funding, this does raise serious questions about the government's commitment to this issue. I suspect it's more about generating a few positive headlines for the government, rather than being a serious attempt to help employees, SMEs or the economy as a whole.
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Ben Lakey0
CEO at Syndi Health
We are all uniquely human, and existing "one size fits all" models of support for occupational health are sadly no longer fit for purpose. As a society, we need to build an infrastructure that reflects people's individual needs and educates and empowers them to choose the right combination of support for them.

Historical models of support have always made broad assumptions about what people need to be happy and healthy at work. With the digital revolution, HR teams need tools at their fingertips that allow them to adapt and respond to their people's real challenges quickly and cost-effectively to show a real commitment to their employee's wellbeing.