FWD Project
Developed by Professor Fiona Earle at the University of Hull’s Centre for Human Factors, FWD
Together is a ground breaking approach to proactively manage workplace wellbeing.
Academic Foundations
A career Occupational Psychologist, Fiona specialises in work-related stress, working with organisations to understand the unique sources of stress facing their workforce, and helping organisations to proactively manage employee wellbeing. Recent research has shown that the average cost to a Local Authority can be close to £2000 per employee, if they were experiencing a severe mental health problem. In our work with public and private sector organisations we have identified some of the most significant risks to mental health and we are using this insight to support the design of healthier work.
Collaborating with the university’s internationally renowned Risk Institute, it was apparent that taking a more ‘risk-based approach’ to managing employee wellbeing can yield significant benefits. This is a well-established approach to managing traditional ‘health & safety’, by identifying the risks, understanding the impacts and then proposing controls to reduce the risk. However, despite this being the HSE’s recommended approach for managing work-related stress, and the growing evidence-base of the benefits of this approach, risk assessments for mental health are much less common. Our FWD Together tool supports managers to work with their team members to proactively manage work-related stress.
Background to the Future Work Design project
The pandemic and post-COVID world has brought various changes to the ways people work which may contribute to employee stress levels. The FWD project was established to research the relationship between new working practices and employee wellbeing.
Demands: emergency response, workload, work intensity & breaks, reduced variety
Lack of healthy structures & impact on productivity and motivation.
Separating work and homelife: loss of sanctuary, loss of the commute, work-family conflict
Peer relationships: socialisolation, loss of support system
Unhealthy behaviours e.g.
not switching off, not moving
Homeworking
environment
Phase 3 Project timeline
Meet the team
Prof Fiona Earle, UoH
Eddie Niblett, ERYC
Jo Shores, ERYC
Prof Terry Williams, UoH
Dr Lea Freour, UoH
Lead Partners
Pilot authorities
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Free licence for all Local Authority organisations
Funded by DLUHC's Local Digital Fund