Resources
Topics
- Ageing Well
- Alcohol, Smoking & Substance Misuse
- Cancer Screening and Support
- Financial Wellbeing
- Healthy Eating
- Leadership, Management & Workplace Culture
- Local Services & Signposting
- Mental Health
- Musculoskeletal Health, Aches & Pains
- Other Topics
- Physical Activity & Active Travel
- Sickness Absence, Return to Work & Prevention
- Sole Traders & Industry Specific
- Suicide Prevention
- Templates
- Wellbeing at Work reports
- Working from Home
Ageing Well
Menstruation and support at work
This 2023 report from CIPD outlines the results of their survey of over 2,000 women, aged 18–60, who currently or have previously menstruated while in employment. The aim of the research was to understand employees’ experiences of menstruation and support at work.
Menopause Recipe Booklet
Developed by Brighton and Hove Public Health, this is a recipe book for eating well for menopause. Eating well may help reduce the severity of menopausal symptoms, and protect against conditions associated with the loss of oestrogen.
Age Friendly Employer Pledge
A nationwide programme for employers who recognise the importance and value of older workers. Employers commit to improving work for people in their 50s and 60s and taking the necessary action to help them flourish in a multigenerational workforce.
Helping Employees Navigate Mid-Life
The mid-life MOT is a framework in which employees in their 40s, 50s and 60s can review their personal lives across three key themes: work, health and money, in order to make choices to ensure the future retirement they want. This mid-life MOT toolkit for employers created by the Business in the Community will help you promote a more age-inclusive culture in your organisation.
How Menopause Friendly Your Organisation Is?
Employers have a crucial role in supporting menopausal women and creating an inclusive and supportive environment for those women to stay well at work. This checklist put together by Henpicked helps you assess how menopause friendly your organisation is.
Menopause in the Workplace
Menopause is a natural stage of life and a significant number of women will be working through their menopausal transition. Yet managing symptoms in the workplace is challenging. Business in the Community have put together a very useful toolkit for employers to help you do it successfully.
Menopause at Work: A Guide for Managers
A practical guide by the CIPD covering the symptoms, how to approach a sensitive conversation, carry out a risk assessment and make reasonable adjustments, and how to manage performance positively.
Alcohol, Smoking & Substance Misuse
Factsheet: Alcohol in the workplace
Statistically, drinkers are more likely to be employed than non-drinkers. This means the effects of overconsumption of alcohol are often felt in the workplace. The workplace can be a good place to help people identify alcohol problems and overcome them.
Alcohol and Mental Health Leaflet
1 in 3 drinkers in the UK have been drinking at increasing or high-risk levels, which could have an impact on their mental wellbeing. Help your staff increase alcohol awareness and develop a healthy relationship with drinking by promoting this leaflet put together by Alcohol Change UK.
Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Toolkit for Employers
This Business in the Community toolkit brigs a checklist of actions, an adaptable framework for a 'Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Policy', a summary of key legislation and case studies from a range of organisations to help you develop an approach that fits the needs of your staff.
Cancer Screening and Support
Cancer Resources – a Toolkit for Employers
The Wellbeing at Work team has created this toolkit with a list of useful websites, videos, posters, leaflets and guides on cancer screening, the three main types of cancer (bowel, breast and cervical) and how to support employees with cancer. All in one document. This is to help you share information or run activities on cancer prevention and support in your workplace, without you having to browse endlessly the internet to find what you need!
Working Through Cancer Guide
This guide has six sections: 1. How cancer affects people, physically and emotionally, 2. How to talk about cancer, 3. Strategies to support employees affected by cancer and their co-workers, 4. Impact on personal finances, 5. Legislation, including the Equality Act 2010, and the rights of carers, 6. How Macmillan can help. At the end of each section, you will find additional resources and practical tips to minimise the impact of cancer.
Financial Wellbeing
Wave Community Bank
Wave Community Bank (WCB) is the credit union for East Sussex and a local community bank. They provide ethical, affordable loans and savings accounts to people living or working in East Sussex. WCB also work with local employers to offer their staff a savings scheme called Chorus where employees can save and repay loans through payroll, with lower interest rates.
Money Navigator
If your employees are looking for money guidance, the Money Navigator tool can help. Created by the Money Advice Service, it quickly gives you action plans based on your own situation, outlining what to tackle first, how to stay on top of bills, extra support you are entitled to and free advice for debt, housing or redundancy.
Step Change
Step Change is a debt advice charity that helps people with debt problems take back control of their finances and their lives. They offer free debt advice over the phone and an online debt advice tool. Signposting your staff to those services can help them take practical steps to manage their money stress and improve their general wellbeing.
Healthy Eating
Healthy Eating Activity Pack
Designed for the Healthy Eating Week 2021 by the British Nutrition Foundation, this pack gives you an overview about the key five themes for eating well – know the facts, make a healthier choice, plan for success, be the chef and keep moving, with a range of activity ideas that you could just roll out in your workplace, or twist to best suit your staff needs.
Healthy Eating and Healthier Weight Toolkit
Employers can take a proactive and preventative approach to support weight management and encourage greater physical activity. This Business in the Community toolkit lists free resources that will help you achieve a healthier working environment, including a checklist of actions, useful information and training.
Sugar Smart Campaign
Employers have an important role in influencing the choices we make. Whether you run a staff canteen, employ caterers or have shared kitchen spaces in your workplace, you have a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness about the dangers of too much sugar. This campaign will help you reduce the amount of sugar we all consume, and any organisation can pledge to become Sugar Smart.
Leadership, Management & Workplace Culture
Toolkit – Making your workplace more autistic-friendly
Some simple strategies that will make the autistic person’s life easier and work a more enjoyable place to be, but also help the mood of the office as a whole. This toolkit was shared by Mental Health at Work, curated by Mind and supported by the Mental Health At Work Leadership Council.
Being anti-racist in the workplace
Anti-racist practice is a vital part of creating a positive workplace culture. This toolkit was shared by Mental Health at Work, curated by Mind and supported by the Mental Health At Work Leadership Council.
Building a Change-Ready Workforce Guide
The pace and volume of change are threatening business performance. In fact, 73% of employees undergoing change experience moderate to high stress (Gartner). The Wellbeing Project have create a must-read guide for a people professional, or person responsible for managing organisational change.
Guide to supporting working parents
Find out what challenges working parents are facing today, and read tips and advice to help make the workplace more inclusive for those with children. Mental Health at Work, curated by Mind and supported by the Mental Health At Work Leadership Council, partnered with digital wellbeing provider Kooth, to provide this guide.
Healthy Meeting Guidance
Healthy meetings promote and improve workplace health and wellbeing, as well as a culture of outcome-focused efficiency. This guidance and checklist from Brighton and Hove City Council includes considerations before meetings, and actions and reflections after meetings.
Carer-friendly Workplaces Guide
By creating a carer-friendly workplace, employers can attract and retain talent and realise the organisational and social benefits of supporting carers. This guide from the CIPD aims to support employers to develop a carer-friendly workplace.
CIPD Wellbeing Resources
Reports, guides, podcasts and webinars to help employees build positive habits and manage their health. From physical and mental health to financial wellbeing, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).
Flexible Working Guide
The CIPD have produced a practical guide for employers in collaboration with Affinity Health, exploring a number of effective approaches taken by organisations across different sectors and industries to offer insights and recommended actions on what works best in terms of flexible working.
Steps to Prevent Sexual Harassment
This web guide put together by ACAS gives you practical steps to prevent sexual harassment to happen in your workplace, including how to create a specific sexual harassment policy and procedure, how to check if it’s working, how to access risks and how to train staff.
Developing and Evaluating Workplace Health Interventions Toolkit
Produced by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, this aims to help employers to develop their workplace health interventions following four stages: analyse, plan, implement and evaluate. This model is a continuous process, with the evaluation leading back into the analyse stage. By following this, employers will have evidence to decide what interventions to continue, to stop, or do differently.
Handling a Bullying, Harassment or Discrimination Complaint at Work
As an employer, you should do all you can to try to prevent and stop bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation at work. On this ACAS web guide, find out about prevention by improving equality, diversity and inclusion in your workplace. This guide also covers the different types of unfair treatment, your legal responsibility as an employer, how to approach a bullying, harassment, discrimination or victimisation complaint if your employee files one, and how to handle it formally or informally.
Discrimination: An Overview and How to Prevent It
Learn more about discrimination based on the 'protected characteristics' under the Equality Act 2010, and what you can do to prevent it from occurring in your workplace in this web guide created by ACAS.
Local Services & Signposting
East Sussex 1Space
1Space is a directory of wellbeing, support and care services, mainly for adults. The 1Space Directory has been designed to bring together groups and organisations offering services for people of all ages and a diversity of needs, into one place online.
East Sussex Community Information Service (ESCIS)
ESCIS is a database of community information such as organisations, clubs, societies and events, developed and managed by the Library and Information Service of East Sussex County Council in association with Brighton and Hove Library Service. It is a free resource for everyone. Free to list and free to use.
Mental Health
Five Tips to be Happier at Work
A podcast on the latest scientific research about happiness. In this episode, it's argued that because of our career woes, we often neglect our happiness. Hear five top tips for improving our workplace wellbeing, from happiness expert Dr. Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast.
LGBTQI+ Inclusivity in Your Organisation Toolkit
People who identify as LGBTQI+ are more likely to experience mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, suicidal feelings, and other signs of poor mental wellbeing. Employers and workplaces are in a position to make a real difference to this. This toolkit was shared by Mental Health at Work, curated by Mind and supported by the Mental Health At Work Leadership Council.
Adult Sleep eBook: Understanding Your Sleep
Supported by Bed Advice UK brought to you by The National Bed Federation, The Sleep Charity has launched a brand new adult’s sleep ebook, Understanding Your Sleep.
HR guide to perinatal mental health support in the workplace
This guide explains the differences between perinatal mental health problems, the impact they might have on new parents, and ways your organisation can support those experiencing them. It was shared by Mental Health at Work, curated by Mind and supported by the Mental Health At Work Leadership Council.
Mental health and working remotely
Mind offers tips for looking after mental health if employees are in a hybrid or remote role.
Able Futures
Able Futures provides support to people in work that have mental health difficulties, and is funded by the DWP. The service provides individuals with up to 9 months advice and guidance from a mental health specialist.
E-Wellbeing
E-wellbeing for adults is a digital wellbeing service, for adults over the age of 25 who live in Sussex (including Brighton & Hove). Their aim is to provide a space for people to access relevant information about emotional health and wellbeing and find the support that is right for them. Using the Services page, you can find a range of organisations offering support in your local area.
Mental Health for Small Business Owners
The Society for Occupational Medicine has created this guide specially for small business owners. It contains five sections which look at recognising the problems, reviewing what is already in place, responding to the needs and reviewing the approach. There is a self-help section and useful links to additional information that could also be shared with staff.
Sleep: a Toolkit for Employers
This Business in the Community toolkit provides practical information for all employers on how you can create an environment where employees understand the importance of sleep and are able to make healthier choices at work and at home, with advice that is specifically aimed at SMEs. Many of the points are simple to implement, supported by resources that are free or inexpensive.
Developing a Realistic Mental Health at Work Plan
It’s important that your organisation’s intentions to promote good mental health is set out in a policy, alongside with a simple, clear and deliverable plan to ensure that you are fulfilling your commitments in that policy. This guide created by the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust is to help you develop a mental health or wellbeing policy and plan. It also covers how to communicate and review them efficiently.
Mental Health Toolkit for Employers
This Business in the Community toolkit helps employers take positive actions to build a culture that champions good mental health. It provides valuable resources to create an approach that works for your organisation. It also provides a greater understanding of how to support those who need the most, and how to involve your supply chain.
Musculoskeletal Health, Aches & Pains
MSK self-care guidance
Sussex MSK provide a range of information on how to keep healthy, how to help yourself, and how to manage any diagnosed condition related to MSK.
Musculoskeletal Health in the Workplace
Guidance on how to be an MSK healthy workplace. Key actions have been identified by experts in MSK health, health and safety, public health, occupational health and HR, along with employers and employees from businesses large and small brought together by MSK Aware CIC MSK Aware CIC is a not-for-profit organisation working to improve the musculoskeletal health of people in the UK and beyond. It has been developed to take forward MSK Aware and the work undertaken by the Bone and Joint Research Group, Royal Cornwall Hospital, UK.
Setting up Working from Home Checklist
Example checklist created by ACAS for employers and employees to use when setting up homeworking. This includes temporary homeworking because of the pandemic and longer-term homeworking arrangements.
Display Screen Equipment Workstation Checklist
This checklist created by the Health and Safety Executive can be used to help you complete a risk assessment and comply with the current health and safety regulations. If you can answer ‘Yes’ to all the questions, having taken account of the ‘Things to consider’, you are complying with the legal requirements.
MSK Health in the Workplace Toolkit
This Business in the Community toolkit is a simple step-by-step resource for dealing with back, neck, muscle and joint pain at work. It will help you pick out the best free resources that are right for you and your team, whatever the size of your organisation. It provides practical advice for all employers on how you can create an environment where MSK health is supported and the impact of MSK problems is reduced.
Other Topics
Workplace support for employees experiencing fertility challenges
Workplace support for employees experiencing fertility challenges, investigations or treatment. From the CIPD this report is based on the findings of two surveys, looking at both employer provision and employees’ experiences at work. It explores the research and provides practical guidance to help people professionals to develop a framework of effective support.
Making your workplace more autistic-friendly
Principles and recommend resources that can help make work environments better for autistic people, from Mental Health at Work.
2024 Awareness Days Calendar
This downloadable pdf covers awareness dates and months in the 2024 annual calendar, to help workplaces plan health awareness campaigns. It was updated in July, for the remainder of the year and provides campaign links where they are available.
Fertility in the Workplace brochure
Fertility Network UK is the UK’s leading patient-led charity, supporting people facing fertility struggles. Fertility In the Workplace aims to help employers better understand what this entails for employees, as well as their colleagues, to enable them to provide much needed understanding and support.
Trainline Business
A free, fast and self-serve travel platform for businesses, from Trainline. The platform provides businesses with tools and information to encourage staff to use public transport. This helps reduce carbon emissions, eases congestion and fosters a sense of community among commuters.
Work, Skills and Health – East Sussex Public Health Annual Report
2022 East Sussex Public Health’s Annual Report considers the relationship between work, skills, and health. We know that work and skills have a significant impact on our health and wellbeing, and good work can maintain health, whilst poor work can be detrimental to health. To maintain health, work needs to be paid adequately, be safe and stable, offer opportunity for development, prevent social isolation, and offer a degree of control or decision making.
Domestic Abuse Toolkit for Employers
Employers have a duty of care to support their employees suffering from or at risk of domestic abuse, as an integral part of providing a safe and effective work environment. This toolkit for employers created by the Business in the Community consolidates the best practice around three key actions: acknowledgement of the problem, responding to it with internal policies and signposting to support available.
Physical Activity & Active Travel
Healthy Meeting Guidance
Healthy meetings promote and improve workplace health and wellbeing, as well as a culture of outcome-focused efficiency. This guidance checklist, from Brighton and Hove City Council, includes considerations before meetings, actions and reflections after meetings.
Cycle to Work Schemes – A Guide for Employers
This is a Sustrans guide on free cycle to work schemes available for employers. It gives an overview of what a cycle scheme entails and how to implement it successfully, including how to save money on NI contributions.
Cycle to Work Scheme – Guidance for Employers
If you are looking to offer a cycle to work scheme to your employees, have a look at this guide by the Department of Transport. It brings an overview on Cycle to Work schemes available and how to implement them, enabling employees to hire bikes or safety equipment from the employer or a third party via salary sacrifice.
Active Employee Toolkit
We know physical activity boost mental health, reduce stress and aid productivity. This practical toolkit designed by Sport England will help you support your employees and colleagues to stay active. It provides advice, tips and shareable resources so that you can enable your teams to build more movement into their working day.
Walking Meetings Guide
Being active for at least 20 minutes every day can go a long way towards keeping us healthy. Introducing walking meetings can be a good way to reduce sitting time and create a more active working day to improve employee wellbeing and productivity. This guide put together by Unilever will show you how.
Sickness Absence, Return to Work & Prevention
Absence management and measurement
This factsheet from CIPD discusses how to measure sickness absence, the main components of an absence policy, and how to address short- and long-term absence in an organisation
Ill health and absence guidance for workplaces
As an employer, navigating the absence and return to work process of employees can be a challenge. Healthy Working Lives makes it easy to understand in this section of their website
Supporting Employees with Long-Term Health Conditions
Advice and guidance by Public Health Scotland for employers to support employees with long-term health conditions to return to or continue in work. It covers how to do a risk assessment and steps to consider with your employee when planning workplace adjustments or creating a return to work plan.
Fit Note: A Guide for Employers
Created by the Department for Work and Pensions, this guide explains what to do if you are given a fit note by an employee. It explains what the different sections of the fit note mean, and how you can use it most effectively to help your organisation and support your employee’s wellbeing.
Sole Traders & Industry Specific
Our Frontline
Our Frontline offers one-to-one mental health support, by call or text, from trained volunteers to frontline staff in need, plus resources, tips and ideas for them to look after their own wellbeing. Our Frontline is a partnership between Shout, Samaritans, Mind, Hospice UK and The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
MindEd Resilience Hub
Website put together by NHS Health Education England to help healthcare professionals to manage their own mental health and wellbeing with the best advice and tips from experts on topics such as stress and fear, end of life and management skills for team leaders.
Staff in Mind Service
This service is for every health and care staff member working within the Sussex Health and Care Partnership Integrated Care System who may be experiencing emotional or psychological difficulties, and includes online self-assessment, a confidential follow-up with a clinician and access to mental health treatment.
Building Mental Health for Construction Workers
Construction workers are more likely to experience work-related stress and other mental health issues, and they are less likely to come forward and talk about it due to stigma and gender stereotypes. Building Mental Health has put together a helpful toolkit of resources for construction employers.
Working Well When You Are Self-Employed
If you are self-employed, you are not only doing your job by yourself most of the time, but you have also taken on responsibility for the accounts, the invoicing and the marketing. It’s easier to forget to add your own wellbeing to the to-do list or find the time to prioritise your own health, but this guide created by Leapers will help you.
Suicide Prevention
Organisational Suicide Prevention Toolkit
Some of the best resources for starting the conversation, providing support if someone tells you they need help, and combating some of the reasons why someone may be having suicidal thoughts. Shared by Mental Health at Work, curated by Mind and supported by the Mental Health At Work Leadership Council.
Crisis Management In The Event Of A Suicide: A Postvention Toolkit For Employers
This Suicide Postvention Toolkit is designed to support employers in their response to the suicide of an employee, at work or outside the workplace. Suicide prevention should be an integral part of a positive and proactive approach to mental health at work. But no mental health policy can ever eliminate the risk of suicide. So it is of paramount importance to incorporate a suicide postvention protocol into a company’s crisis management strategy.
Zero Suicide Alliance Training
Did you know that suicide is preventable? See how you can have a life-saver conversation with a staff member or a work colleague in this 20-minute free online training created by Zero Suicide Alliance. You can also offer this free training to your workforce.
Warning Signs
Sadly, suicide rates among men are, on average, 3.5 times higher than women. Warning Signs is a suicide prevention campaign aimed at men and managed by the Sussex Health and Care Partnership, that you could promote in your workplace to help all your staff and colleagues at risk of suicide.
Suicide Prevention Toolkit for Employers
This Business in the Community toolkit supports senior leadership, line managers, HR and occupational health and safety professionals identify a member of staff who may have suicidal feelings and gives practical advice on how to deal with a crisis situation. It also helps you embed suicide prevention strategies in your organisation’s health and wellbeing policies.
Templates
The 7 C’s of Wellbeing Design
A guide from Health@Work exploring seven steps to implementing a Workplace Wellbeing Programme.
Wellbeing strategy template
This brief template shows some key areas your organisation could focus on within financial, physical and psychological wellbeing. It also includes a number of questions to think about, to help you plan ongoing strategies to help encourage employees to flourish at the same time as supporting those experiencing problems. This template is from Bailey & French, a consultancy specialising in positive psychology to support wellbeing, leadership and performance. It was made available as part of the Mental Health at Work website, curated by Mind and supported by the Mental Health At Work Leadership Council, partnered with digital wellbeing provider Kooth, to provide this guide.
Homeworking Policy Template
A Homeworking Policy template from ACAS for you to adapt. This template can be used when employers and employees wish to make a longer-term homeworking arrangement.
Flexible Working Policy Template
A template with what to cover in a Flexible Working Policy, including more information and guidance from ACAS on how to respond to flexible working requests.
Equality and Diversity Policy Template
A free to download Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Template that you can adjust for your workplace, from ACAS. You can also find some practical guidance on how to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in your workplace.
Workplace Health Needs Assessment Template
This is a tested questionnaire designed by Public Health England to help you find out about your staff health and wellbeing needs and to set a baseline of data against which to track progress, so that you can understand where to prioritise investment. It is for employers of all types and sizes.
Wellbeing at Work reports
Wellbeing at Work Evaluation Report: Year Two
The 2022-2023 East Sussex Wellbeing at Work Report considers the achievements of the programme in its second year of delivery, and recommendations for future development.
Wellbeing at Work – Year 1 evaluation report (2021-2022)
Evaluation report for the first year of the delivery of the East Sussex Wellbeing at Work programme. The evaluation explores the achievements of the programme in its first year, as well as recommendations for future development.
Working from Home
East Sussex Working Well From Home report – long version
Long version of the East Sussex Working Well From Home report. A summary of homeworking research undertaken in East Sussex in 2021, including a summary of recommendations for employers with home/hybrid workers.
East Sussex Working Well From Home report
A summary of homeworking research undertaken in East Sussex in 2021, including a summary of recommendations for employers with home/hybrid workers.