Nationwide empowers managers to help others The challenge When Nationwide embarked on the 'Building Our Future Together' initiative, to encourage employees across its retail network to become more customer focused, the Society needed to find an effective way to support its people through change…Harvie Hughes, occupational health and safety consultant, at Nationwide, was tasked with finding new ways to support those employees affected. He explains, "We recognised from the outset that making fundamental changes to the way employees worked was going to result in increased pressure. It was essential to find a way of enabling people to deal with stress, so it wouldn't translate into increased absence or make people want to leave the organisation."Although Nationwide already had a number of employee support mechanisms in place, ranging from health screening to a 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), Hughes wanted to empower employees to help themselves and one another more effectively. "It wasn't enough to have good support mechanisms in place," he explains. "We also wanted individuals to recognise when they needed support and, more importantly, to realise getting help was the right thing to do - not a sign of weakness.""Validium's clinical expertise and commitment to service made it the obvious choice…"

The approach Keen to put a long-lasting solution in place, Hughes turned to The Validium Group, the organisation already responsible for supplying its EAP and critical incident support.He says, "Validium's clinical expertise and commitment to service made it the obvious choice. Our dedicated account manager quickly reviewed our needs to come up with an intelligent, cost effective solution. A Managing Troubled Employees workshop was cleverly designed for the top 80 managers and HR personnel, to remind them of the support services available and encourage them to start using these to support others."

The solution"Critical to the success of the workshops was the effort Validium put into changing attitudes to stress and helping managers recognise their own role in creating stress," says Hughes.He explains, "Validium taught managers how to recognise the early signs of stress, including irritability, reduced eye contact and inconsistent work outputs. We used case studies to collectively devise new ways of supporting individuals and groups. It was a powerful reminder of the importance of people to performance."

The results "The feedback from managers was outstanding," says Hughes. "Everyone found the insight into how to tackle stress in themselves and others very useful. As a result of the workshop, together with re-branding and promotion of the EAP, usage of the service increased. Many managers now use the EAP to access coaching from the Validium advisors on how best to support particular individuals or groups."He adds, "By proactively managing the health and safety of our employees, and working in partnership with Validium, we have been able to generate a commitment from our people that makes a measurable difference to the bottom line."

The future Validum continues to work with Nationwide, providing a comprehensive employee assistance programme, legal and debt helplines, face-to-face counselling and critical incident support. Validium successfully retains the account, despite an extensive re-tender. "Even when you compare everything else the market has to offer, the wellbeing services provided by Validium are still the most comprehensive, best quality and best value for money. Not to mention incredibly responsive to our needs and the changing requirements of our business," concludes Hughes.
"Even when you compare everything else the market has to offer, the wellbeing services provided by Validium are still the most comprehensive, best quality and best value for money."
Harvie Hughes, Occupational Health & Safety Consultant, Nationwide