Absence Management
Mental Ill Health and Work
Authors: Professor Michael O'Donnell - Chief Medical Officer, Carole Keith - Rehabilitation Services Manager, and Marcia Cumper - Rehabilitation Key Account Manager, Unum
Summer 2009
There is widespread concern about the links between mental ill health and work. Various sources, including the 2009 EEF/Unum study of sickness absence in the manufacturing industry, show that employers are facing ever-increasing numbers of employees who are reporting mental health issues as problem and going off sick with them. In this White Paper the authors explore the role of the employer, Unum's claims experience and the key principles for return to work.
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Unum and the Biopsychosocial Model: Managing the Risks of Being Different
Author: Andrew Potterton, Chief Medical Underwriter at Unum
Summer 2008
The biopsychosocial model has emerged over the past two decades and has sought to expand upon disease paradigms and complement pain models. It states that in order to understand and manage ill health, pain and disease, one must take into account the influence of biological, psychological and social factors. In this White Paper, Andrew Potterton details Unum’s adoption of the model and the changes we have made to our medical underwriting, claims and rehabilitation philosophy as a result of our belief in the model.
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Good Therapy and How to Recognise it
Author: Ruth Harrison, Insurance Nurse Specialist at Unum
Summer 2008
With the explosion of absence from the workplace as a result of stress, anxiety and depression, the demand for psychological therapies has grown. Subjective disorders are of course difficult to measure, and can cause heated debate in terms of their clinical management. However, whatever your personal view is in terms of the existence of such disorders and their treatment, there is no denying that for some individuals, conditions such as these have an obvious influence on their ability to function.
Employee Benefits
Critical Illness Insurance - Has Its Time Finally Come?
Author: Professor Michael O’Donnell, Chief Medical Officer at Unum
Autumn 2008
In this White Paper, Professor O’Donnell looks at the history of Critical Illness as a valuable employee benefit and explores some of its key advantages, particularly the potential to use benefits to pay for treatment costs.
Health & Wellbeing
Managing Health and Age to Extend Working Lives
Author: Chris Ball, Chief Executive of TAEN (The Age and Employment Network)
Autumn 2008
In this White Paper, written especially for Unum’s 2008 Chief Medical Officer’s Report on older workers, Chris provides an overview of the socio-economic interactions that inhibit age equality in the workplace.
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Older workers’ strengths & weaknesses: Fact and fiction reviewed
Author: Amanda Griffiths, Professor of Occupational Health Psychology and Director of Research at the Institute of Work, Health & Organisations (University of Nottingham)
Autumn 2008
In this White Paper, written especially for Unum’s 2008 Chief Medical Officer’s Report, Amanda challenges the view of what makes up a ‘normal’ workforce to accommodate increasing age diversity and help organisations maintain a competitive edge.
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Is it time for some fresh thinking on age and diversity?
Author: Freda Line, Independent HR and Diversity Consultant
Autumn 2008
In this White Paper, written especially for Unum’s 2008 Chief Medical Officer’s Report, Freda takes a look at the HR aspects of employing older people, taking discussions on older workers away from ‘old’ ground and forward to some fresh thinking on age and diversity.
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Older Workers – Another Inconvenient Truth?
Author: Alan Beazley, Advice and Policy Specialist, The Employers Forum on Age
Autumn 2008
In this White Paper, written especially for Unum’s 2008 Chief Medical Officer’s Report, Alan explores the key issues on the inconvenient truth about our ageing society and what employers should consider as their role in achieving viable solutions in the workplace.
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And how are we today? Typecasting the old
Author: Dr Michael O’Donnell, Writer & Broadcaster
Autumn 2008
In this White Paper, written especially for Unum’s 2008 Chief Medical Officer’s Report, Dr O’Donnell, writer and producer of the BBC Radio 4 series ‘The Age-Old Dilemma’, considers the attitudes and prejudices towards older people in society today.
Legislation & Regulation
The New Fit Note
Author: Professor Michael O'Donnell - Chief Medical Officer, Unum
Summer 2010
On 6 April 2010, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) replaced the ‘sick note’ with a ‘Statement of Fitness for Work’ (the ‘fit note’) for use in England, Scotland and Wales. The new fit note focuses on what an employee is still capable of, in contrast to the old sick notes which focused on what an employee could not do. In this White Paper, as well as discussing the changes that the fit note brings, the author also discusses how it will work in practice and what it means for employers.
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A Fit for Work service
Author: Peter Barnett, Independent Consultant, Health & Welfare
Autumn 2008
In her review of the Health of Britain's working age population 'Working for a Healthier Tomorrow' Dame Carol Black noted that insufficient access to support for patients in the early stages of sickness absence can lead to longer-term or repeated episodes of absence. She went on to propose that a new model of early intervention should be piloted which supported GPs with new options for referral. She called for the creation of a Government funded and provided Fit for Work (FFW) service which should provide a minimum level of work-related health support to all employees, especially important for those in organisations without any form of occupational health provision. In this White Paper Peter looks at how the service could work in practice.
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Welfare Reform: A Changing Landscape
Author: Peter Barnett, Independent Consultant, Health & Welfare
Autumn 2008
In this White Paper Peter puts the spotlight on the Welfare Reform debate in the run-up to the introduction of the Employment & Support Allowance in October 2008.
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Health & Wellbeing – The Employer’s Role?
Author: Peter Barnett, Independent Consultant, Health & Welfare
Autumn 2008
It is common sense to ensure that, wherever possible, the people who make up our organisations are in good health and feel good about themselves and their work environment. Intuitively a ‘well’ workforce, one that is fit in both body and mind, will be more sustainable, more productive, better motivated, have less sickness absence and importantly stay longer, which in turn should lead to reduced temporary and recruitment costs. Employers have a role in enabling a good work environment by providing high quality jobs for people — jobs with autonomy, security, and a reasonable balance between effort and reward, and between skill level and demand. Similarly, poor management, organisation and working conditions are capable of undermining the situation. In this White Paper Peter explores the role of the employer in promoting a healthy and well workplace and the support that is currently available to employers.
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