Evaluating a Case Study

Evaluating a Case Study
Order Description
Critically Evaluating a Case Study

1. Outline the problems or issues faced by the organisation prior to taking action as well as the strategy taken to address these issues.

2. Does evidence suggest that the issues were effectively addressed? Why or why not?

3. Critically evaluate the strategy used by the organisation. Do this through discussion of supporting or conflicting theory and research from the field of organisational psychology.

a. What are the advantages of using an employee-led definition of wellbeing rather than a model from the literature?

4. Based on your critical evaluation, and in consultation with the literature, would you recommend any further action for the organisation to take in relation to these issues? Explain.

5. Aside from the outcomes described in this case study, would you expect any other potential benefits or drawbacks with the implemented approach?

6. Would you expect this strategy to be effective for other organisations? Why or why not?
Assessment Two Case Study

The BGL Group: an evolving well-being programme
From its beginnings as an insurance underwriter 20 years ago, the BGL Group has developed and expanded to become a major financial services company. It now employs more than 3,000 people in several different areas of the business, including legal services, insurance brands and the price comparison site comparethemarket.com. Interestingly, although BGL is successful and consistently reports increased profits, its plans for the future are not solely profit-based. Instead, the BGL strategy explicitly states that increasing employee engagement and meeting CSR (corporate social responsibility) targets such as charitable giving, are just as important to the business as profits and customer satisfaction.

The wellbeing programme at BGL is of central importance to this strategy. As Steve Dewar, Senior Manager for Wellbeing, says ‘BGL sets ambitious targets but has a habit of meeting them too! And we recognise that if we want to continue to drive the business forward, we need people who are healthy, fully engaged and have fun working here.’

There are two main reasons that well-being is seen as so important at BGL. Firstly, it is a natural expression of the BGL culture, which genuinely puts employees at the centre of the organisation. BGL not only recognises that it has a duty of care towards its people, but there is also a sense that treating employees well and providing well-being support is the ‘right thing to do’. Secondly, BGL believes that well-being initiatives provide a good return on investment: they can help to sustain high performance, reduce absenteeism and contribute to attracting and retaining talented people.

The original wellbeing programme
The well-being programme was originally introduced in 2010 following an internal employee opinion survey which asked employees whether they thought BGL took their well-being seriously. Results showed that 69% of employees agreed, a finding that provided the stimulus to improve what was becoming a key driver of engagement.

The ‘My Wellbeing’ programme was born, consisting of four main pillars:
1. My Health – which included subsidised private health care, eyecare vouchers and access to an employee assistance programme (EAP).
2. My Fitness – including discounted rates to local gyms, sports massage and a lunchtime walking club.
3. My Happiness – support on dealing with money issues and personal legal matters.
4. My Relaxation and Energy – subsidised osteopathy, at-desk massage and sleep workshops.

Just two years after its launch, the 2010 survey showed that the well-being programme was already having a positive effect on the employees, with 85% agreeing that BGL took their well-being seriously: a 16% increase in 18 months. Mark, who joined the company recently, emphasises how different it is to work at BGL compared with his previous employer. ‘The company genuinely seems to care about us and I’m really enjoying my work. We have inter-team competitions with prizes, i use the on-site gym several times a week and the annual Fun Day is a great day out with my family. It makes me proud to work here!’

For the first couple of years, although different proposals, initiatives and offerings were added to the programme, there was little measurement of what kind of impact they were having or whether the employees were finding them useful. Now, however, efforts are being made to review and refined the offering and to take a more proactive, planned approach to developing the programme. One of the drivers for this is the rapid growth that BGL is undergoing, and which is set to continue over the next few years. The management at BGL recognised that growth at this speed and the increasingly diverse workforce would bring challenges that a coherent and well-resourced well-being programme could help to meet.

The development of the programme
As a first step in refining the programme, an internal employee survey was conducted, specifically looking at awareness, usage and the usefulness of the various services and benefits. The survey also asked employees to rate their overall health in a number of categories including fitness, sleep, emotional well-being and energy. Results showed that there was high awareness among the staff of the general well-being programme and that they really appreciated its provision. However, there were varying levels of awareness of the different elements of the programme. Some initiatives, such as providing free fruit to all employees, were well known, while others, such as access to the EAP, were not. In addition, the survey identified that some elements of the programme, for example, access to doctors for second opinions, were rarely used, while other elements, such as the on-site gym, were very popular.

The survey also asked employees for suggestions for future well-being offerings, with the aim that the company will invest in the most popular suggestions. For example, many employees said they would like to see fitness classes and yoga provided on site, and so BGL is now talking to potential service providers and has begun a pilot of aerobic classes in the on-site gym. Another suggestion was help with quitting smoking – but as this was less popular, rather than providing the service directly, BGL is going to provide links and points employees in the right direction so that they can access support themselves.

Alongside the internal research, BGL also engaged a consultancy to conduct external research: case studies of other companies with well-being programmes that could provide a benchmark and a review of the academic literature on the elements of a successful well-being programme. This research identified several elements that BGL was already doing, including using well-being to drive retention and engagement, having an employee-led offering which provides the services that employees themselves say they need, and being committed to an ongoing programme. The research also identified a few things that BGL could work on to make the programme more effective. These included having a clear return on investment measures, including well-being in their CSR reprting and looking at how a positive and more formal approach to flexible working could help develop the business. This last point is a particularly important challenge for BGL because it has traditionally encouraged a culture of face-to-face engagement and regular networking based on conventional working hours.

Overall, the research demonstrated that while the well-being offering did not need to undergo radical change, it would benefit from continuing evolution and development. Based on the internal and external research, and in consultation with BGL’s Executive Board, the well-being programme is being simplified and rebranded into two main areas: My Workplace and My Health.

My Workplace focuses on creating an environment which will stimulate, inspire and refresh. Some of the initiatives being considered here include providing outdoor meeting pods, changing the look and feel of building exteriors and increasing the natural light in offices. BGL is also discussing the introduction of a cycle-to-work scheme, and so consideration needs to be given to the extra facilities that will be needed to support this, such as secure bicycle parking and additional showers/changing rooms. The My Workplace aspect of the well-being programme also includes traditional health and safety issues: Steve Dewar was formerly Health and Safety Manager and explains that the H&S policy will ultimately be transformed into a broader and more engaging well-being statement: ‘We’re moving away from old fashioned compliance statements to demonstrating a commitment from the top that we want to create an environment that supports our long term physical and emotional well-being.’

The second area, My Health, is underpinned by nutritional education and line manager training, and includes both physical and emotional/mental health. Some aspects of the original well-being programme as being retained and improved, such as more access to sports massage and osteopathy, and healthy eating options at the on-site restaurants. But there are also bigger developments afoot, for example building well-being suites at all sites, considering on-site gyms at other locations and introducting organised team sports. In addition, training for line managers will include resilience training: how to improve their own resilience but also how to develop it in their teams and support people as and when they need it.

Current challenges and benefits of the programme
In rolling out this revamped well-being, BGL is facing several challenges. One of them is striking a balance between ‘push’ and ‘pull’. This is the challenge of respecting employees’ private lives and not trying to interfere in their out-of-work activities and lifestyle, while still recognising that non-work life is intricately connected with work performance. for example, it is well known that good nutrition and exercise are important to our general health and vitality and subsequently our ability to perform well at work. But how can an organisation really influence the food and exercise choices that employees make? BGL’s approach to dealing with this is to offer healthy eating options in the work restaurants and free fruit in the offices, provide on-site gyms or reduced local gym membership, and allow employees to take advantage of these offers if they wish to. By making the well-being packages as attractive as possible, BGL is aiming to encourage employees to make informed decisions about health and nutrition that will ultimately have a positive impact on their work.

A second major challenge is to find ways of aligning the well-being programme with HR systems, policies and processes. Having joined-up systems will ensure that the programme is easier to administer. For example, a cycle-to-work scheme has tax advantages for participating employees and may even involve salary sacrifice. This would clearly be much easier to administer if it was linked directly with payroll. Alignment of the well-being programme with absence reporting and turnover statistics will also make the return on investment (ROI) easier to calculate.

Calculating this ROI is the third challenge for this organisation. It is not easy to directly measure what impact a well-being programme is having on employees, but BGL is focusing on three key performance indicators: absenteeism, attraction and retention, and employee engagement. Being able to measure these and demonstrate improvements is an important part of justifying the expenditure on well-being as the Group expands.

The company’s commitment to employees’ well-being is emphasised in the BGL Group’s values, which include ‘Just … be happy’. BGL believes that well-being can contribute in specific other areas too. To take an example, another of its values is ‘Just … be creative’ and many activities contribute to encouraging innovation and creativity among employees. From idea labs and forums where employees can post their improvement ideas for development, to break out rooms where they can go for informal meetings or a break from their normal work, to fun competitions, there are many things that help to improve well-being and also encourage collaboration and creativity at work.