Improving performance through wellbeing and engagement is a two-year project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, in partnership with the Scottish Funding Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.

Health and Safety and Occupational Health professionals are two of the major stakeholder groups which the project works closely with.  Alan Cowen, Chair of USHA, represents USHA on the project’s steering group.

As Higher Education Institutions face the challenges of funding cuts, and doing more with less, the project recognises the impact of difficult times on our people.  Supporting staff now - so that they remain healthy, are able to cope with the stresses of change, and can to perform to the best of their abilities – will ensure a strong, resilient workforce in the future.

The project aims to:

• develop robust evidence for a HE specific business case for employee engagement and wellbeing
• increase expertise, and build capacity, across the sector around key employee engagement and wellbeing topics

The project’s three key work strands are now underway.

 The wellbeing and performance mapping exercise will investigate the links between employee wellbeing and performance. Data collected through staff wellbeing surveys in 17-19 institutions, will be analysed against data from the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and National Student Survey (NSS) for those institutions to identify any correlations.

13 workplace interventions will be piloted covering a range of topics including mental health, stress management and improving workplace health. Each institution will aim to measure the impact of the intervention on staff wellbeing, engagement and performance.  Key learnings will include the impact of various interventions, feedback on intervention design, and improved understanding of the criteria and process for measuring interventions.

An important aspect of the project is creating opportunities to share information within the sector. A programme of communications including an interactive website (www.wellbeing.ac.uk), regional events, e-newsletter, bank of toolkits, case studies and resources has been set up to promote shared learning.

Over 50% of institutions have now subscribed to www.wellbeing.ac.uk. Free subscriptions are available to Higher Education Institutions in England, Scotland and Wales and give access to:

• Mentoring on wellbeing and engagement issues
• A growing library of engagement and wellbeing case studies
• Quarterly e-newsletter
• Toolkits — currently being developed, these will provide a range of resources on key wellbeing topics.

 For more information please visit www.wellbeing.ac.uk or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it