Projects

The Health Improvement Division of the Welsh Government commissioned IES to conduct an impact evaluation of both the Corporate Health Standard and Small Workplace Health Awards. These Awards are granted to organisations that demonstrate that they meet national standards in how they deal with staff health and well-being issues, and different levels of Awards are available. The evaluation used a pre- and post-design methodology to examine outcomes such as reduced sickness absence, improved employee retention, improved engagement and motivation of employees, and improved company profile. New applicants were asked to participate in interviews, case study research and an online employee survey, whilst organisations holding the award for some time were asked to take part in telephone interviews.

The European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) is a pan-European survey of management and worker representatives in enterprises with more than ten employees on how health, safety and well-being are managed at work. This project involved in-depth cognitive interviews with ESENER respondents in five EU countries aimed at exploring the reasons and thinking behind the answers given by respondents to the survey, both to enhance understanding of what respondents mean by their answers and as a means for developing and improving the quality of future versions of the survey.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) commissioned artists to produce visual materials to communicate messages about priority areas such as workplace health promotion; mental health, and; health promotion amongst young workers. In addition to raising awareness and informing the target audience, the images also aim to stimulate debate and discussion about occupational safety and health (OSH). EU-OSHA commissioned IES to evaluate the resulting graphics to test how well the messages were understood by different types of target audiences at EU level. The methodology for the evaluation includes two main elements: an online survey of OSH-mail participants, and; face-to-face cognitive interviews with 15 university staff and students.

This was the second phase of a review of EU-OSHA’s website, feeding into the development of the agency’s on-line strategy. This phase of the review conducted a qualitative benchmarking review of comparable websites to validate the Agency’s approach to communicating to its target audiences online and make recommendations for the further development of its web presence.

The Institute for Employment Studies in partnership with the University of Liverpool has been commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to undertake a quantitative evaluation of the new Fit Notes – the medical statements that sickness absentees receive from the doctor. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of the fit notes against key outcome measures and to strengthen the evidence base on medical statements and sickness absence.

Eurofound commissioned IES to carry out a study examining scenarios of strategies of social partners’ cooperation in the hairdressing sector to improve the quality of work and employment in the sector. IES carried out this work with partners in Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland and Lithuania.

IES was commissioned by EU-OSHA to examine and systematically document online occupational safety and health (OSH) tools offered across EU member states and, in doing this, provide a typology of tools. The study also proposed a number of tools for support/adoption by EU-OSHA and helped the Agency define the role it should play in supporting/developing them.

This project evaluated the impact of the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work’s sponsorship of ‘Healthy Workplaces Award’ for films/documentaries about occupational safety and health. The sponsorship of the film award was in its third year, and decisions were required as to whether the Agency should sign up to sponsor awards for 2012-2015. The evaluation used primarily qualitative methods, such as face-to-face and telephone interviews, with the key players, to understand the success of the sponsorship.

IES was asked by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) to undertake a review of their current website, examining its information offer and architecture. Drawing on key findings from the mid-term strategy evaluation (currently being completed by IES), the aim of the review was to identify how well the website met the needs of its target audiences and to provide recommendations and practical proposals for a new website information strategy.

IES advised Mersey Care on how it might reduce its absence levels in its high security unit. Mersey Care NHS Trust wished to review its occupational sickness rate to examine the causes of absence and potential ways of reducing it. IES was asked to assist. IES helped the Trust understand its absence issues through: interviews with key managers, HR staff, the Occupational Health manager and staff side representatives considering Trust policies, procedures on absence and related matters examining workforce statistics on absence, employee engagement, etc Drawing on work done elsewhere in the health system and previous IES research, we wrote a report that offered a summary of findings and a set of suggestions for improvement of the absence situation. We also presented the results of our work to the Trust’s Executive Committee and HR community.