Case study: Dyer & Butler’s use of data to inform wellbeing initiatives
Using data to understand the mental health of your workforce is an essential element of supporting wellbeing at work. And it forms a key part of the Railway Mental Health Charter framework. However, collecting data doesn’t have to be a difficult task. Steve Broom—Safety, Sustainability and Wellbeing Director—and Elaine Coldwell—Safety, Sustainability and Wellbeing Advisor—share how Dyer & Butler are using data to shape their approach to staff wellbeing.
At Dyer & Butler, we’ve introduced a staged approach to staff wellbeing. It includes:
- collecting data to gather insights into issues faced by staff
- implementing wellbeing initiatives that address those issues
- measuring the success of those initiatives.
Below are the steps we took to achieve this and what might also work for you.
1. Decide which data to collect and how
Having trained around 15% of our workforce in Mental Health First Aid, we realised this would be a great avenue for measuring the mental wellbeing of our workforce. So, we created a ‘conversation tool’ that allows us to collect confidential data on the conversations taking place between Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs) and colleagues.
The tool is a simple Microsoft form that allows us to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The form is completed by MHFAs following a wellbeing conversation. It captures data including:
- which MHFA had the conversation
- where the conversation took place, i.e., in person or via telephone or email
- how long the conversation was
- the topic of the conversation, i.e., stress
- the outcome of the conversation, including where the person was signposted to for support
- whether a follow-up conversation is required.
We then use this data to better understand the realities of the issues and challenges that our staff are facing. This helps us provide better support that meets their needs. As the saying goes, ‘What gets measured gets managed’.
2. Collect the data
As part of the Mental Health First Aid training course that’s delivered in-house, trainees are shown the conversation tool and instructed on how to use it. The benefits of using the tool for the organisation are also explained to MHFAs.
Following the training, every MHFA is buddied up with a mental health ambassador. The ambassador regularly checks in with MHFAs and will remind them to use the tool to record the information about the conversations they have had.
3. Analyse the data
The tool was created in PowerBI and is linked to the Microsoft Form, so the data is automatically inputted once an MHFA completes the form. The data is presented on a dashboard where the relevant information inputted allows us to see trends and patterns in the data collected. This includes the number of conversations happening between MHFAs and colleagues and the most common issues they discuss. The latter includes:
- anxiety and stress
- depression and sadness
- relationships
- bereavement
- money worries
- sleep problems.
The dashboard also shows how people rated their state of mind at both the start and end of their conversation, allowing us to determine the value of their interactions with MHFAs.
4. Use the data to inform wellbeing initiatives
The conversation tool has been generating data that we use as a basis to further inform our strategy and improvements by targeting the topics identified as important to frontline staff. This tracking has allowed us to build a targeted campaign and plan for quarterly briefings to ensure that all effort spent on wellbeing initiatives has the most benefit to our staff’s specific needs.
These topics have so far included:
- managing job stress
- anxiety
- depression and sadness
- managing relationships.
We also feel that running these campaigns quarterly leads to a sustained approach, so mental health is considered all year round rather than only during Mental Health Awareness Week.
The highest category recorded by the conversation tool is workplace stress, with 16 conversations in the past 12 months and 44 since the introduction of the conversation tool in 2021. As a result of this intelligence, we were able to ensure that our campaign that quarter included information, support, and assistance specifically focused on managing workplace stress. This included:
- writing a stress policy outlining how we support people experiencing stress at work and returning to work following stress-related absence
- completing an organisational stress risk assessment
- launching a new initiative to ensure that 1-to-1s are happening regularly and asking whether the person is experiencing stress at or outside of work.
By using the tool to monitor the topics of the conversations between MHFA and staff members, we know what to focus our next campaigns on. We use this to pinpoint what the actual issue is, rather than relying on the perceptions of managers.
We also give feedback to staff via a staff newsletter on insights gathered from the tool.
5. Protect MHFAs
With any peer support programme, it’s important to think about the wellbeing of those providing the support. With this in mind, we also track the method and amount of time taken for wellbeing conversations by collecting information on whether the conversation took place via a phone call or face to face.
We use this information to mitigate against the potential for a staff members becoming overloaded or burnt-out from their role as an MHFA. For example, if a particular MHFA is having a high number of conversations, we’d look at training more MHFAs in that area to share the load. We’d also ensure that MHFAs are regularly meeting with their mental health ambassador for support if needed.
6. Review lessons learned
It’s easy for companies to become hyper-focused on complexity. Adding more information isn’t always better.
What we’ve learnt is that gathering data doesn’t have to be a difficult or onerous task. Focusing on the key information can provide very rich and usable insights into employee health.
