Posted Friday 14 February 2014
The aim of the event, introduced by Professor Matthew Humphreys, Dean, Faculty of Business and Law, was to help organisations understand the importance of sustaining employee engagement, health and wellbeing.
The morning began with breakfast and networking, followed by formal presentations by Kingston Business School senior lecturer, Rachel Lewis and Emma Donaldson-Fielder, who is a director at the employee health and wellbeing consultancy Affinity Health at Work.
The seminar discussed the importance of employee engagement, health and wellbeing from a legal, ethical and business perspective and how a combination of these elements is crucial to the long-term sustainability of an organisation and its employees. Recent research evidence provided the basis for discussion around such questions as: "Why does it matter?" and "Why are line managers important?"; in addition to examining how leaders and managers can foster engagement, health and well-being.
The overriding message was that organisations must address both engagement and wellbeing. The manager's role in sustainable engagement is very important and support is available from tools such as the Managing for sustainable engagement framework, demonstrated by Rachel and Emma.
The talks were followed by an enthusiastic Q&A session with participants looking for more information on motivational and empowerment techniques, and tools for managers to share with their employees.