SH7012 Workplace Health Portfolio
3,000 words
1. What is your selected
Workplace Health &
Wellbeing Theme?
The selected workplace health
& well-being theme is the
physical and emotional well-
being of the students, visitors
and staff of the University of
The West of Scotland (UWS).
2. What is the current
approach & management of
this theme in your workplace?
Provide a rationale for choosing this theme, and provide a clear
explanation of the selected theme using relevant references
Selected Theme:
The selected theme encompasses the policies and practices at the UWS
associated with the physical and emotional well-being of the students,
visitors and the university staff.
The rationale for Selecting This Theme:
The rationale behind selecting this theme is that for different types of
people visiting or working at the university, it is of utmost importance
to ensure that their workplace health, safety, and well-being concerns
are diligently taken care of by the management. Out of the several
health, safety and well-being policies at the university, one of the most
critical policies and practices discussed in this report is the need for the
physical and emotional well-being of different stakeholders associated
with the institution like the students, staff, and the visitors [ CITATION
Men22 \l 16393 ].
To ensure that all the key stakeholders of an educational institution are
being treated ethically and effectively, one of the most critical areas of
focus for the management is the domain of physical health and well-
being and emotional health and well-being [ CITATION ACS21 \l 16393 ].
Physical health and well-being are associated with the policies and
practices undertaken by the institution to ensure a workplace ambience
that does not cause any harm to the health of the organisation's
various stakeholders, such as the staff, students, and visitors. Every
university should have robust and ethical codes of conduct and policies
for safeguarding critical stakeholders' physical health and well-being.
Another essential consideration associated with ethical business
practices within a university is the emotional well-being of the different
stakeholders associated with the institution, like the employees,
visitors, and students.
Emotional well-being or psychological well-being is associated with
policies and practices focused on ensuring an ambience for these
significant stakeholders that do not cause psychological or emotional
stress [ CITATION EJW21 \l 16393 ]. Therefore, for the success and
growth of an educational institution, there should be ethical and
stringent codes of practice and policies covering the aspects of the
physical and emotional well-being of people associated with such an
institution. This is one of the guiding factors behind selecting the
particular theme for analysis on behalf of the UWS.
Address the following questions:
1. How does the organisation currently approach and manage
this issue within the specified workplace?
 2. What are the strengths and weakness of the current approach
and management of the issue? – provide examples & evidence
3. Identify the relevant health and workplace legislation and
policy related to this issue and discuss how the specific
workplace has responded to key legislation and policy
4. Identify 2 areas of delivery where the current approach could
be improved – provide a rationale and evidence

1.
UWS has developed a robust and stringent set of codes of conduct and
policies for ensuring the physical and emotional well-being of the
students, visitors and staff working at the university premises. The
organisation recognises the need for prudent, ethical and diligent
management of health and safety and believes that it helps in the
maximisation of productivity and status quo of all the major
stakeholders of the university. The management attempts to achieve
success with its current health and well-being policies and practices by
demonstrating active involvement, dedication, sincerity, and
competence of all the students and staff working at every level of the
institution [ CITATION UWS22 \l 16393 ]. UWS also recognises the role
of a robust health and safety management framework as one of the
elementary and most essential legal obligations needed to be
effectively abided by the university. Hence, the principles of emotional
and physical health and well-being are integrated into the values,
principles, and culture of the institution [ CITATION UWS22 \l 16393 ].
UWS continuously strives to achieve these core values and principles of
emotional and physical health and well-being of stakeholders based on
strong and exemplary leadership which includes the selection of the
best possible talents in the field of health, safety and well-being, who
are dedicated and committed in supporting the health, safety and well-
being of all the major stakeholders and integrate these approaches
within the planning and decision-making of the UWS management.

2.
Some of the strengths and weaknesses of the current approaches and
management to the issue of physical and emotional well-being of the
stakeholders at UWS are as follows:
Strengths:
 There is highly effective leadership demonstration in designing
the health and well-being policies within UWS [ CITATION
UWS20 \l 16393 ].
 Continuous research and development are undertaken to
ensure that the relevant codes of practice and legislation are
updated.
 Highly ethical, qualified, and competent professionals are
working in different departments of UWS have good knowledge,
experience and decision-making capabilities in matters of the
physical and emotional well-being of significant stakeholders at
the university [ CITATION UWS21 \l 16393 ].
Weaknesses:
 An occasional gap in communication between the managers and
supervisors with their juniors across several departments
 regarding health and well-being issues [ CITATION UWS21 \l
16393 ].
 The absence of a highly comprehensive and integrated training
and development of all the staff at UWS regarding the principles
of emotional and physical well-being.
 Often, there is a lack of effective supervision on the discharging
of responsibilities and duties associated with health and well-
being principles and practices at the UWS [ CITATION UWS22 \l
16393 ].

3.
UWS has highly detailed and clear policy and legislation associated with
the principles of physical and emotional well-being of the staff, students
and visitors at the university premises [ CITATION ACS21 \l 16393 ].
There are handbooks for the staff that clearly contain all the
instructions and guidelines regarding the ways to manage the issues of
physical and emotional well-being of the students, visitors and the staff
themselves. There is the opportunity for every staff member at UWS to
discuss the health and well-being issues with the HR managers and
their respective supervisors. Additionally, at the time of employment of
staff at UWS, employee handbooks are furnished to each of them
[ CITATION Lin19 \l 16393 ]. The handbook contains clear codes of
conduct and ethical business practices, including the role of the staff
members in ensuring the physical and emotional well-being of their
peers, students, and visitors present within the premises of the
university [ CITATION EJW21 \l 16393 ]. Furthermore, there are clearly
stated policies of staff development within the UWS administration that
discuss the importance of training and development and how they will
be imparted to every staff member post-employment.

4.
From the analysis of the current workplace safety, health and well-
being policies of UWS, two areas requiring improvement are identified
and they are as follows:
 Communication between staff members and management-
This is one of the most important areas requiring immediate
attention for improvement. On several occasions, the
communication between the management personnel and the
staff members is not transparent and there is ambiguity about
the principles and practices of physical and emotional well-
being of the staff, students and visitors of UWS [ CITATION
Hea229 \l 16393 ]. More precisely, the managers and
supervisors do not communicate their knowledge and
experience, or assist the staff members who do not have sound
and high-level knowledge and experience about these practices
[ CITATION Hea2215 \l 16393 ]. The exchange of feedback
between the management and staff members is also
unsatisfactory. Hence, this is an area for improvement for UWS.
 Requirement for more comprehensive training and
development on health and well-being- Another area of
improvement regarding the emotional and physical well-being
policies and practices at UWS is the training and development of

3. How could the identified problems or weakness within the current approach (delivery) be
improved?
Improvement 1
Improving communication
between the management
personnel and staff members
in UWS
all the staff on these principles [ CITATION Hea226 \l 16393 ].
The current level of training and development lacks the required
level of professionalism, and there is a perceived gap between
the training offered by the current trainers on the principles of
health and well-being and the knowledge and learning imbibed
by the staff from such training [ CITATION Hea04 \l 16393 ]. The
training and development programs are not quite frequent on
the subject of health, safety and well-being of stakeholders of
UWS, and this situation is creating a lack of understanding in
many of the staff regarding the ways they should approach the
duties and responsibilities of ensuring emotional and physical
well-being of their peers, the students, and the visitors to the
UWS premises [ CITATION The2216 \l 16393 ].
Discuss exactly how this improvement could be achieved using
relevant up to date evidence
For achieving success with any policy or practice, it is indispensable for
an organisation to have a highly transparent, unambiguous and clear
communication between the management personnel and the staff
members within an organisation [ CITATION Hea2212 \l 16393 ].
Communication is the basis of establishing strong and meaningful
connections between the management and employees in an
organisation. As in most of the organisations, instructions and policy
decisions are made at the helm of the organisation by the management
personnel. This information is supposed to be disseminated effectively
down the hierarchy to the lower levels of management and executives [
CITATION Hea2216 \l 16393 ]. If there are barriers or blockers to
effective information flow between management and lower-level
departments, it will lead to ineffective management of knowledge and
information within an organisation. The situation currently faced by
UWS regarding the lack of effective observation of the principles of
emotional and psychological health and well-being of major
stakeholders like students, staff, and visitors, reveals elements of
ineffective communication and information flow [ CITATION Hea2211 \l
16393 ]. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for UWS management to
introspect into the current internal communication procedures and
policies. Some of the suggested improvements in the current
communication policies and practices are as follows:
 UWS should improve its current communication infrastructure
by installing modern and advanced IT and digital communication
tools and processes. For example, the application of modern
communication techniques like virtual or remote
communication through videoconferencing and
teleconferencing will help to communicate information in real-
time between the management personnel and staff members
[ CITATION Hea228 \l 16393 ]. This will eradicate the problem of
time and place where on several occasions the senior
management personnel, the managers and supervisors, and the
staff cannot come into direct interactions with each other.
 There should be more focus on improving the feedback system
 between the management and all the departments of UWS. For
providing prompt feedback, the managers should be more
aware of the current scenarios of emotional and physical well-
being of their peers, students and the visitors [ CITATION
Hea2210 \l 16393 ]. Whenever, there is any challenge faced by
any staff regarding an understanding of these well-being policies
and practices, he should immediately seek the assistance of his
supervisor or manager. Moreover, the manager should be more
ethical and diligent in immediately responding to the query of
the staff member on the problem he is facing. Therefore, a
highly effective two-way feedback system is necessary to
improve the efficiency of implementation and observation of
the health and well-being of the stakeholders of UWS
[ CITATION Men221 \l 16393 ].

Improvement 2 Discuss exactly how this improvement could be achieved using

relevant up to date evidence
Enhancing the effectiveness of For improving the level of emotional and physical well-being of the
the training and development staff, students and visitors within the UWS, there needs to be a
programs on health and well- significant improvement in the current training and development
being of university programs conducted by the trainers in consultation with the HR
stakeholders department of the university [ CITATION NHS222 \l 16393 ]. The
following training and development recommendations are expected to
improve the overall awareness of the staffs about the need for health
and well-being practices and policies within the institution:
 The training and development modules should be redesigned
and there should be clear and specific instructions on the
importance and usage of the staff handbook containing all the
codes and principles associated with health and well-being of
students, staff, and visitors.
 The training and development programs should be more
frequent, and they should be conducted at least once every
week [ CITATION Hea2210 \l 16393 ] This will keep all the staff
members engaged and involved in the issues of well-being and
health of the different UWS stakeholders.
 Every week, after training on the policies and practices of
emotional and physical well-being of staff, students, and visitors,
the departmental managers and supervisors should conduct
face-to-face or virtual meetings for understanding the influence
of the new training programs on the staff [ CITATION Hea041 \l
16393 ]
 There should be prompt sharing of feedback between the
managers and the staff members across all departments of
UWS, and this will help to clarify any misunderstanding or doubt
regarding the emotional and physical well-being principles,
between the management and the staff members [ CITATION
Hea222 \l 16393 ].
 Training and development attendance and performance should
be included as a priority in the quarterly appraisal of the staff
members [ CITATION Hea2214 \l 16393 ].
4. How could the suggested Improvements be evaluated within the next 6 months?
Provide an evaluation plan for each of the improvement strategies you have discussed above
Evaluation plan for improvement 1
The evaluation of the success in improving communication between the management personnel and
staff members in UWS will be undertaken through effective supervision and monitoring from the
management. The HR Manager of UWS will also need to play a pivotal role in this aspect of evaluation
[ CITATION Hea227 \l 16393 ]. The assessment will be made based on several key performance indicators
(KPIs) like the number of (direct/face-to-face) and virtual meetings conducted per month by the manager
or supervisor; the number of staffs attending such meetings on a monthly basis; surveys of the staff
members; surveys of the managers and supervisors, and other approaches that will help to understand
the effectiveness of the changed communication policies and protocols at UWS [ CITATION Hea225 \l
16393 ]. The performance appraisal of the managers/supervisors and the staff members will include the
results of the communication and feedback survey. Furthermore, there should be surveys with the
students regarding their opinion and feedback on the emotional and physical health and well-being
practices followed within the university [ CITATION NHS222 \l 16393 ].

Due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic situation, there have been some disruptions in the communication
and feedback systems within the management, staff members and students of UWS. Hence, the
university should apply modern IT-based and digital communication tools and processes like online
surveys, or mobile surveys for assessing the experiences of the staff members, the managers, the
students, and the visitors regarding the current state of the health and well-being practices observed
within the university [ CITATION UWS21 \l 16393 ]. The IT implementation will be monitored and
evaluated by the IT Manager in association with the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) whose decisions and
strategies will be of prime importance as the new communication and feedback systems will require a
substantial investment behind modern IT and digital communication tools and technologies [ CITATION
Hea221 \l 16393 ]. Finally, it is the responsibility of the Board to oversee all these processes and increase
the number of surveys from half-yearly to monthly and quarterly for ensuring strict adherence to the
new communication and feedback protocols by all the staff members, and managers working in the
university [ CITATION Hea2212 \l 16393 ].

Evaluation plan for improvement 2

The evaluation of the success of the new training and development programs for enhancing the
effectiveness of the training and development on the health and well-being of university stakeholders is
one of the major areas requiring adequate focus and commitment from the management of UWS. Unless
the current state of training and development is effectively implemented and monitored, the desired
changed state of more responsible approaches to emotional and physical well-being of students, staff
members, and visitors of the university cannot be effectively achieved [ CITATION UWS22 \l 16393 ].
Therefore, the HR Manager needs to play an important role in this aspect by conducting meetings with
the trainers on the content of the modules associated with the emotional and physical well-being of
stakeholders. After developing a strong module content for training and development of staff members
and managers, the HR Manager should disseminate such information to the senior management for
approval. Once their approval is received, the new training and development programs can be started in
the next 2-3 months. Now, it is important to assess and measure the effectiveness of the new training
programs on achieving the desired outcomes of enhancing the level of knowledge and awareness of the
managers and the staff members about the various principles and practices of employee health and well-
being within the institution [ CITATION UWS20 \l 16393 ]. Hence, there will be some metrics and key
performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring the overall effectiveness of the training programs. One of
the evaluation metrics could be the Return on Training Investment process, which will measure the
returns generated per month in terms of increased employee well-being and health, after the first
training program is delivered [ CITATION The2216 \l 16393 ].

Additionally, there will be employee surveys conducted on the managers, and the staff members for
assessing any increase in their level of understanding of the concepts of emotional and physical well-
being and they will be rated accordingly [ CITATION Hea22 \l 16393 ]. The monthly and the annual
performance appraisal methods will consider the ratings received by the staff members and the
managers in each of the trainings they attended during that period. If any manager or staff is found to be
absent in a training program, then he or she will receive a show-cause notice from the management and
will need to respond to such show-cause with valid reasons. Otherwise, performance ratings will be
deducted for such managers or staff members [ CITATION Hea2213 \l 16393 ]. Another way of measuring
the success of the new training and development programs is to assess the number of cases of staff or
students falling sick within the premises of UWS due to unfavourable workplace conditions or behaviour
from the staff members. Furthermore, monthly student, staff and visitor surveys will also be conducted
for understanding their feedback on the observance of emotional and physical well-being by the staff
members [ CITATION Hea224 \l 16393 ]. Looking into the current pandemic situation, online and remote
feedback techniques can also be used by the management and the HR for assessing the overall
effectiveness of the training programs in improving the delivery of health and well-being services within
the university.

Conclusion
UWS has an effective set of policies and principles associated with the health and well-being of different
stakeholders. Precisely, the university has its code of conduct and practices for ensuring the emotional
and physical well-being of its major stakeholders like the students, staff members and the visitors.
However, there are issues with the effective implementation of such codes of practice within the
institution that is creating less than expected level of student, staff and visitor satisfaction. The major
problems identified are the lack of effective communication and feedback between the management
personnel, the managers, and the staff members on the issues of emotional and physical well-being.
Another major challenge is the lack of a comprehensive training and development program of the staff at
the UWS on the aspects of the health, well-being and safety principles and practices. This has created a
situation of confusion and lack of knowledge on applying the principles of emotional and physical well-
being effectively and ethically. Therefore, the management of UWS is recommended some improvement
plans to improve the current level of organisational communication and feedback across all the
departments. Furthermore, the management has been recommended an improved and more frequent
training and development structure for all the employees with the purpose of enhancing their
knowledge, understanding and commitment to the principles of health and well-being. It is expected that
the newly proposed strategies will improve the credibility of the university significantly in the aspects of
demonstrating more ethical and committed approaches to health, safety and well-being of the staff
members, the students, and the visitors.
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