Our working lives matter. Want something to help you improve wellbeing at work? Read on.

When we go to work, we want to make a positive difference, achieve success and contribute to improving outcomes. Many of us work in healthcare because we are compassionate, caring and want to help others. The NHS is precious, it provides universal healthcare to everyone regardless of who they are. The NHS strives to provide care and services based on needs; there are no hidden motives. Over the past few years, providing NHS care to everyone who needs it has become difficult and complex. Workplace pressures and expectations have increased; this has made it more stressful and challenging for staff to cope (BMA, 2023).

The NHS provides lifesaving care and improves outcomes for millions of people. It provides a vast range of services such as critical care, treating acute and chronic illnesses, focusing on prevention, it offers support services, mental health care and so much more.  The NHS contributes significantly to the wellbeing and quality of life for patients and communities. We continuously strive to improve services, care, outcomes and experiences for patients. To maintain this, we must turn to the people who work tirelessly to deliver these services. The NHS is built on the efforts and contributions from the staff who work within it. We must ask ourselves; do we continuously strive to improve staff wellbeing and quality of life like we do for our patients and communities?

Evidence shows there is an increase in burnout, turnover and staff struggling to cope. We need to put the same improvement efforts into the quality of life for staff as we do for patients. Some recent statistics are:

• NHS staff are 50% more likely to experience high levels of work-related stress compared with the general working population (Kings Fund 2022)
• Burnout significantly impacts the retention of staff and has led to an increase in people leaving the NHS (Deakin, 2022)
• A recent survey by the GMC found 18% of doctors considered leaving due to wellbeing factors (GMC 2021)
• Frontline workers related wellbeing factors to intention to leave the profession or lack of job satisfaction (Daniels et al. 2022, PIPP)
• NHS Trusts in England spent £6.2 billion on agency and bank staff in 2019/202 (NHS Workforce Alliance 2021)

The Basic Needs at Work campaign provides a simple improvement framework to support staff to practically apply changes

To improve wellbeing, we must start small, start with the basics and start now. It might not be possible to address everything, but we can take the necessary steps in understanding, highlighting and trying to meet the basic needs for staff. The foundations of wellbeing are critical ins supporting staff carry out their job to the best of their ability. Their basic needs help them to function, keep healthy and thrive in the workplace. Some examples of basic needs are access to food, drinks, IT, having breaks and a good working environment. These are core requirements in the workplace and should not viewed as a luxury.  

The Basic Needs at Work campaign has one goal in mind: To look after and support staff to flourish at work.  The aim is to empower staff to take ownership of creating, testing and implementing improvements to meet their basic needs. This can create a sense of success, ensures staff wellbeing needs are visible and acted upon

If basic needs are not met, staff cannot perform to the best of their ability and over time, it can lead to problems such as burnout, sickness and poor performance. It’s time to stop talking about the problem and try to do something to address it. Start small, start now.

The Research: Psychologically informed policy & practice development (PIPP) & More

The Basic Needs at work campaign is supported by The PIPP Project which investigated issues associated with work satisfaction and retention across emergency departments. It investigated current workplace concerns, barriers to change and opportunities for development and growth. Led by Dr Jo Daniels and her team, the findings and evidence outlined 4 key recommendations:

• Create an environment to thrive in: Provision of access to hot food, rest spaces and protected time for study & professional development. A workplace that is fit for purpose.
• Cultivate a better culture: The culture in the ED and broader NHS was labelled as negative and blaming. The recommendation includes promoting a culture of care for wellbeing, improving interprofessional valuing and respect nurturing growth while clarifying lines of accountability.
• A tailored pathway of care to support: The report recommends that EDs adopt a pathway of care that is tailored to the staff, providing sufficient and appropriate support
• The Enhanced leadership: Leaders and senior management should be supported and clear in their roles so that they can be effective agents of change and provide support to their staff

Further resources on health and wellbeing by Jo Daniels is available here This book provides a compilation of strategies for promoting physical and mental wellbeing, specifically for nurses and midwives.

You can learn more on the wellbeing research in the CoCCo study which aimed to look at psychological care for frontline doctors and a short video on the basic mental health needs here

For any further advice on the research into basic needs in the workplace please email Jo Daniels at jd494@bath.ac.uk

Basic Needs at Work: The Resources

To help make basic needs a reality, we have created a presentation and resource guide to outline the steps needed to understand, assess and meet basic needs. It applies a blend of emotions, understanding, investigating and testing. The intention is to provide a framework to support real change to wellbeing that is generated by the staff who are struggling with wellbeing needs. Empowerment, autonomy and trusting staff to lead on the changes inspires them to engage in improving their own wellbeing

Click here to access Basic Needs at Work: Guide

Click here to access Basic Needs at Work: Presentation

Access Basic Needs at Work: Demo Hour

Listen to our demo hour discussing the Basic Needs at Work campaign and how you can use the resources to implement changes in your workplace:

What’s next? Join the community

There was an overwhelming response to set up a community for Basic Needs at Work where staff can come together to share their progress, improvement ideas and seek support to overcome barriers. This has now been set up and can be accessed here: Join the community

What’s next? Support the creation of the wellbeing ideas portal

People expressed an interest in being able to access a live list of improvement ideas people are trying to help spark wellbeing improvements in their workplace. Whether it’s a graze box of snacks to keep staff going, spare tights for nurses or how they secured a comfy sofa – the simple things can improve wellbeing. It’s about what works for staff, what they have created and what has made a difference for them. This has been added as a section in the community space

What’s next? Understanding money

Many people expressed their frustration at not being able to access funds to secure basic needs in the workplace. There are a range of funding resources that can be accessed and we will work with organisations to understand what they are to help make it easier for you to access funds. We will lobby for a dedicated wellbeing capital budget protected to improve the wellbeing of staff.

What’s next? Make basic needs assessments mandatory for induction

We believe everyone who starts a new role or rotates into a new work area should have their basic needs assessed 2 weeks after they have started. This in not about their health status risk assessment, it is about understanding once they have started their role, have they got access to the basic things needed to help them carry out their job role – are they getting breaks, do they have a desk, can they take a shower or are their spiritual care needs met.

We want to hear from you!

If you have ideas on how we can help improve basic needs at work, please get in touch by emailing sonia-sparkles@hotmail.com – We grow our cause by listening to you, your experiences, ideas and guidance.

If you use our resources or the research, we would love to hear from you and understand your experience. The more we shout out about basic needs and the work improvements, the more it will gain the high level profile it needs. Please do get in touch if you have used our resources, we would love to: Do either a blog, interview or webinar session with you.