A Conversation with the New Head of Healthy Ireland, Tom James
Welcome to the latest episode of The Work Well Podcast. Today, I’m delighted to welcome the Head of Healthy Ireland, Tom James. Prior to taking the lead at Healthy Ireland, Tom worked with the Revenue Commissioners for 19 years in various roles ranging from representing Ireland at EU level, specialist tax legislation roles, project management and a number of senior operational leadership positions.
Tom has a Postgraduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness from Tangent, in Trinity College, Dublin and chaired Revenue’s National Wellbeing Network before moving to Healthy Ireland in June 2021. Tom’s impressive career journey actually started with a degree in Computer Science where he first crossed paths with our host Brian.
Enjoy our conversation with Tom James.
Healthy Ireland and the Healthy Workplace Framework
Just before Christmas, Tom’s team at Healthy Ireland, working with a number of colleagues and stakeholders, published the Healthy Workplace Framework. This framework is aimed at employers and employees from the public and private sectors and it’s available to download here.
The framework consists of seven specific objectives for the government and Healthy Ireland, and it showcases a number of case studies from large companies to NGOs to the public sector. Tom encourages any employer and wellbeing leaders to use the framework as a valuable resource to apply in your own businesses and there’s even a five-step plan for how to develop a wellbeing programme in the workplace for those who haven’t done it yet.
Implementing programmes that assess employees’ needs
Tom highlights an important factor when it comes to implementing wellbeing initiatives in the workplace: the people who are already interested in personal health and wellbeing are the ones most likely to engage with workplace wellbeing initiatives. But what happens with those who don’t have that personal interest? The real challenge here is to find out what people actually want and how the programmes you implement can have a positive impact on their lives.
Furthermore, workplace wellbeing should not be reduced to only initiatives and programme launches, it should be an essential pillar of workplace culture. Tom adds, “It's actually about the whole culture in the organisation, how people deal with each other or how people manage people and to be able to have those open conversations”.
Highlights from the recent Healthy Ireland Survey
Healthy Ireland was supported by Ipsos MRBI to perform its annual survey in 2021. They surveyed over 7,000 people, a large representative sample for a study of this kind. One finding that stands out to Tom is that “over 30% of people said they felt their mental health hadn’t improved in the period in question”. With COVID and many of the uncertainties Irish workers have been facing, organisations need to start thinking about what other supports they can introduce for their teams to properly manage work-related mental issues such as stress, anxiety and burnout.
Another eye-opening and positive statistic shows that 90% of respondents said they wanted to make at least one change to improve their health in the coming year.
“It's empowering to see that such a large percentage of the population are looking to do something. And then the question is, well, how best can we empower them to take action?”, Tom comments.
Promoting Community Engagement in Wellbeing Programmes
One of the biggest challenge for Healthy Ireland is to promote community engagement and empower communities and individuals to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Because every community is different, they cannot aim to solve this with a single programme or strategy. Healthy Ireland has managed, however, to implement various strategies to improve wellbeing across communities in recent years.
Most recently, in October 2021, the Healthy Communities Programme was launched. The programme consists of a €10m investment in HSE services, and the recruitment of 19 local development officers through the LOcal Authorities with community food and nutrition officers also being recruited for each of these 19 communities.
As part of the Healthy Communities programme the Community Enhancement Fund was also launched. Tom talks about the details of one of the projects being funded under the scheme: “one of the local authorities is putting in community kitchens in specific areas to promote healthy eating and cooking habits because statistics show that areas with a lower socioeconomic status tend to have higher instances of non-communicable diseases and issues with obesity”.
What comes next in 2022 for Healthy Ireland
Tom and his team have a series of programmes and strategies set in place to start working in 2022. The first one, the Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan, was actually published in May of 2021 and will run out to 2025. Other programmes Tom expects to see published are the new National Physical Activity Plan, which the team is currently working on and is expected by the end of 2022.
“Healthy communities will be our first 12 months. So we're really interested to see how that works. Minister Donnelley was very clear at the launch that we need to show that this works. We're wrapping an evidence-based framework around the evaluation, as moving the dial in terms of health and wellbeing indicators is a slow process”, Tom comments.
How to get started in personal wellbeing practices
Tom offers some advice to anyone who wants to start integrating more wellbeing practices into their lives. He recommends choosing the practices that align with your personal beliefs and interests.
The best way to start is small. 10 minute walks, 30 minute runs, simple yoga poses, whatever serves you to start creating a habit for yourself. Then you can keep track of those small achievements and celebrate the wins to help keep you motivated.
Another great piece of advice is to involve some friends and family into your practices. Having a support group that keeps you motivated is, in most cases, the secret to consistency.
The future of work in the words of Tom James
Tom foresees a future where organisations rely on mixed working models, or, as Tom calls it, a “blended approach”.
“I think blended working will be the future, obviously depending on the sector, depending on the employer. Some sectors probably require more collaboration in a room, creative work, for example”, he comments.
The pandemic has allowed people to focus more on their work-life balance and that increases the demand for employers to address these issues within their workplace culture as well, so we are looking forward to a time of adaptation and growth when we talk about workplace wellbeing.
If you’d prefer to watch our conversation, you can view it on YouTube through this link.
If you liked this episode and want to know more about Tom James, you can follow him on LinkedIn. And if you would like to read more about any of the programmes we’ve discussed today, check out Healthy Ireland’s website.
Our Partners
This episode is brought to you in partnership with AJ Products who are leading the way in Ergonomic and Active workplace furniture solutions at ajproducts.ie
About Your Host
Brian Crooke is a wellbeing educator, speaker and adviser, empowering organisations to promote and sustain wellbeing within their workplaces.
He is the founder of The Work Well Institute and the Work Well Community and is Course Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness at Tangent, Trinity College Dublin. He is the host of The Work Well Podcast.
If you’re looking to bring sustainable wellbeing to your workplace then check out The Work Well Institute’s flagship programme, Developing a Workplace Wellness Programme that Lasts.
In his spare time, Brian is bringing free resistance training to every county and community in Ireland through his parkHIIT social enterprise.
If you have any suggestions for future topics you'd like to hear on the show, email Brian directly, brian@workwellpodcast.com