Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is the largest health organisation in Wales, serving around 750 000 people, which grows to more than a million in the summertime.
Gareth Evans, Senior Organisational Development Manager, explains the significant scale for a perspective on the task at hand: “Betsi Cadwaladr provides a full range of community, mental health and acute hospital services across its three district general hospitals. In addition, it also has 22 acute and community hospitals, 90 health centres, clinics, community health team bases, and mental health units. It is an extensive, integrated health board making a huge difference in the lives of those in North Wales.”
THE CHALLENGE
Serving such a large base of the population and with a staff complement spread across North Wales, the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board required a trusted solution to provide a platform for staff to speak up and for the health board to facilitate the discussions it so desperately needed to be a part of.
The previous solution fell short of the staff needs. The Health Board required a solution that provided the full assurance of anonymity and the ability to engage in two-way conversations. Additionally, it needed to support the other engagement initiatives like its Speak Out Safely Guardian programme.
Evans elaborates, “the Speak Out Safely Guardians sought a platform that provided another way of engaging with staff and the health board considered this an opportune time to implement the tools that would help it further develop a healthy and productive workplace culture.”
THE SOLUTION
“Our staff needed a solution that they felt comfortable with and felt comfortable using. With many recommendations from peers and positive internal reviews, WorkInConfidence stood out above the rest,” says Evans.
The WorkInConfidence Anonymous Speak Up was chosen as a starting point. However, the Betsi Cadlwaladr University Health Board also has access to the surveys and polls and the discussion boards to encourage employee engagement at all levels.
The solutions were implemented in July 2021. “WorkInConfidence has provided platforms that have enabled staff to speak up and speak out and have given us further opportunities to listen and engage with purpose. We already see the benefits to workplace culture by using the platform as staff use WorkInConfidence to share their views and raise concerns,” he says.
THE RESULTS
The WorkInConfidence solutions have been rolled out collaboratively across many Betsi Cadwaladr facilities and launched to staff through a mixed media communications approach.
Evans adds, “Having such a large workforce meant using a variety of tools to engage and inform staff, which worked really well.”
“The WorkInConfidence team were excellent partners on this journey with us, partnering with us to ensure successful adoption. They provided a lot of personal contact with the team when it was needed, especially when co-designing the platform’s capabilities and thinking ahead to the emerging functions that may be required. They just embraced and supported us every step of the way,” he says.
In addition to the support received from WorkInConfidence, the Health Board worked closely with trade union partners, staff networks, and staff support services. This was to ensure that the solution was collaboratively explored, understood, adopted, and considered in the broader context of the organisation’s ongoing commitment to developing a culture that is more fair, just and open to learning.
THE REWARD
“In the first six months, we have had more interactions on the platforms than we had in the first two years on the previous solution,” explains Evans proudly, “WorkInConfidence meets a critically important need by providing the assurance of anonymity and the ability to engage in two-way conversations in a complaint and mutually beneficial manner.
There is something really important about staff being able to speak up, speak out, and raise concerns knowing that they will be taken seriously. Early feedback from staff and Trade Union colleagues is showing us that WorkInConfidence meets an important need,” concludes Evans. About WorkInConfidence
WorkInConfidence works with companies of all sizes to facilitate prompt, confidential and honest communication within an organisation.
The critical first step to any successful organisation is allowing employees to speak up, be heard, and share their stories safely and securely.
WorkInConfidence solutions provide platforms that allow for two-way engagement – anonymously if necessary – so that companies are positioned to support their employees in the best way possible.
