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Employee health

A workplace culture that supports a healthy and resilient workforce drives positive business performance. Protecting and promoting the wellbeing of our employees increases employee productivity and attendance, reduces health care and health insurance costs and supports us in our goal to be an employee of choice. This is aligned with GSK’s mission of improving quality of life.

In the sections below, we focus on the steps we have taken to improve ergonomics, resilience (managing pressures and stress) and attendance. We also provide information on our HIV initiatives and planning process for a potential worldwide influenza pandemic.

Health programmes
Our health programmes enable employees and their families to benefit from better health and enhanced quality of life, while the business gains from increased employee commitment and productivity and from reductions in the financial impact of ill-health.

We have a range of programmes to support employee wellbeing including on-site health and fitness centres, flexible working arrangements, and family support services. Healthcare benefits focus on prevention and access to innovative and proven treatments. For example, in the US employees receive free immunizations, cancer screening, help with smoking cessation and regular check ups. We assist employees suffering from chronic diseases with their medical plans and provide support to help them continue with treatments.

We have developed a scorecard to measure and track our progress in improving employee health and adding value to the business. The scorecard contains quantitative measures including ill-health absence rates. We will report our performance against these measures and targets in 2006.

In 2005 we held five workshops globally with Environment Health & Safety and Human Resources to share information and best practice. Our Employee Health Management Department supports sites across GSK in implementing our Employee Health Policy and achieving consistent standards. . We carry out internal audits to monitor site performance and oversee improvement plans.

Ergonomics
Musculoskeletal illness and injury is one of the leading causes of ill health resulting in time away from work. In 2004 we appointed a full-time professional ergonomist to lead the development of our ergonomics strategy. We have set a target to reduce the number of ergonomic illnesses and injuries 10% by 2010. Improving workplace and job design will also improve efficiency and productivity.

An internal ‘ergonomics university’ was established in 2005 to increase knowledge of ergonomic issues and best practice among GSK employees. We introduced computer presentations on a variety of ergonomic topics and a CD-based programme for commercial field-based employees covering ergonomics “on the go”. A Global Ergonomic Community website was developed for employees to discuss issues, share ideas and access resources. It includes best practice examples ranging from laptop ergonomics to lifting.

We launched an on-line ergonomics risk assessment for office-based employees to help reduce ergonomic injuries associated with computer use. The programme is used at over 150 GSK sites worldwide and has been translated into Spanish, French, Italian and Polish. In 2005, 5,540 employees completed the computer-based risk assessment. We are developing a similar risk assessment tool for non-office based employees that will be piloted in our US manufacturing sites.

In 2005 we established employee-led ergonomic improvement teams at 26 manufacturing sites in the UK, US, and Latin America. Their role is to embed ergonomic design considerations into workplace practices and procedures. For example, the team at our Zebulon site in the US has made a number of improvements to the work environment. These include the use of adjustable height carts to reduce injuries from lifting heavy items such as rolls of material. It also reduces waste due to reduced manual handling of the materials. We will launch ergonomic improvement teams at manufacturing facilities across Europe and Asia in 2006.

See more background information on our approach to ergonomics.

Resilience
Mental illness is another one of the leading causes of ill health resulting in time away from work. We use the term ‘resilience’ to describe the set of skills and behaviours needed to be successful in a highly pressured, fast-paced and continuously changing environment. This enables us to support employees to manage work and home demands more effectively, and minimises the adverse health affects of stress. Data from our resilience programmes show that this can improve business results along with employee commitment and engagement. These programmes fully support UK legislative requirements to tackle sources of workplace stress.

Our team resilience programme is a participatory, proactive quality- improvement process utilizing assessment tools to identify sources of workplace stress with a team-based solution focused process. It looks at issues that can cause pressure and affect performance such as work demands, team relationships, management practices, career and development concerns and work culture. Individual team members get a confidential personal profile and a tailored action plan is developed by the whole team. In 2005, 5,800 staff took part in team resilience programmes. The programme has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin.

The majority of GSK sites have programmes to reduce workplace pressures and help employees achieve a good work-life balance. These include time management training, flexible working options, health awareness and education initiatives. Over 50% of our employees worldwide have access to Employee Assistance Programmes that provide confidential support 24 hours a day along with additional counselling as needed.

The team resilience programme received external recognition from the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and was nominated for several awards which included winning Personnel Today’s Managing Health at Work award.

See more background information on our approach to resilience.

Attendance
Long-term employee absence has a financial impact on GSK through lost productivity and efficiency. By limiting employee absence and helping those off work return as soon as appropriate, we can minimise these costs and improve employee wellbeing.

In 2004 we launched a new case management approach to long-term employee absence in the UK. This involves close collaboration between the EHM team, HR staff, line managers and the employees themselves. Key elements include accurately measuring absence and ensuring that we maintain regular contact with employees who are off work. We make sure that employees and their doctors know about the wide-range of in-house support available at GSK, including access to physiotherapists, counsellors and occupational health physicians.

A rehabilitation plan is agreed with the employee. This may include making modifications to their workplace, reducing work hours or finding alternative work until they are fully recovered.

Initial results suggest that this approach has led to a fall in absence rates at several sites from approximately 7% to around 3% over 2 years. It is estimated that one manufacturing site in the UK has experienced cost savings of about £1.5 million based on the direct and indirect costs of absence. Employees are returning to work more quickly as they are not being signed off for longer than necessary. Staff feedback indicates that the majority of employees feel better-informed, valued and supported.

During 2006 we will continue to roll out the new procedures across our sites in the UK. We plan to complete this process by mid 2006. Our target in the UK is to reduce the number of days lost due to long-term absence by 10% in 2006. We have set a target for our manufacturing sites worldwide to achieve at least 98% attendance by 2010.

HIV/AIDS
We provide antiretroviral treatment (ARV) to all HIV positive GSK employees (full and part-time) and their families in the developing world where treatment is not provided adequately or consistently by the local healthcare system. For more background information see Employee Access to Anti-Retroviral Drugs.

We offer preferentially priced ARVs to other employers in Sub-Saharan Africa who provide care and treatment for staff. See Preferential Pricing.

We have developed awareness-raising initiatives for use worldwide. In 2005, educational materials developed by GSK Kenya and the Positive Action Programme were adopted by other companies in Kenya, reaching an estimated 10,000 employees in the public and private sectors. The materials have been translated into French and are now available to companies in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Madagascar and Mali. In early 2006, the materials will be translated into Arabic with help from companies in Morocco. GSK Mexico and GSK Dominican Republic will develop similar, Spanish-language resources for use in Central America. GSK India has also started this process with three employee workshops on HIV and AIDS and a pilot survey demonstrating the need for more employee HIV education.

Influenza pandemic
Global outbreaks of Avian Influenza (bird flu) have highlighted the danger of a potential worldwide influenza pandemic. Externally, we are working with governments and the WHO to assist with the provision and development of antiviral drugs and vaccines to manage a potential pandemic. Internally, we have a cross business team that has developed a global policy and plan for GSK business continuity and employee health preparedness. A plan that minimises the impact of a pandemic on our employees, and ensures we are able to continue manufacturing medicines and vaccines.

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