Small business health training is preparing to help thousands of line managers support staff, while a fictional office plant has acquired a lanyard and declared itself ready to facilitate the wellbeing agenda.
The government has funded occupational health training for 5,000 line managers in small businesses across England. The training runs from January to March, with registration opening on 2 January. Its practical aim is to help firms support people and keep them in work. Meanwhile, the fictional plant has renamed itself a resilience leaf.
Small business health training meets the office plant
The programme gives managers a route to learn about occupational health and early support. That is useful workplace work. However, the imaginary Department of Sensible Check Ins has already issued a three point plan. First, listen. Next, offer help. Finally, ask the plant whether it can chair the follow up meeting.
The real training remains voluntary. It aims to help small employers retain skilled staff. It does not promise that every office will become calm. Nevertheless, the fictional plant has produced a laminated calmness strategy. It begins with tea and ends by asking the printer to reflect on its tone.
Managers may face difficult conversations about health and work. Good training can make those conversations more confident and practical. The plant understands none of this. Instead, it has placed a tiny chair beside the window and labelled it the confidential listening suite.
A helpful plan with fewer dramatic spreadsheets
The training has government funding and specialist delivery partners. As a result, the fictional boardroom has made the desk calendar feel indispensable. It circles every date in pale blue and asks whether February has completed its action log.
There is no comic miracle in a training course. There is simply a better chance that a manager can notice a problem early and respond with care. That leaves the office props with little to do. The clipboard is taking it badly.
By the end of the meeting, the plant had lost its place on the wellbeing committee. It accepted the decision with grace, then submitted a leaf shaped appeal. The managers agreed to keep the training. The plant kept the lanyard.
Source: UK Government.
