ESB Telecoms - CASE STUDY
Who are they? ESB Telecoms
No of employees 160 staff
Business Sector Environment, Energy and Telecommunications.
Location ESB HQ, Dublin and countrywide.
Founded in 1927, The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is the semi-state company and the largest organisation responsible for the generation, transmission and supply of electricity in Ireland.
Number Employed Approx 7,850 staff
The ESB Telecoms group with up to 160 employees is an amalgamation of ESB Telecoms Services and ESB Telecoms ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of ESB, established in 2001 to maximise the telecommunications potential of the ESB infrastructure, skills and expertise.
ESB Telecoms Services (www.esb.ie) is the internal service provider to ESB and has evolved to provide support for the ESB group of companies and Eirgrid as well as underpinning support for the success of the ESB telecommunications business.
ESB Telecoms ltd., (www.esbtelecoms.ie) with over 400 customers is the leading supplier of Telecoms sites including tower and fibre infrastructure in Ireland with 1500 kilometres of optic fibre network in a figure of 8 national network, routed via the ESB high voltage network, delivering countrywide broadband capability. In the business, ESB Telecoms is known as the carrier’s carrier.
What part of the organisation was chosen for this project?
All Telecoms staff were targeted for the pilot project, Work Positive 2008 – 2009. It is seen as a real plus that we were part of the willing 100. ESB & ESBT ltd. employees are operationally integrated in the two distinct business areas.
What sub divisions were chosen?
The group felt it would be helpful to know the differences, if any, between those with tenure of more than 8 years and those with tenure of less than or equal to 8 years to inform development, training and recruitment activities. Different stressors would probably affect each so that the results of the audit would provide a focus for employees in terms of profiling the interventions for each grouping
How did it begin?
The ESB Telecoms Partnership Group is formed from management and union representatives across the business. The Partnership Group at its regular meetings identified stress at work as being an important health, safety and wellbeing issue. The Health and Safety authority, Work Positive initiative, prioritising organisational stress and identifying the potential risks was chosen as being the best option for the company going forward. We decided to form a subgroup to progress and look after the HSA Work Positive initiative within the business. The project will also contribute to the company achieving OHSAS 18000 accreditation. (Occupational health and safety approved specification)
How did you set about carrying out the Risk Assessment (from now on referred to as Work Positive)?
Stage one: A meeting was set up with the HSA Psychologist, Patricia Murray, ESB project leads, the Health and Safety executive and the Telecoms Partnership group, some of whom are members of the Telecoms Safety committee. At this initial meeting in Autumn 2008, the working patterns of the organisation were discussed, the different staff groupings were agreed, a plan was outlined, time line set out (Sept 08 – May 09) , potential actions suggested and possible outcomes explained.
Advertising posters (provided by the HSA) were pinned to local notice boards, E-mails and a leaflet along with an accompanying letter was sent to everyone so that staff would become familiar with the Work Positive system and our intention to carry it out. Staff were then consulted internally through the H&S Executive to get commitment. Once this was satisfied, an initial presentation was hosted on workplace pressures, stress and coping by the consultant to the project, so that all staff would be aware of the general meaning being applied to stress and to pressure prior to filling in anything. This is based on the Inside-Out approach to coping. (See link ‘Consultants retained for the project’)
Then, approx 4 weeks later, in December 2008, staff were given a briefing presentation by the HSA Organisational Psychologist on the Work Positive process, the tool, the rationale for doing it, and the scheduling from then on, in terms of getting results and engaging with the risk assessment process. We were then, given the questionnaire and filled it in. This was done in one location where staff were gathered for end-of-year seminar.
What happened next?
Stage two: the questionnaires were collected, indicating a return rate of 75%. (100 % of attending staff) The returned questionnaires were analysed by the HSA on behalf of the ESB Telecoms using the newest (Nov 2008) UK organisational norms for the HSE Management Standards. Findings were then categorised for the 2 groups . Differences in the findings were noted and suggested interventions outlined on short PowerPoint presentation slides.
How were the findings fed back?
Stage three started with a meeting of the Partnership Group and the HSA psychologist in February 2009. Results were explained and compared to other current results, both within the sector and from other sectors. Suggested rationales were discussed and next steps negotiated. Then intervention activities were discussed as was a plan for feeding back results to staff and their representatives. This was done at sessions run back to back so that staff could receive the results to fit in with their work schedule. Results were explained in the context of the work environment and staff invited to sessions hosted by the consultant to the project. Results were explained as potential hazards, not as direct causes of stress.
Was that the entire project completed?
No. At this stage, the Risk Assessment and some interventions are completed and all feedback is done. However, there remain on-going interventions which can now be attended to in-house both at local management level and through the Partnership Group. The next phase is the environmental causes of stress which involves reacting to the results of the audit in changes to the system of work where possible and monitoring the results of a new survey in 12 – 18 months.
What are the Actions?
Although our results are positive, different follow-up actions are needed.
- Sessions were set up to focus group the findings for people in groups. These were facilitated by the independent consultant to the sect These sessions occurred in December 2008 and January, February and March 2009.
- A follow on session was held with the consultant and the implementation group in order to analyse the focus group contributions and to help us to decide on appropriate interventions which can be progressed.
- The sub group has discussed required changes and are to formalise at the next full meeting of the Telecoms Partnership Group. Also, it is intended if possible we will have further interaction with our appointed consultant.
What worked well?
‘It was a very effective tool and efficiently delivered. Well worth developing the system for on-going Risk Assessment purposes’.
This work Positive project underlined for us that ESB is a good place to work and has highlighted our requirement to reduce potential stress- causing practices.
What was the main challenge to the success of Work Positive?
‘We feel we will need and benefit from more sessions, after this HSA sponsored project closes, with our consultant to close it out and also we will need to re-do the questionnaire so that it becomes a roll-over activity and embedded into our overall risk assessment process. This should be much easier for us second time round as we are now familiar with the process and will therefore find it easier to bring forward ourselves’.
Is there any other support the Authority could give organisations to improve psychosocial risk assessments?
‘We unintentionally ran into very tight time scales due to starting it later than anticipated so it felt a little squeezed and that makes the process suffer a little. However, the survey was overall a success for us’.
What is the overall outcome of participation in the project?
‘We have a Risk Assessment for the regulatory authorities, and doing this also serves us well within the broader ESB and where competing this is seen as a very real activity. Our staff have also been made aware that workplace stress exists, that we recognise it and that it is not insurmountable, also how one copes, effects how one will deal with it and that the organisation has systems in place should they need assistance with regard to stress from work. Heightened awareness is itself has been a positive thing for us. We also now have our records kept and will keep this up for the future’.
