The Evolve toolkit: the story so far...

In this shorter podcast to mark Evolve's third anniversary, Prof Sara Connolly turns the tables on regular Evolve Podcast host Dr Helen Fitzhugh, getting her to answer our usual questions: we find out what led her to the team and what she is working on for Evolve's next steps. 

May 2025 (only) office hours with Dr Helen Fitzhugh: Book time with Helen Fitzhugh (NBS - Staff) 

22nd May 2025 - Register for Evolve third anniversary showcase online: https://forms.office.com/e/0ZLN5T7RMa 

The normal length and style of podcast will return in a couple of weeks. 

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:28:18

Helen Fitzhugh

Welcome to the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast. This podcast is part of a toolkit of free, evidence informed workplace wellbeing resources provided by the Workplace Wellbeing Research team at the University of East Anglia in the UK. You can find the resources on www.evolveworkplacewellbeing.org

00:00:28:20 - 00:00:56:20

Sara Connolly

Hello, I am Professor Sara Connolly from the University of Leicester and I've been part of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing team right from the beginning. Our research team launched the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Toolkit on May 22nd, and we're just coming up to our third anniversary, our third anniversary of bringing evidence informed resources to businesses, charities, public sector organizations all on the topic of workplace wellbeing.

00:00:56:22 - 00:01:18:11

Sara Connolly

For our third anniversary, we thought we'd do something a little different and turn the tables on our regular podcast host Dr Helen Fitzhugh, who also leads our Evolve Network and who many of you will have met at webinars, in-person events and conferences. She normally asks the questions. Now she is the one answering them. Helen, welcome.

00:01:18:13 - 00:01:23:09

Helen Fitzhugh

Thank you for having me. Yes, it's odd to be on the other side of the microphone, but I think it'll be quite fun.

00:01:23:11 - 00:01:32:15

Sara Connolly

Right? We'll start off by getting you to introduce yourself, your academic career, to our audience, just as we normally do. So take it away.

00:01:32:17 - 00:01:55:18

Helen Fitzhugh

Yeah. So, it was a little bit of a twisty route to get here. I have always had an interest in how organizations can help create social value of some kind. So even though I did modern languages and politics for my undergraduate degree, I ended up writing a dissertation about the protection of civilians in armed conflict by international organizations.

00:01:55:20 - 00:02:39:09

Helen Fitzhugh

So you can see that even though it's been quite twisty and turny since then, I've had that sort of centre of how can organizations make a difference? I had a chronic illness, which meant I didn't do my master's degree directly after my, bachelor's, but actually, that was really good. Not the chronic illness, of course, but it gave me a sense of being out in the world doing things, in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which was really interesting looking at social research there, working for the Guild, which was an organization which is a consultancy for social enterprises, and at City College Norwich, also doing applied

00:02:39:09 - 00:03:02:17

Helen Fitzhugh

research. So in a sense, what happened was I got to go out and do applied research. That led me back to really bringing that passion into academia again, getting the skills, getting my master's and PhD in social research and on values in organizations so I could come to this place and actually start work on workplace wellbeing research with the wider Evolve team.

00:03:02:17 - 00:03:33:19

Helen Fitzhugh

And of course, you, Sara! So, Sara was my supervisor for my PhD and so she's also responsible for me being here with you today as well. So, we've ended up doing, yeah, quite a lot of work on, on workplace wellbeing including really, really large, studies around qualitative insights into how organizations can really make a difference on workplace wellbeing.

00:03:33:21 - 00:03:38:22

Helen Fitzhugh

Which led to this work on Evolve that we're talking about now.

00:03:38:24 - 00:03:50:19

Sara Connolly

Thanks, Helen. And so evolve, it's evolved quite a bit over the years itself. I wonder if you could give us an update on, on where things are now.

00:03:50:21 - 00:04:14:09

Helen Fitzhugh

Yeah. So, the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Toolkit is the whole, all of the resources available on the website, essentially. So the original work we did was we had a PDF guide, diagnostic questions, business case calculator, case studies. Those were all in from May 2022 when we started. But as you say, it has expanded quite a bit over the past three years.

00:04:14:09 - 00:04:45:17

Helen Fitzhugh

So we've added in the podcast. We've had … this is the 19th I think, podcast. So quite a few of those, covering off how research is used in practice. We've had more case studies added. We've built more resources. So there's the building authenticity one. We've archived relevant stuff from the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, which sadly is no longer with us, but we've got all the content from that we contributed to on workplace wellbeing as well

00:04:45:20 - 00:05:12:20

Helen Fitzhugh

archived on the website. And we've been kind of in, out in the world doing things like, workshops for organizations using the explore and a embed framework that's in our PDF guide. And we've, done workshops on for these frontline workers, which was built on our Good Jobs Project. And also, webinars, in person workshops on the checklist for proactively managing remote work.

00:05:12:22 - 00:05:22:05

Helen Fitzhugh

So all sorts of things going on under the evolve banner. And we're continuing to expand.

00:05:22:05 - 00:05:34:22

Sara Connolly

So your work has fed into the Eolve umbrella work as part of a large multidisciplinary team. What work have you been involved in more recently?

00:05:34:24 - 00:06:00:19

Helen Fitzhugh

Well, I think as you mentioned at the start, I do coordinate the Evolve network. So, we have quarterly sessions with practitioners in human resources, organizational development, other people who are interested in wellbeing. Those are really lovely sessions. I really love the work with the network, because what we end up doing is we have an insight from an academic speaker and different each month, guided by what the network wants to hear about.

00:06:00:19 - 00:06:22:01

Helen Fitzhugh

So we've had stuff on, secure based teams from, Dr Laura Biggart recently about resilience and emotions in work. And we're going to have one later in the year on presenteeism. Is it all bad? So those are really interesting things to bring kind of cutting edge research to the network. And then, we have a discussion about what's pressing for people at the moment.

00:06:22:01 - 00:06:43:06

Helen Fitzhugh

So we get to keep a finger on the pulse of what's actually going on out there in organizations which I really like. We’ve done various work on evaluation for workplace wellbeing, some of those privately funded. So I can't talk about who the organizations are, but really interesting, about the influence of remote working on workplace wellbeing and performance.

00:06:43:08 - 00:07:10:21

Helen Fitzhugh

I've been trying to write academic papers and hopefully, succeeding, and analysing data from my study of workplace well-being ethics. So quite a lot going on there. And then we've got two new projects coming as well. So, one of those is an NIHR project on improving maintenance in work of people with chronic conditions and disabilities.

00:07:10:23 - 00:07:34:16

Helen Fitzhugh

And, that's going to be around job crafting. And I've also got a new project, which is sort of under the banner of an ARC accelerator funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, then the Arts and Humanities Research Council, where we're looking at really, improving the reach and impact of the Evolve work that we've already done.

00:07:34:18 - 00:07:36:05

Helen Fitzhugh

Going forward.

00:07:36:07 - 00:07:54:19

Sara Connolly

Oh, well, super busy. Yeah. So I'm sure, Helen, that you'll be inviting the lead on the NIHR project on job crafting to join you for a podcast conversation. So, so perhaps you could tell us a little bit more about the ARC accelerator?

00:07:55:00 - 00:08:31:12

Helen Fitzhugh

Yeah. So it's a really interesting project is basically saying, you know, we have really useful social science, research and findings that come out of academia that could make a difference in the wider world. And the the ARC accelerator aims to say, well, how could you make sure those reach more people in a more sustainable way? So that's everything from better dissemination through to spin out companies, you know, all sorts about how you, make sure that research has that, that impact and that reached for people.

00:08:31:14 - 00:09:07:15

Helen Fitzhugh

So we're looking into ways of doing that for Evolve essentially. And one of the things that the project team at ARC Accelerator are really keen on is that we have a multiple conversations with, people who might want to use our research in practice. So that would be human resources and wellbeing practitioners. Sometimes occupational health, organizational development, people really a range of partners in private organizations, but also public sector charities and social enterprises.

00:09:07:15 - 00:09:37:18

Helen Fitzhugh

We're not sort of focusing in or targeting one sector in particular. And we're going to be having those conversations this summer and I should say who we is! So I'm doing this work, in, partnership with, doctor Ritchie Woodard, who's a lecturer in economics at University of East Anglia. And we've been given this funding to take forward those conversations and really kind of learn what could be useful to people, what people would respond to.

00:09:37:20 - 00:10:12:00

Helen Fitzhugh

And yeah, we're in that process right now. So, if you are listening to this relatively soon after it's gone out, then please do do be in touch with us. I've even got, an open door policy on my office hours. So in the Evolve network, people get the quarterly insight sessions, to meet up and network with others, but they also get the chance to have office hours with me, which is a specific time each month where as a practitioner, got a questionnaire or what's the evidence on, say, burnout or autonomy or even job crafting?

00:10:12:00 - 00:10:30:21

Helen Fitzhugh

You know, one of our topics that's coming up, what can I learn about that 1 to 1 in the session? So I usually only do those for network members, but in May I'm kind of opening my doors and saying, okay, if you've if you've heard of this and you're one of those professionals in the areas we're looking at, please sign up, and have a conversation with me.

00:10:30:21 - 00:10:41:08

Helen Fitzhugh

So that will be, available on our newsletter, on LinkedIn. And I can put it underneath the, the blurb for this podcast as well.

00:10:41:10 - 00:11:07:05

Sara Connolly

Excellent. Well, hopefully, lots of people will, will sign up, and benefit from, from from these conversations. So, Helen, I know that at the end of these podcasts, you usually ask people that tricky question, of, what are the pressing issues? So, Helen, what are the pressing issues in workplace wellbeing?

00:11:07:05 - 00:11:54:18

Helen Fitzhugh

So I'm going to acknowledge the fact that everyone is talking about AI at the moment and the security of people's jobs and I completely and utterly acknowledge that that is a really important issue. But it's not something I'm actually going to go into now because although it is a pressing issue, I think sometimes we can get lost in the new thing, the technological progress that's going on and we forget about what we're talking in organizations about is what how people matter, what makes the difference to whether people can organize together, work together, perform in a sustainable way long term that benefits them and the organization that they're doing.

00:11:54:20 - 00:12:18:08

Helen Fitzhugh

And so, for me, I always come back to interpersonal communication. And I think it will continue to be a pressing issue until we resolve the fact that people are expected to absorb good communication practice by osmosis, almost from being with other people, without necessarily benefiting from all the research and training that's done on how we can do that better.

00:12:18:10 - 00:12:45:06

Helen Fitzhugh

So, you know, if you have people coming out of school who are worried about speaking to people 1 to 1 rather than in written format in emails or messages, you know, then people in the organization say, well, they're not job ready because they won't speak to people. But actually, whose responsibility is that? Let's make sure that people are ready to have 1 to 1 conversations, and they feel confident in doing that.

00:12:45:08 - 00:13:09:15

Helen Fitzhugh

And then in training processes for, for new jobs or induction processes, what are your communication responsibilities? How can you work better with other people? And there's all sorts of, research insight that we can draw from right now. It doesn't have to be in the future, but that would make organizing a better situation for humans to be in going forwards.

00:13:09:17 - 00:13:36:15

Helen Fitzhugh

So I'm a bit of a sort of evangelical. I can't even say the word evangelist evangelist for good communication and just just taking a little bit of time to think about the impact that has on on us. Which won't be a surprise, of course, to people who've been to my workshops. The amount of times I say the word dialogue is probably overbearing, but at least you know people will go away with that.

00:13:36:15 - 00:13:47:11

Helen Fitzhugh

That thought that, it's something we should be concentrating on whilst all of this other technological advancement is also, you know, really important as well.

00:13:47:13 - 00:14:01:05

Sara Connolly

Yes. No, absolutely. It's the people and how they speak and communicate. Thank you. And so, Helen, if you were just to leave us with one, key message, what would it be? 

00:14:01:05 - 00:14:03:19

Helen Fitzhugh

Well, the key message from Evolve overall

00:14:05:22 - 00:14:48:09

Helen Fitzhugh

is, that we want to make sure that organizations see the importance in listening to and valuing people. That's, that's the sort of central message of evolve. But personally, at the moment, I also want to just reiterate that point about I would love to have informal chats with people about what they want in terms of either evidence gaps or resource gaps that we evolve could be working to fulfil with this new funding that we've got, take the opportunity to help us make something that really does support people, move good research into practice, essentially.

00:14:48:11 - 00:14:52:19

Sara Connolly

So thanks, Helen. How was that back to normal next time?

00:14:52:21 - 00:15:07:00

Helen Fitzhugh

Yeah, thankfully, back to normal next time. It is a little bit more nerve wracking on the other side of the microphone, but, Yeah, very glad to be able to share some insights about what we're doing next and hopefully get people involved.

00:15:07:02 - 00:15:10:16

Sara Connolly

And what podcasts have you got lined up next?

00:15:10:18 - 00:15:37:04

Helen Fitzhugh

Oh, we've got something really interesting, actually. At Evolve - I mean, you know, Sara - we're always interested in covering a range of sizes and sectors because I think sometimes the, workplace wellbeing field can get stuck on office workers in large organizations. So we've got, Nigel Lloyd from Hertfordshire coming in to talk about, small and medium sized enterprises and what they can do to improve workplace wellbeing.

00:15:37:04 - 00:15:41:02

Helen Fitzhugh

So that'll be a nice next one to look forward to.

00:15:41:04 - 00:15:42:22

Sara Connolly

Brilliant. Thanks so much.

00:15:42:24 - 00:15:46:19

Helen Fitzhugh

Thank you.

00:15:46:21 - 00:15:57:17

Helen Fitzhugh

Please do visit. www.evolveworkplacewellbeing.org. We look forward to seeing you next time.