What’s all this occupational health nonsense? A chap I used to work with donkeys years ago asked me this the other day – we bumped into each other in town. We were actually met as juniors, runners they call them, guess slaves would be a better word for it now. But you work your way up the ladder until you’re at the top, that’s what happened to me and a few other people I know.

Anyhow, I was talking to this bloke who I began my career alongside, shall we say. He’s had some ups and down. But we got to talking about work and that statement, “what is all this occupational health nonsense” just sums him up. I’ve been in senior management for a significant proportion of my life, had some big successes and some big failures. Some of it my fault some it not my fault. And let’s just say I’ve learnt a lot about managing people and managing business. The way I see it is, business is about relationships, with clients, suppliers, and most importantly, employees. Keeping people happy leads to a successful business. Obviously there are exceptions to this as well as every rule – you need to do what’s in the best interest of the business. But in answer to his question, occupational health is about ensure the health and well being of your employees, which, whether you like it or not, is a fundamental duty of us as employers. The difference between me and him, is that I notice positive effect occupational health has on the business whereas all this old chap cares about is holding on to his bucks than taking care of his staff, which coincidentally is probably the reason things never quite work out in the way that he wants them to.