Dr Raffaella Valsecchi (Principal Investigator) and Professor Neil Anderson from Brunel Business School received a British Academy research grant to investigate new developments in the delivery of Occupational Health Services to Small Firms. Their proposed research will create a different understanding of occupational health (OH) by investigating the new multi-channel “Health for Work Adviceline” (telephone help-line/advice on-line) set up to support small medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The need to provide alternative ways of delivery of OH services across small businesses is important for two main reasons. First, the most common barrier to employers investing in the health and well-being of their employees is the lack of appropriate information advice. Second, managers in small business do not invest in occupational health service because they cannot see a convincing business case.
This research will examine the effectiveness of the “Health for Work Adviceline” in meeting the needs of SMEs, so that improvements to this service can be made. This is vital, since a better OH delivery could improve sickness absence management and other aspects of health at work.
Neil Anderson is Professor of Human Resource Management and Director of Research of WORC at Brunel University. Having obtained his PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Aston University in 1989, Professor Anderson has previously held chairs at the University of London (Goldsmiths College) and the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). He has published in several areas spanning HRM and organizational psychology over a number of years, and is now one of the top-five most cited Industrial-Organizational psychologists in Europe. Professor Anderson is Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, and Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and Division 14 of the APA (the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology). His teaching spans Undergraduate, Masters, and MBA levels and he has particular expertise in the areas of staff selection, appraisal, and innovation and creativity in the workplace.
Dr. Raffaella Valsecchi is Lecturer of Critical Management at Brunel Business School. Prior to this she worked as a Senior Lecturer at Greenwich Business School and as a Research Fellow for an ESRC funded project at Royal Holloway-University of London. She is a member of European Group for Organisational Studies (EGOS) and the British Academy of Management (BAM). Raffaella is also an associate member of the Centre for Research into Emotion Work and Employment Studies (CREWES). Her research interests cover the sociology of work with a particular focus on home-teleworking, tele-nursing, call-centres work, control in workplaces and the new developments of the health sector.
