What is the Human Factor at Work project?
The Human Factor at Work Project (HF@W) is a learning initiative, focused on psychological safety, emotional intelligence and peer support in workplaces built through participation, reflection, and cooperative learning. The project supports employees and employers across Leicester and Leicestershire. The project is funded by NEBOSH through their Social Purpose Fund.
You can find explanations about psychological safety, emotional intelligence, peer support and cooperative learning on the Human Factor at Work Resources page.
Pilot Workshops and Courses
The Project will develop a series of pilot courses and workshops led by trained facilitators. They will be designed to support employees with the problems they experience throughout different stages of their working life, from entry into the workplace through to planning for retirement. They will cover areas such as dealing with compassion fatigue for those who work with people facing trauma, dealing with isolation for sole traders and homeworkers, and handling personal life issues at work. The pilots will be offered to individuals and to teams in small voluntary organisations and businesses.
The pilot courses and workshops will draw on Timothy Clarke’s Four Stages of Psychological Safety. These are: Inclusion and Belonging Safety; Learner Safety; Contribution Safety; and Challenger Safety. Participants will use active learning, co-operation and reflection to explore what this means at an individual, team and organisational level.
Facilitator Training
As part of the Project, we will offer a five week ‘Learning to be a Facilitator‘ course. This will be free and is aimed at individuals who want to develop innovative approaches in promoting happier and emotionally healthy workplaces. The skills will also be relevant in non-work contexts, though the focus will be non-domestic situations. The course will run in Autumn 2026 and attendees will receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the course. If you are interested in registering and would like further details, please email humanfactor@vaughan.coop.
Support Cafe and World at Work Forum
The Project will also develop communities of practice. We will set up an informal peer support ‘cafe‘ for individuals to discuss and reflect on workplace issues. We will also establish a more formal ”World at Work Forum’ aimed at organisations as well as interested individuals. Both will be open and free as part of Leicester Vaughan College’s educational offer for Leicester and Leicestershire.
Resources for The Human Factor at Work
We are building a bank of resources to support the above courses. Later on in the project, there will be a periodic ‘The Human Factor at Work’ project newsletter aimed at disseminating information about some of these resources and listing relevant in-house and external events and developments.