Talk the talk
It is no good having the best wellbeing programme in the world, if your staff don’t know about it. DAVID WOODS on how different organisations communicate their strategy
healthcare has to be branded to staff as an employee benefit in an engaging and compelling way. There is a knack to striking the balance between benefit and business strategy when it comes to wellbeing… HR
H Schools of thought
Oliver Gray, MD of employee wellbeing services company, EnergiseYou, says: “Health and wellbeing is an employee benefi t as much as a business strategy. It can be used to help staff in times of stress or illness, but it can attract, retain and show employees they are not being seen as ‘machines’. “The communication should be put to staff as: ‘You work hard and we want to support you.’ But an employer will have to make staff see wellbeing as an employee benefi t, or something that can reward them, in order for the employer to benefi t from it. “There is very much a ‘new school versus old school’ view of employee wellbeing, with some employers looking at it as a way of reducing absence and others as a way of creating a creative, fun and engaging work environment. It is a win/win for business.”
26 HR Supplement September 2012
ealth and wellbeing in business, if used strategically, can bring a host of benefits to employers: staff absence is reduced,
Shifting up a gear productivity increases,
employees become energised and motivated and engagement levels rise. But for employers to make the most of the wellbeing agenda,
A health and fi tness initiative for shift workers was launched earlier this year, backed by the Mayor of London, Sport England and minicab company, Addison Lee. Broadcaster Sky was the fi rst employer to make the programme available to all its employees nationwide. Shift into Sports provides shift workers with access to sports,
fi tness and pay-as-you-play opportunities at low cost and with no long-term contracts by taking advantage of facilities during off-peak times. It was designed to help the UK’s shift workers take advantage of subsidised leisure activities at a time of the day that best suits them, while also ensuring that fi tness and leisure facilities no longer lie dormant during the nine-to-fi ve working day. Following a pilot by London-based Addison Lee, Sky’s investment in
the programme in April gave 16,500 employees, and in particular its broadcast production staff, customer service staff and installation engineers based throughout the UK, the opportunity to benefi t from a wide choice of health and fi tness offers. Ralph Tribe, director of business HR for Sky, explains: “Sky has been instrumental in the national rollout of this fantastic partnership with Shift into Sports, as a means of providing fl exible and low-cost access to activities for our employees, and in particular, our shift workers. “Providing subsidised access to physical activity through Shift into Sports is another benefi t we have introduced for our employees, part of our commitment to health and wellbeing in the workplace.” Sky employees register on a bespoke website using an employer passcode to fi nd offers in their local area. Activities available include going to the local gym, swimming, organised workouts in nearby parks, and team sports such as fi ve-a-side football.
hrmagazine.co.uk
Fernando Volken Togni
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