Over 12,000 employees have benefited from the Workplace Wellbeing Charter that was delivered across the city in 2015/16. The charter, facilitated by city based national charity Health@Work, helps businesses and organisations to improve health and wellbeing in the workplace.

The Charter award shows a commitment to the staff in an organisation and helps to create a workplace environment which supports good health and wellbeing, which in turn brings considerable business benefits.

The process involves benchmarking of current practice at commitment, achievement or excellence followed by clear guidance on how to make improvements with support and resources provided. The eight areas of the Charter are leadership, absence management, health and safety, mental health, smoking, physical activity, healthy eating and alcohol.

Last year, Health@Work accredited over 120 businesses across the city – the smallest accredited business having one employee and the largest having a considerable 4500 employees.

Fast Facts…

• Mental Health was the toughest standard with 103/120 businesses attaining a Commitment level and only two attaining an Excellence level.
• Smoking was the only standard in which the majority of businesses were assessed above the level of Commitment. 50 were assessed at Achievement and 42 at Excellence.
• None of the businesses accredited reached a level of Excellence in the Alcohol standard.
• None of the businesses accredited reached the level of Excellence in all areas.
• The top three organisations assessed were all medium sized with 31-250 staff.
• Health and Safety was second to smoking as the standard in which organisations did well. 51/120 organisations were assessed as above Commitment.
• 46 training sessions were delivered to business taking part in the Charter, with sessions around mental health awareness being the most popular.

Those accredited attended an event on 4th May at Liverpool Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the Charters achievements. One organisation involved was the Department of Work and Pensions’ Child Maintenance Group who had 85 staff work on completing the Charter.

Sharon Devey of the DWP Child Maintenance Group said:

“We did not want the wellbeing accreditation to be perceived as a tick box exercise. We wanted it to be a positive opportunity to get all staff involved in raising their own and collective awareness of health and wellbeing.”

“As a large public sector employer the DWP have excellent health, safety and absence management procedures in place, but the challenge is always to utilise these resources effectively for a large workforce.  The Liverpool Child Maintenance Group team used the Charter as a framework to ensure health and wellbeing is an important part of the working environment, taking a proactive approach.”

The group have a weigh-in club, a fruit club and have completed a stair challenge in the last year. Employees have taken part in mental health awareness sessions and also been provided with support around stress, resilience and coping with change.

The Charter is a simple programme and support is provided at every step, something which Sharon agrees with:

“The accreditation has been a very positive and inspiring project to be involved in. The Health@Work team have worked closely with us in the build-up and their suggestions and support have been practical, helpful and have made an impact and difference.”

Organisations were assessed and awarded a certificate, received a report and are listed on the national Wellbeing Charter website as employers of choice. Other organisations signed up to the charter include Jaguar Landrover, City of Liverpool College, Positive Futures, Arriva and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Frances Molloy, chief executive of Health@Work commented:

“It’s great to see that so many organisations have signed up for the Charter, it shows the city has a real commitment to improving health and wellbeing. We’re delivering the Charter again this year and are already inundated with requests to join. The Charter is funded for businesses based in Liverpool, and we’re more than happy to discuss other funding options to those based outside of the city.”

Health@Work has also taken the Charter to national stage with clients including NHS England, something which Frances is ecstatic about;

“Having the opportunity to take the Charter to nationwide organisations is something that Health@Work is proud of. It shows that we’re punching above our weight and delivering quality health and wellbeing outcomes for employees up and down the country.”

Health@Work has now delivered the Workplace Wellbeing Charter in every county in England.

If you’re interested in the Workplace Wellbeing advice and support contact Health@Work on 0151 236 6608.