EXCLUSIVE: More than 8,000 employees from 50 organisations based at Chiswick Park, London, are taking part in a number of health and wellbeing events this summer.
The business park, which includes employers such as ESPN, Paramount Pictures, Starbucks and the Walt Disney Company, is running its summer programme between 6 June and 1 September.
In December 2013, the business park’s annual employee survey found that 95% of staff agreed that health and wellbeing programmes enhanced their productivity.
The vast majority (96%) of employees agreed that the programmes added value to their working lives, compared to 81% who said the same in 2011.
The health and wellbeing events available to employees include:
- Face your Fears Day – On Friday 13 June, there was the opportunity to take part in a seven-metre or nine-metre freefall, experience a caving simulator, eat at a bug restaurant or undergo hypnotism.
- Driving Ambition – On 4 July, to celebrate the British Formula One (F1) Grand Prix, there was an F1 simulator, pit stop challenges and classic car displays.
- Football Fever – On 11 July, to celebrate the World Cup, there will be human-size table football, zorb football and Brazilian entertainment.
- Behind the Scenes – On 18 July, in partnership with Paramount and Vue, there will be exclusive films and behind-the-scenes films.
- Food Festival – On 1 August, international food stalls and cookery workshops will take place with produce from local providers.
To communicate all these events to staff, Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work sent out event calendars to every desk, and distributed emails every Monday to remind employees what was coming up that week.
Vicky Baldwin, events manager at Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work, said: “The events are designed to make employer’s lives easier, to build communities and improve their employees’ work-life balance.
“We have around 2,000 employees taking part across the two hours doing all different things, with the aim to offer new skill development with an element of fun. It is all designed to boost engagement.
“The type of employers on-site are proactive and understand the need for a good work-life balance, staff retention and they want to look after their staff and want them to be happy and healthy, which we help with.”
