Adidas, Forster Communications, and Nomura International have been named Britain’s Healthiest Workplaces for 2017.
The winners were chosen from 167 employers participating in the UK employee health and wellbeing survey, Britain’s Healthiest Workplace, developed by VitalityHealth in partnership with Mercer, Rand Europe, and the University of Cambridge. More than 32,000 employees took part in the 2017 survey, which assesses the underlying health of an organisation’s workforce and the employer’s efforts to improve employees’ wellbeing.
Nomura International took the top spot in the large workplace category, which includes organisations with 1,000 employees or more, and Adidas won the Britain’s Healthiest Workplace Award in the medium workplace category, which includes organisations with between 250 and 999 employees. Forster Communications won the Britain’s Healthiest Workplace Award, small employer.
Asco UK, Neovia Logistics, and background screening organisation First Advantage Europe won the Most improved award in the large, medium, and small employer categories, respectively. Meanwhile, Skyscanner took home the award for Healthiest new entrant, medium-sized employer, with the Health Innovation Network winning in the small employer category, and air traffic services organisation NATS named Healthiest new entrant in the large employer category.
Dixons Carphone, Pinsent Masons, Skanska UK, and Sweaty Betty are among the highly-commended organisations at this year’s awards.
The full list of winners for 2017 is:
- Britain’s healthiest workplace, large employer: Nomura International.
- Britain’s healthiest workplace, medium-sized employer: Adidas.
- Britain’s healthiest workplace, small employer: Forster Communications.
- Most improved award, large employer: Asco UK.
- Most improved award, medium-sized employer: Neovia Logistics.
- Most improved award, small employer: First Advantage Europe.
- Healthiest new entrant, large employer: NATS.
- Healthiest new entrant, medium-sized employer: Skyscanner.
- Healthiest new entrant, small employer: Health Innovation Network.
Neville Koopowitz, chief executive officer at Vitality, said: “Britain’s Healthiest Workplace offers a unique insight into the role employers can play in influencing employee health and wellbeing.
“A key finding has been that while the challenge of health-related productivity loss is pervasive to organisations of all industries and sizes, it is in fact modifiable, and employers can reduce this through investing in employee health and wellbeing. However, in order to be effective, workplace health and wellbeing strategies must be embedded in the fabric of the organisation, be accessible and well promoted, supported by senior leadership, and, importantly, offer employees tangible incentives to participate.
“It is time for corporate Britain to elevate the discussion around employee health onto the board agenda, and to place the health of its employees, an organisation’s greatest asset, on its risk register.”
Chris Bailey, partner in Mercer’s health business, added: “With widespread generic health risks impacting large swathes of the population, including concerning levels of alcohol consumption, poor diet, lack of exercise and the resulting obesity, many employers think that these risk factors sit outside of their control. However, we see sector-specific mental and physical health risks impacting particularly younger, lower-paid employees as they cope with the demands society places upon them through financial and work pressures, and the impact of being part of an always-on social media generation.”
“Employers of all sizes can and do positively impact on the health of their people, through initiatives such as line manager training to spot the early signs of mental ill-heath. This creates a virtuous circle, improving individual lives, actively managing lost working time, and increasing productivity.”
