Bournemouth University has seen 40% of its 2,000 employees sign up and participate in its employee wellbeing and sustainability programme.
The initiative, provided by Green Rewards, was rolled out to all employees in January 2018 on completion of a six-month pilot period in 2017.
The programme provides bespoke activities aligned to the University’s BU2025 strategic plan which encourage employees to boost their health and wellbeing, as well as work to reduce carbon emissions to create a more sustainable environment.
The wellbeing and sustainability schemes uses leader boards, gamification and team and individual prizes to motivate employees to earn green points for addressing aspects of the global United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which Bournemouth University has committed to delivering. Monthly prizes are awarded to top-performing individuals and the team with the most green points are rewarded by being able to make an annual charity donation.
Employees are further rewarded for signing the Sustainable Development Goal Accord, which is a commitment by learning institutions to support each other in achieving the SDGs.
Since January 2018, participating employees have completed nearly 10,000 hours of exercise and have travelled 130,000 miles sustainably to and from the University on their commutes. The programme has also enabled employees to avoid more than 400 tonnes of CO2 emissions and 515kg of disposable cup waste.
The overall team prize after six months was won by the University’s finance and performance team. For their prize, they gave £100 worth of food donations to the Bournemouth Foodbank.
Dr Neil Smith, sustainability manager at Bournemouth University, said: “Right from the start, the Green Rewards programme has allowed us to achieve fantastic levels of engagement from staff and has been excellent in supporting our university sustainability and wellbeing initiatives. It’s great to see so many staff getting involved and receiving prizes for their positive actions.
“A survey of participants found that the majority thought Green Rewards supports the university in reducing its environmental impacts, and over two thirds felt they had improved their sustainable behaviours at work showing that the programme has made a real, long-lasting impact.
“We’re looking forward to seeing some exciting redevelopments of the programme and new activities for staff to take part in, in September.”