WINNER
Zurich Insurance, Zurich Wellbeing
This entrant not only introduced a raft of measures tailored to address the needs of its workforce, but it also took significant steps to improve employee engagement scores on health and wellbeing.
The insurance firm’s health and wellbeing campaign, branded Zurich Wellbeing, was launched in June 2011 and was developed following the results of an employee survey that found the top concerns among its workforce were how to achieve a work-life balance (43%) and how to cope with stress and anxiety (29%).
To tackle these issues, Zurich Insurance introduced an independent and confidential service to support employees with their work, family and personal life. This was followed by the launch of an initiative to help employees build wellbeing into their daily life. An interactive tool, Your Balance Wheel, helped employees identify the areas in their life that they wanted to spend more or less time on. The organisation also produced a guide providing advice on how to alleviate pressure, both in the workplace and at home. One judge said: “It really has got a rounded offering.”
As a result of the campaign, Zurich Insurance found that days lost per employee due to sickness have fallen to 5.2 since the campaign was launched in June 2011, compared with 5.4 previously. This represents a £300,000 saving for the business in 12 months. Also, 61% of UK respondents to an employee survey said they were now able to maintain a good balance between their work and personal life.
Jacky Thompson, employee relations manager at Zurich Insurance, said: “I am very pleased. Our programme is very new; we kicked it off last June. There are a variety of things we have done, such as taking on employees’ feedback as to what they would like us to concentrate on.”
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
The Random House Group, Our House
The firm’s programme is designed to teach staff how to keep themselves in the best possible physical and mental condition, and why this is important. As part of its programme, Random House Group held an event in January called Wellbeing Wednesday, which provided employees with fresh fruit, blood pressure and body mass index checks, sports massages, and in-house yoga and pilates classes.
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RUNNERS UP
KCOM Group, Occupational Health Management Plan
This entrant impressed the judges with a calendar of health events which coincided with the firm’s financial year, addressing a different topic each month. It was launched with the topic of health and nutrition in April 2011 with a fruit drop. Other topics highlighted during the year included mental health in August, and health and wellbeing screenings for staff in November.
Legal and General Assurance Society, Tackling absence from a wellbeing perspective
The organisation introduced a programme called Health Manager after a six-month pilot involving a group of employees. Management information gathered from the programme’s real-time reporting system enables the employer to focus efforts on the most prevalent health issues affecting staff and those that have the greatest impact on productivity.
Read more about the Employee Benefits Awards 2012
