Emotional resilience is key to creating a culture of health and reducing stress, according to public services and design consultancy, Amey.
Speaking at Employee Benefits Live 2010, Mark Bradshaw HR director, reward, and Helen Knight, wellbeing manager, said Amey’s wellbeing campaign has helped employees build their emotional resilience - the ability to adapt to a stressful situation or crisis.
In 2008 Amey put together a comprehensive wellbeing programme to help its 11,000 strong workforce make healthier lifestyle choices. The key drivers behind the strategy were to increase engagement, improve retention and reduce sickness absence.
Part of the strategy involved the appointment of wellbeing manager, Knight, at the start of the programme. In addition, Amey now has 75 self-selected wellbeing champions throughout the organisation.
Its programme includes health promotions and awareness campaigns, relaxation sessions, smoking cessation clinics, healthy-eating plans and a football championship as part of Amey’s Health Olympics.
As a result of its wellbeing campaign, Amey has seen a return on investment of 80% of employees that feel strongly engaged in their work, while 60% of the smoking cessation attendees gave up smoking. Sickness absence has reduced by two days a year, from an average of 9.5 to 7.5 days, which equates to a cost saving in excess of £750,000.
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