EXCLUSIVE: Aggregate launches mental health campaign

By Marianne Calnan 10th November 2014 11:01 am 3rd November 2015 4:54 pm

Aggregate Industries launched a health and wellbeing campaign to mark Mental Health Awareness Day, which was on 10 October.

The construction and building materials manufacturer and supplier held four mental health awareness sessions at its head office on 11 October.

The employer also ran 45-minute interactive sessions focusing on stress to mark National Stress Awareness day on 5 November.

The campaigns are part of the employer’s ’Healthy You’ campaign that the organisation launched in 2013, which aims to help engage staff in the importance of health.

The organisation has also bolstered its workplace health benefits support to help achieve this objective.

For example, the employer has introduced mandatory heath screenings for all staff and invested £270,000 in defibrillators, which will be introdcued across 200 sites from 24 November to help tackle coronary heart disease.

The employer’s workforce is 83% male, with 64% over the age of 40.

Steve Tagg, human resources director at Aggregate Industries, said: “The safety of our colleagues is always our most important priority and we wanted to show a similar commitment to the subject of employee health. At a time when the retirement age is constantly on the rise and the total number of workers older than 60 years old has increased more than any other age group within the industry over the past few decades, it’s never been more important to highlight the importance of health.”

Joanne Davis, HR business partner, overseas and shared service centre, at Aggregate added: “One of the key things we’re focusing on is the difference between pressure and stress, as well as introducing the concept of mental health into the workplace. Our key business aim is to make sure our staff are the healthiest and safest they can be.

“It’s fairly early days with Healthy You, but everyone wants to be healthier, although some staff appreciate the scheme more than others. The information and services are on offer for staff in their own time. We have tried to brand it and give employees more focused options.”