Listen: In the past year, charity Blood Cancer UK has focused on supporting the motivation and engagement of its employees through an expanded wellbeing benefits provision, all against the backdrop of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic and subsequent financial difficulties.
In this episode of the Employee Benefits podcast, Rob Buckwell, head of HR and organisational development, explains how Blood Cancer UK made employee wellbeing a priority and how its agile-working policy has become firmly embedded at the organisation.
At a glance
Blood Cancer UK is a charity dedicated to beating blood cancer through funding research, support and advocacy for the blood cancer community. Some of the typical job roles include fundraisers, research professionals, support line employees including nurses, research, communications, digital, data, ICT, HR and finance professionals.
It has approximately 100 employees, the largest age group of which is in the 25-34 age bracket.
Primary business objectives that impact employee benefits
- To upskill employees and encourage cross-team and digital ways of working; this will lead to a strengthening of the learning and development and career development opportunities to support this.
Career history 
Rob Buckwell joined Blood Cancer UK in July 2018, following generalist HR roles in the charity Media Trust and technology firm NetSumo. Among his achievements throughout his career, Buckwell says that implementing Blood Cancer UK’s agile working policy has been rewarding: “It has been fantastic to see the changes towards an outcome-focused approach to working life that treats people like adults and helps them do their best work while balancing personal priorities,” he says.