Utilities provider Wave, financial comparison service Moneysupermarket and professional services firm Accenture were among the employers recognised for their mental health strategies at the inaugural This Can Happen Workplace Mental Health Awards on 21 November 2019.
Wave won not only in its own category, Best mental health in the workplace strategy: SME (small to mid-sized enterprise), but also took home the This Can Happen grand prix, while its director of HR, Jane Austin, won Most inspiring leader of the year.
The organisation was recognised for implementing an exceptional mental health strategy and demonstrating how a small business can use outside resources to foster wellbeing, while Austin was lauded for her role in creating a wellness strategy on a limited budget.
James Martin, European bid manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car UK, won the Most inspiring employee of the year award for his work to encourage the organisation to sign up for the Time to Change employer pledge, as well as chairing its national mental health committee, being a mental health first aider and founding the employee support network Thrive.
This Can Happen Awards are backed by charity Mental Health UK; they were judged by a panel of 17 peers from organisations including Allen and Overy, Goldman Sachs, Yorkshire Water, Mental Health UK, Bloomberg and Google, which evaluated 250 nominations.
The winners of all 13 categories at the This Can Happen Workplace Mental Health Awards were:
- Best mental health in the workplace strategy: large companyWinner: Thames Water, Time to Talk
- Best mental health in the workplace strategy: SMEWinner: Wave
- Best new workplace approach to mental healthWinner: Moneysupermarket Group, ThriveHighly commended: SCS Railways
- Best targeted mental health initiativeWinner: BAM Nuttall Morgan Sindall joint venture, M62 men and mental health initiativeHighly commended: Allen and Overy, trainee mental health and wellbeing
- Employee network of the yearWinner: AccentureHighly commended: Norton Rose Fulbright, Breathe mental health network
- HR or wellbeing team of the yearWinner: UK Civil Aviation Authority, CAA wellbeing team
- Mental Health Campaign of the YearWinner: Calmer, The Reignite Project
- Most Inspiring Employee of the YearWinner: James Martin, bid manager, European sales at Enterprise Rent-A-Car UKHighly commended: Rhianwen Condron, M5 Oldbury Viaduct Major Renewal Scheme
- Most Inspiring Leader of the YearWinner: Jane Austin, director or HR, Wave
- Future leader awardWinner: Nick Jemetta, principal product manager at Sainsbury'sHighly commended: Shalah Akhtar, tax manager at Pricewaterhousecoopers
- Grand PrixWinner: Wave
- Founders choice: outstanding service to mental healthWinner: Josh Krichefski, chief executive officer, EMEA at MediaCom
Zoe Sinclair, co-founder at This Can Happen, said: “Congratulations to all our winners and highly commended [employers]. This Can Happen Awards allow us, for the first time, to benchmark excellence and innovation that organisations are using to put mental health at the core of their employees welfare”
Neil Laybourn, co-founder at This Can Happen, added: “We hope that public recognition will not only encourage other leaders to think innovatively about mental health and to treat it as a priority, but that the strategies put in place by winning organisations will be used to inspire good mental health practice in every workplace.”
