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 company
Winner: Thames Water, Time to Talk - Best mental health in the workplace strategy: SME
Winner: Wave - Best new workplace approach to mental health
Winner: Moneysupermarket Group, Thrive
Highly commended: SCS Railways - Best targeted mental health initiative
Winner: BAM Nuttall Morgan Sindall joint venture, M62 men and mental health initiative
Highly commended: Allen and Overy, trainee mental health and wellbeing - Employee network of the year
Winner: Accenture
Highly commended: Norton Rose Fulbright, Breathe mental health network - HR or wellbeing team of the year
Winner: UK Civil Aviation Authority, CAA wellbeing team - Mental Health Campaign of the Year
Winner: Calmer, The Reignite Project - Most Inspiring Employee of the Year
Winner: James Martin, bid manager, European sales at Enterprise Rent-A-Car UK
Highly commended: Rhianwen Condron, M5 Oldbury Viaduct Major Renewal Scheme - Most Inspiring Leader of the Year
Winner: Jane Austin, director or HR, Wave - Future leader award
Winner: Nick Jemetta, principal product manager at Sainsbury’s
Highly commended: Shalah Akhtar, tax manager at Pricewaterhousecoopers - Grand Prix
Winner: Wave - Founders choice: outstanding service to mental health
Winner: 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.”