In order to succeed as a business, it’s essential to provide your employees with the support they need to perform at their best. That is what Essex Working Well has been helping employers to do since 2011 with their Workplace Wellbeing Award, funded by Essex County Council. More recently, they’ve created a special programme specifically to support the needs of Small Businesses in Essex. We’re so proud of ICKG business – Constellation Marketing – for become the first to achieve the Small Business Workplace Wellbeing Award this year!
We caught up with Jess Houlihan, Senior Content Writer, about what the award means and what the company have learned…
Congratulations to Constellation Marketing on gaining your Essex Working Well accreditation! Can you tell us a little bit about Essex Working Well and what this accreditation means?
The Small Business Workplace Wellbeing Award is a programme supported by Essex Working Well. They offer a range of initiatives and accreditations to suit different business types. The Small Business Award is an ideal choice for organisations like ours who want to implement robust measures to protect employee health and wellbeing but don’t have a large in-house team to make it happen. It was a great opportunity to reflect on what we already had in place, where we could improve, and what commitments we wanted to make moving forward.
What did you have to do in order to gain the accreditation? How long did it take to complete?
We had to evidence the range activities we were undertaking to support our team’s health and wellbeing. Some were already part of our regular working culture, others we were inspired to introduced as part of scheme. Here are a few examples:
- Water drinking challenge
- Lunchtime walks
- Team days out and activities
- Brain teaser games and book club
We were even able to include the outcomes and activities from our Growth Mapper session. The programme is free to join and open to small business in Essex.
What benefits have you gained from the scheme? Would you recommend the process to other businesses?
There are a number of additional benefits to joining the programme, including access to Mental Health First Aider training, bespoke management training, and a monthly letter. On an individual level, we all benefited from scheme and encouraged and supported each other. We enjoyed the shared accountability for activities like drinking enough water and reaching daily step goals.
One of the main outputs was development of our Workplace Wellbeing Strategy, in which we formalised our commitment to a long-term wellbeing agenda. It feels good to have the accreditation in recognition of our work and we’re looking forward to undertaking our Mental Health First Aid training next month.
We would definitely recommend the scheme to others.
Now that you are certified wellness experts, what advice would you give to other businesses to keep their staff happy and healthy?
Talk to your staff and see what would be most beneficial for them. Of course, there are good practices that all organisations should have in place, but there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to employee wellbeing. The great thing about Working Well is that you get to choose your action points and activities. We started the process with a consultation and had an open dialogue within our team about personal challenges and what wellbeing looks like to us. We ended up with a tailored programme of activities and a wellbeing strategy that reflects our goals and priorities. We feel this approach is much more effective than imposing a fixed agenda.
Find out more about Constellation Marketing by visiting their website
—
Part of the Essex Wellbeing Service, Working Well provides Essex businesses (excluding Southend-On-Sea and Thurrock) with free workplace health and wellbeing support.
This support is commissioned by Essex County Council and the Small Business Workplace Wellbeing Award programme is available for free to all Essex-based small businesses.
As well as the Small Business Wellbeing Award, they also offer:
- Working Well Accreditation (for larger businesses)
- Mental Health Aware Programme
- Mental Health First Aid England training
- Healthy Schools Workplace Wellbeing Award
- Mental Health Aware Business Park Programme
Alongside these programmes, Essex Working Well puts on a wide range of online training, eLearning and Guest Speaker sessions, on topics such as:
- Manager and Staff Stress Awareness
- Menopause Champion
- Bereavement
- Gambling Harm
- Self-Care
- 6-Week Mindfulness programmes
- Resilience
- Finance
- Neurodiversity and inclusion
- Emotional Development
Visit Essex Working Well to sign up to any of their programmes.
—
Find out more about our office space solutions, or contact us at info@innovationcentre-kg.co.uk or 01206 405 50.
