News Story Date : 04 September, 2009

Fit for Business defining employee health and wellbeing.

The Fit for Business (FFB) team recently conducted a questionnaire to evaluate the impact it is making across the 36 companies participating in the Big Lottery funded ‘Wellbeing in The East’ FFB Project.

Headline outcomes found from the 110,745 employees (67,873 are FTE) participating in the 36 companies; 48,539 employees have had the opportunity to participate in FFB initiatives, of these 27,118 have participated in interventions extending across 5 remits of health promotion. The aim of the project is to increase physical activity levels, encourage healthy eating choices in and through the workplace, improve employee wellbeing and reduce stress as well as promoting smoking cessation and drugs and alcohol support services.
Results concluded that 33 of the 36 companies have seen a marked growth in FFB interventions held within their workplaces, demonstrating an increasing interest and commitment to employee health and wellbeing.

These results are timely given the release of Boorman’s Interim Report, published Wednesday 19th August, in which he makes recommendations on how the NHS could support the health and wellbeing of its own employees. One of the central recommendations is for the NHS to set itself an ‘activity challenge’. The message was further endorsed by the Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, who recently called on the NHS to make the promotion of active lifestyles “core business and not a peripheral concern.”

Whilst high levels of absenteeism, smoking and poor exercise habits may be characteristic of some companies, the public authorities and NHS Trusts taking part in Fit for Business can consider themselves to be ahead of the game in their commitment to implementing positive workplace health strategies for their staff.

From the Wellbeing in The East FFB portfolio alone, 15 of the 22 companies (to date) whom have been certified ‘Fit for Business’, are a mixture of local authority, NHS Trusts and PCT’s. They have demonstrated initiative in addressing the need for workplace health strategies; they are providing opportunities and as a result are starting to reap some rewards.

Ruth Mann, HR Manager for NHS Hertfordshire, having recently gained FFB recognition added “The FFB programme has only been going for just over a year, but it is amazing what you can with a little bit of money and great support from the FFB team. Results show that it is already working. Employees have reported that they not only began to opt for healthier options and upped their exercise levels to meet with Government guidelines, but they also really enjoyed taking part in the activities – therefore boosting team and individual morale. A pedometer challenge involving over 600 staff was one of our most successful interventions as we have staff based right across Hertfordshire and it was funded entirely by external sources. We are looking forward to a second year of opportunities for more staff to get involved and see further results in terms of increased activity and wellbeing.”

The Boorman review adds support to the Change4Life agenda, launched in January this year - encouraging the nation to ‘Eat Well, Move More and Live Longer’ – an ethos that has been the foundation of the Fit for Business programme since it was first established in 2006.