Wednesday, 8 August 2012
In true Olympic style, Caerphilly Council has scooped gold for workplace health promotion.
Caerphilly County Borough Council has achieved a gold corporate health standard award from Welsh Government for the promotion of employee health and wellbeing to its 9,655 strong workforce.
The national quality mark examines various components of the authority to assess the commitment of sustainable health improvement. Specific health issues including nutrition, physical activity, occupational health and the general health and wellbeing of employees was under scrutiny during the two-day assessment.
Cllr. Christine Forehead cabinet member responsible for HR & governance said:
“I am delighted that the assessors from Welsh Government recognised the work we have been doing to promote health and wellbeing within the authority. We endeavour to integrate the health and wellbeing message into the strategic goals of the organisation and equally in our policies and procedures to create a positive working environment.”
Cllr. Forehead continued, “This award marks the beginning of a journey to drive the employee health and wellbeing strategy forward to ensure our continued success in the future.”
A number of initiatives across the authority contributed to the achievement of the standard which included health promotion roadshows, interactive intranet pages, new and improved policies and procedures and an employee ambassador scheme.
The authority was provided with a feedback report which highlighted the following comment:
“The assessors were impressed with the commitment, enthusiasm, passion and vibrancy of the Employee Health and Wellbeing group who answered questions with an air of openness and frankness and who seem well placed to drive the authority on to greater and better things within the Corporate Health Standard process.”
Valerie Scholey, principal practitioner in workplace health for Public Health Wales, congratulated Caerphilly Council on the award.
"The Welsh Government introduced the Corporate Health Standard to recognise workplaces in Wales that have adopted practices to improve employee health and wellbeing. Public Health Wales advisors worked closely with the team at Caerphilly throughout the process to support them in their efforts so we were delighted to learn that they had achieved the gold standard. “
Val continued, "The assessors were particularly impressed with the working group, who are responsible for implementing the various health promotion initiatives across each Council department, and also with the commitment to the health and wellbeing of staff that was shown by the Council's leader and Chief Executive."
Source:
Public Health Wales
