What does your work around wellbeing involve?
A lot of health and safety can feel very restrictive NEBOSH International Environmental Diploma NEBOSH National Environmental Diploma , transactional and rule driven Buy NEBOSH certificate Online. For instance, if you are working in facilities you are in a regulated industry focused on buildings, asbestos and so forth. In construction you’re thinking about high risk like working at heights and exposure to substances. Of course, all of this is important in my role, but at Cambridge Assessment I’m thinking more about wellbeing – it’s an area which is becoming increasingly vital in the health and safety field. In fact, that’s why I took the job here – I wanted more experience in this area.
My role is completely people focused. So much so that my three direct reports and I are part of the HR function. Our work relies heavily on communication and being proactive. So, of course I’m working with people to make sure they’re doing the right things but I’m not waiting until someone feels stressed and then sending them on a stress management course Buy NEBOSH certificate Online. We are putting things in place to prevent the stress in the first place.
As part of this, we have a wellbeing programme called ‘Healthy You’ which is based on the five ways to wellbeing promoted by the NHS, it is about helping our staff have a healthy mind, body and community. On the body and community side, this includes yoga and fitness classes and there are lots of groups we support – for sewing, litter picking, chess, disabilities and book clubs to name a few Original NEBOSH Certificate!
I’m incredibly proud of the strides we have already made in this area. For example, when I first joined Cambridge Assessment, we had just 0.6% engagement in our groups. Now we are up to 12-15%! We have 400 people regularly engaging in our programme – whereas before we perhaps had 20 – and we routinely have 50 people litter picking. Such community activities are so valuable to peoples’ overall sense of wellbeing – and people who feel well, are much more likely to perform well at work.
Staff wellbeing was also central to the company’s thinking when we moved to a new building NEBOSH International Environmental Diploma NEBOSH National Environmental Diploma. Again, I’ve been fortunate to be involved in the implementation and move to the new offices; the new building has lots of collaboration areas, a dedicated wellbeing space Original NEBOSH Certificate, gardens and three multipurpose rooms that are perfect for meditation. It’s such a lovely environment that’s designed with staff needs firmly in mind.