British Gas Business

• Re-branded work under the banner of ‘health and well-being’ rather than ‘health and safety’
• Carried out a benchmarking exercise by visiting some of the organisations in the  Financial Times ‘Great places to work’ to generate ideas
• Carried out quarterly employee surveys and conducted focus groups to ask what staff thought would improve their wellbeing
• Introduced diverse initiatives to encourage, educate and facilitate involvement
• Implemented smoking cessation classes, healthy eating options in the canteen, massage sessions and fitness classes
• Involved family members in fun activities around the workplace such as Christmas parties and summer barbecues
• Introduced stress interventions including office snowball fights using soft foam balls
• Organised voluntary community schemes enabling employees to undertake voluntary work for charities
• Ran workplace raffles, football games and Christmas tree decorating competitions
• Arranged twice-yearly health events for all employees over a lunch period. Information was provided on sun safety, firework safety, drink driving and cooking safely on barbecues during the summer

These interventions are also backed up by more traditional health, safety and HR support such as an Employee Assistance Programme, support for carers and flexible working options.

Due to these activities and various organisational issues, between 2004 and 2006 we achieved some significant results:

• 12% reduction in staff absence
• 25% reduction in staff turnover
• Increase in employee engagement and commitment scores from its annual employee survey
• This has, in turn, led to wins in the Financial Times ‘Great places to work’, the Sunday Times ‘Best companies to work for’, a Migraine Trust Award, a BBC Workplace Health Award and a European Call Centre Award and better company branding