Our employees are critical to our success; they are the heart of our business and our foremost ambassadors. Healthy employees are happy employees and happy employees are the cornerstone of our resilient workforce. Tradebe offers many employee wellness initiatives that foster our healthy workforce.
Last month saw ‘Wellness Week’ for over 70 employees based at our Heysham site. The week-long initiative was designed to inspire, educate, celebrate and promote physical, mental wellbeing in the workplace, while helping employees learn more about themselves and each other.
Wellness Week began with ‘Mind Day’ which featured an employee quiz to simulate the mind, personality testing and promoting our companies Employee Assistance Programme. Mind Monday also saw the beginning of our healthy recipe sharing and business development book suggestions, which continued throughout the week.
On Tuesday employees moved on to ‘Soul Day', where employees received a selection of goodies specifically selected to celebrate wellness week, which included a stress ball, re-useable bottle, healthy snacks and a gym bag. The ‘Wall of Knowledge’ challenge saw employees matching interesting and unusual facts to their colleagues. Who had fought an Orc? Who does a killer Mr Blobby impression? Who appeared on Opportunity Knocks? Soul day also introduced a food bank collection point to support the local community food bank that had made an urgent appeal for food after stocks were running dangerously low during the summer months.
Wednesday saw the introduction of ‘Body Day', and the opportunity to focus on our physical health and learn just how healthy we all are. Employees were joined by a member of the local leisure centre fitness team to administer a free individual health check and BMI test, while also giving out free 7-day leisure centre passes. The day also featured a ‘1 min plank challenge’ and prize draw, with the winner awarded a free three-month leisure centre pass.
Thursday was ‘Spirit Day' and the office was visited by a hair and make-up artist in the morning and a professional photographer in the afternoon. Employees were given the chance to receive a beautification treatment before a head-shot photo and a final group shoot.
Friday brought with it ‘Healthy Food Day' to inspire healthy food choices by introducing a pop-up lunchtime sandwich deli and smoothie station, which raised £124.95 for the local Samaritans.
The Wellness Week programme was designed by Michaela Percival, National Customer Service Manager, who joined Tradebe in May this year. Michaela comments: ‘These types of initiatives are designed to improve employee engagement and morale, as well as reduce stress. I’ve had some fantastic feedback, but this would not have been possible without the enthusiasm and willingness of employees trying something different. I’m delighted and very lucky to spend my working week with a great group of people who are simply a joy to work with.’