Health and well-being a priority at British Gas

The issue of how to take good care of employees can be a challenging one at the best of times but for any energy company in periods of peak demand it becomes ever more pressing to ensure that everyone in the business is in a position to perform at their best.

Over the last three years, British Gas has worked in conjunction with corporate wellness specialists The Tonic to tackle employee wellbeing from a number of angles. British Gas National Wellbeing Manager Helen Knight says, “We're aware that our people work hard and we understand that whether they're working in offices, contact centres or in the field, it's vital for us to provide support that helps them make informed lifestyle choices, at all times”.

Building resilience and energy levels

To achieve this British Gas has implemented a Wellbeing Programme which focuses on building resilience and energy levels. The Wellbeing Programme has quarterly themes which includes ‘Energy for you’, ‘Food for you’, ‘Activity for you’ and ‘Winter wellbeing for you’. It offers a range of resources, all tailored for easy use by their diverse workforce. It includes a company-wide healthy eating plan with simple recipes, shopping lists, meal ideas and day planners, exercise routines, healthy lifestyle quizzes, seasonal information packs and top tip fact sheets, all customised to suit the different audiences within the business. It also includes access to health assessments and a Meet our Experts Programme in collaboration with an extended range of wellbeing partners. They've also implemented a selection of wellbeing and resilience workshops and presentations to help their people remain at their most resilient and engaged all day, every day.

Tonic Director Jeff Archer comments, “From an early stage we've worked with Helen and British Gas's network of volunteer wellbeing champions to establish the wellbeing information that would be most relevant for us to communicate, along with creative ways of delivering these messages to a number of groups of employees. This has enabled us to develop an approach that both educates and motivates everyone to stay on track with their health and wellbeing.”

The success of wellbeing at British Gas is down to a focus on activities that are relevant to individuals and the organisation, and that are well communicated. It's a simple process any organisation will benefit from when implementing a wellbeing programme. As always, the proof is in the pudding but with comments like these below, there's no argument that the wellbeing programme is proving to be an ongoing success with increasing numbers of people making simple lifestyle changes that add up to a dramatic and positive impact for them and the business.

Comments from British Gas

'All the wellbeing commitments I made are going well thanks, and I have shifted about 7 pounds so far!'

'I dug the juicer out of the back of the cupboard and have been having a juice for breakfast, I've also gone back to running.'

'Since the session, I've joined a gym and am watching what I eat.'

'Thanks for the session, I found it very useful and it's good that British Gas thinks this type of thing is important for its employees.'

Written by Jeff Archer, The Tonic Corporate Wellness

Edited for web by Cecilia Rehn

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/13022014/health_and_well-being_a_priority_at_british_gas/