UK Company Hosts Wellness Day for Its Employees, Offering Ways to Stop Smoking and Manage Stress

People could get advice on how to quit smoking or be tested for sexually transmitted diseases or even just attend a session on balancing their work and home lives at a large Brighton contact center last week in the UK when five organizations came together to improve health education among employees at Domestic & General, according to a press release.

The company provides international warranty services and product protection.

Advice workers from CRI (News - Alert), Albion in the Community, Employee Advice Programme, Claude Nicol and National Health Service (NHS) Stop Smoking manned on-site stalls and drop-in clinics for Domestic and General employees there, according to the press release.

The press release reports that over 200 people were able to take advantage of free Chlamydia screenings, stop smoking kits and stress management packs, then asked to fill in questionnaires. The information is intended to help the NHS learn more about local people’s lifestyle and drinking habits.

“We don’t want to put people off healthier living by telling them what they can and can’t do. Instead we want to give our employees the information they need to make their own informed decisions,” said Nicki Perry, HR manager at Domestic & General, which has built an extensive health and well-being program within the business, and currently employs over 700 people in Brighton, the press release states. “The organizations involved in Health Awareness Day all have a friendly, non-preachy approach which really resonates well,” Perry said in the press release.

She added, “It’s good to know that by working with these groups, not only do our employees benefit but we’re also helping to inform decision-making that affects the community in which we operate.”

The statistics are compelling. Domestic & General reports in the press release that, in two years, the company’s “well-being initiatives resulted in a 50 percent staff sickness reduction and a 35 percent improvement in employee retention.” Even better, the company recently won the Healthiest Workplace Award at the Sussex Business Awards for the second year running, according to the press release. 

Recent research revealed that big is better. Employers at larger organizations tended to offer employee wellness programs and other health initiatives in the UK, compared to companies with fewer than 250 workers.

Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed said their employers offered occupational health services, while an additional 32 percent said their firms helped employees with stress management, according to the Web site.  

In the US, the movement towards providing wellness centers goes back many years, its main focus also on “reducing employers' overall medical spending, reducing accidents, improving productivity, and improving return-to-work outcomes,” according to a story by Roberto Ceniceros at Business Insurance.

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Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM (News - Alert) in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.