Funded by Knowsley Public Health, delivered by Knowsley Chamber of Commerce. The Working Well scheme is dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of the borough’s workforce. Through Working Well you can access various FREE services that aim to improve the health and wellbeing of your employees, support your efforts to reduce sickness absence, and assist you in complying with Health and Safety legislation.
We know that there is a distinct link between investment in the health and wellbeing of employees and positive outcomes for the organisation and the employee.
Workplace Health and Wellbeing Grant
Through Working Well, SMEs based in Knowsley can access a health and wellbeing grant of up to £500, to introduce health initiatives into the workplace.
BOMAC Electric Ltd, a Knowsley based designer and manufacturer of heating elements and heating products, are always looking for ways to improve the health of their employees and their working environment.
As a manufacturer their employees who work on the assembly line are working on intricate components for several hours a day often sat in the same position doing repetitive assembly work which can lead to aches and pains in their upper back, neck and shoulders. Through discussions with staff they chose to use the Workplace Health and Wellbeing Grant to offer a workplace massage to staff to help alleviate any tension that has built up from the work they do. Helping them to stay active and improve their physical and mental health.
BOMAC’s Commercial & Marketing Director, Julia McDonald wrote on LinkedIn looking for suggestions and was introduced to Jackie Cain https://www.facebook.com/jackiecainstherapies who is a qualified massage therapist offering workplace massage in the Liverpool region. Julia invited Jackie to come along to BOMAC’s manufacturing site in Knowsley, Jackie brought her massage chair with her and gave Julia a sample of the 15 minute back, neck and shoulder massage she would offer to the staff. Julia said “I have to say that 15 minutes doesn’t sound a long time but it felt a lot longer and I definitely felt the benefit after the massage”.
It was agreed that Jackie could set her chair up in the R&D lab and offer staff a 15 minute massage on the last Monday of each month. After the first massage sessions the staff were all really looking forward to the next time Jackie visited, she was extremely professional and put people at ease, listening to any problems they had with their back, shoulder or neck and offering them exercises to do at home as well as giving them advice about their posture and seating position at work. They really felt the benefit of the massages, just once a month was enough and nearly everyone got involved. Now that the funding has come to an end BOMAC are working towards a plan of being able to provide the massages as an employee incentive even if they offer them once a quarter they will still feel the benefit.
In addition to offering the workplace massage, BOMAC wanted to encourage healthier eating, they have always offered free tea, coffee and biscuits to all staff but wanted to encourage people to try healthier alternatives, having recently fitted a new kitchen with a water filter machine they also wanted to offer a weekly fruit box to encourage people to snack healthier rather than snacking on biscuits.
The staff all enjoyed the fruit and BOMAC are now looking at reducing the budget for tea, coffee and biscuits and continuing to buy some fruit on a weekly basis. They found that grapes, tangerines and bananas were the most popular.
Julia said “We would definitely recommend any small business in the Knowsley borough to take advantage of the Working Well Initiative and try out some new ideas that may benefit your employees”.
In a bid to continue to encourage a healthier lifestyle BOMAC have also started working with Claire Kelly from Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. Claire provided the team with a lung health awareness presentation and they have a calendar of events to take part in as a team including sponsored walks, runs and swims. It is great to be able to do healthy activities as a team whilst raising money to help a great local charity.
