Commitment Award

Age UK East Sussex

Age UK East Sussex have been accredited with a Wellbeing at Work Commitment Award, the first charity in the county to do so.

As part of their award application, the workplace has undertaken a staff health and wellbeing survey, as well as listening groups to follow on from this.

People and Development Manager, Claire Goater and HR Advisor, Caroline Taylor, found that the survey was a helpful activity to undertake as has supported staff engagement, and the listening groups have provided an opportunity to delve into staff feedback in more detail. Claire and Caroline feel that undertaking the survey has helped to raise an awareness of mental health across the workforce. It has also built an appetite for everyone to get involved, with some staff members having since completed Mental Health Awareness and Mental Health First Aid training.

Wealden Community Care

Wealden Community Care are a domiciliary care provider with 53 members of staff, who achieved the Wellbeing at Work Commitment award in November 2022.

To achieve this award, they undertook a staff wellbeing survey – which generated the most responses the organisation has had for any staff survey. Wealden Community Care feel that running a holistic wellbeing survey and acting upon the results has allowed them to show their care for the workforce, and the staff themselves liked the survey responses being anonymous.

One of the key areas that staff indicated as an area of interest in the survey was getting more support with was sleep. As a result, a sleep fact sheet (including signposting) has been shared with staff, as well as fact sheets on menopause, anxiety and prostate cancer. Sharing fact sheets has seen an uptake in staff accessing support for wellbeing concerns, in particular the anxiety fact sheet has encouraged more staff to access the in-house Mental Health First Aiders for support. Sarah Ridley-Smith, Wellbeing Lead, and Angela Wright, Director and Registered Manager, strongly feel that ‘‘a supported employee is a productive employee, and the process has helped them to nurture’’ staff, as well as helping them to consider and improve their approach to staff surveys by providing a structure and focus.

Knill James LLP

Knill James LLP, a firm of Chartered Accountants based in Lewes with a team of over 60 people, achieved the Wellbeing at Work Commitment award in November 2022.

As part of the award, the firm ran a wellbeing survey to understand the needs of the workforce. One of the highlights was being able to present the results to the team, to demonstrate how the firm values each person’s individual views, and to discuss actions based on the survey results. Knill James ran two practical sessions following on from the survey – an introduction to mindfulness and a Pilates session, which included exercises for good posture and ergonomics that could be done seated at a desk.

HR Manager, Tracey Tivey, has been working with colleagues who have completed Wellbeing at Work’s Workplace Wellbeing Champion training to plan the campaigns and activities the firm would like to run in 2023. When asked about Knill James’s experience of the programme, Tracey said, ‘’The framework provided has been great – we were already addressing our team’s wellbeing, but the framework has given us a great structure to work within and enables us to direct our wellbeing initiatives in the best way to support the team“.

Adams & Remers

Adams & Remers are a law firm based in Lewes and London, with just over 100 members of staff, who achieved the Wellbeing at Work Commitment Award in January 2023.

As part of their award, Adams & Remers ran a staff wellbeing survey, which was very well received by staff with a 70% response rate. They have convened a group of wellbeing champions, who are leading on implementing a wellbeing calendar which focuses on engaging staff in monthly wellbeing campaigns, activities or challenges.

They are currently holding a challenge throughout March, where staff are aiming to each walk 50miles (the distance between their two offices in Lewes and London!) over the course of the month. To support this they have been leading lunchtime walks, which have been well attended and have provided an opportunity for staff to connect socially as well as be more physically active.

Design Specific Ltd

Design Specific Ltd has achieved Commitment Award in a unique collaborative process. A Laughton-based manufacturer with just eight male employees, the business made the most of being a small workplace.

A staff health and wellbeing survey was conducted, and the results were discussed collectively at the monthly staff meeting. Instead of choosing one action to be implemented by the business based on the survey results, the team decided to set each one an individual target to work towards depending on their individual health needs, which ranged from losing weight to cutting down alcohol intake and on the number of cigarettes smoked. This way they can all support and celebrate each other’s successes.

To Bill Taylor, CEO, commented the most challenging aspect of the process was to get started and find the time to do it, even though they knew that investing in wellbeing was important. Having the ongoing support of the Wellbeing at Work team, and one of their staff members trained as a ‘Workplace Wellbeing Champion’ helped keep motivation going. They also found it helpful to access ideas and information about the local support services available.

The Prideaux Group

The Prideaux Group are the first employer in East Sussex to be accredited with a Wellbeing at Work Commitment Award. An even more impressive achievement for a small group of care homes who have also been dealing with ongoing challenges caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

As part of their award application, an anonymous staff health and wellbeing survey was conducted. Operations Director, Denise Argent, and Registered manager, Ella Gallop, found that the survey was a useful and insightful activity to undertake as it helped them to understand what areas of health and wellbeing that staff would like further support with. After analysing the results, Ella and Denise found that a main concern for staff was sleep, which wasn’t an area which had been highlighted previously. Off the back of this, they were able to share top tips for good sleep hygiene in staff meetings, as well as on their brand new wellbeing notice boards in the staff room.

The organisation is also arranging staff social activities such as bowling, and staff challenges such as a ‘hanging basket competition’, which are contributing to creating a positive, welcoming and open culture in the workplace.

Affinity Select Insurance Services Ltd

Affinity Select Insurance Services Limited, a small business based in Uckfield, have been granted the Commitment Award in September 2022 – within four weeks of enrolling on the programme.

As part of their award application, the workplace has undertaken a staff health and wellbeing survey, which has been driven by two members of staff: Daisy Otway, General Insurance Clerk, and Naomi Penfold, Trainee Insurance Clerk who have taken on implementing the award criteria as a project.

Jenny Carter-Vaughan, Director, was motivated to undertake the award as it aligns with one of the company’s core values, to look after each other, however wanted to ensure that employees bought into the award as opposed to it being communicated from the top. The organisation has also been working to upskill staff by enrolling team members on mental health awareness and workplace wellbeing champion training, as well as rolling out suicide prevention training across the whole workforce.

Fieldskill Ltd

Fieldskill Ltd provides local Sussex businesses with business essentials across four main areas of expertise: Packaging, Janitorial, Stationery, and Office Furniture. They have 13 staff based in Eastbourne and achieved the Wellbeing at Work Commitment award in November 2022.

By undertaking the staff survey as part of the Commitment award, the organisation now feels more in touch with staff having provided this formal opportunity for them to provide feedback. Fieldskill has been able to use the feedback from the survey to inform their offering to staff and have started providing Westfield Health (a health cash plan), as well as free fruit in the office for all staff. When asked about their experience of the Wellbeing at Work programme, Sacha Bowles, Finance Manager and Wellbeing Lead, said ‘’It’s been a really supportive process, that I would encourage any workplace to take a look at. Our team is so important to us, if we can look after their wellbeing then in turn it will help our business. Wellbeing in the workplace is not a tick box exercise but a crucial area that must be addressed, which we feel very passionately about at Fieldskill.”

Spring Care PAs Battle Ltd

Spring Care are a domiciliary care provider based in Battle who achieved the Wellbeing at Work Commitment Award in January 2023. It was an impressive achievement for a small company, who has also been dealing with other challenges such as lack of time and the impacts of Covid-19.

This was the first time they implemented a formal wellbeing initiative and, as part of their award application, an anonymous staff health and wellbeing survey was conducted. Having a workforce largely made of lone and remote workers can be an extra challenge. This survey allowed them to not only have a good insight into their staff health and what support would be helpful for them, but also to bring them together as a team and show that the business cares about their wellbeing. As a result, more information on sleep, healthy eating and other health topics has been shared with staff in their beautiful and carefully crafted newsletters.

They have also promoted their in-house Mental Health First Aider Janet Mitchinson, which has led to a great response with more staff accessing this support. They are now thinking to expand on these successes and run a monthly drop-in session as an opportunity for their remote and lone workers to connect, increase their sense of belonging and support each other.

APAC Ltd

APAC (Academy of Play and Child Psychotherapy), the largest training provider for play therapy based in Uckfield with 20 employees and 30 contractors non-office based, have achieved Commitment Award in January 2023.

Running an anonymous employee health and wellbeing survey was very beneficial. It not only gave their staff the opportunity to say more openly what they wanted, but it gave the organisation a great idea of what to focus on in terms of wellbeing. In order to have a more strategic approach and keep the momentum going, they decided to put together a calendar of wellbeing activities for the year based on the survey results, being the first one a 10k challenge to encourage staff to be more physically active with different options of participation, from walking to running or just cheering colleagues. The organisation has gone beyond and is now finalising their new Wellbeing policy for the workplace. They are also thinking of ways to have a wider impact and include their many contractors in their wellbeing activities. 

To their Wellbeing Lead, HR and Office Manager, Radek Kwietniewski, the training courses offered by the Wellbeing at Work Programme were really good and provided them with the confidence they needed to move forward their wellbeing initiatives. The support received from the programme has also been invaluable, “the team is very approachable and ready to answer any questions“.

Community Supporters

Community Supporters, a small environmental education charity based in Bexhill with five members of staff and a few volunteers including young people, achieved Commitment Award in January 2023.

As part of the award, a health and wellbeing survey was conducted, and the results were discussed in an informal team meeting at the local pub. Being in a different environment outside work helped the team feel more relaxed and open to talk about their own wellbeing with colleagues, which was positive.

CEO and Founder Lindsay White found that undertaking the survey gave them the opportunity to reflect on their own wellbeing and discuss it as a team. The process has been worthwhile because looking after people and promoting wellbeing is aligned with their aims and values as a charity. Off the back of the survey, one of the volunteers is organising a guided walk for staff and their volunteers in the surrounding countryside that will take place in March.

East Sussex Recovery Alliance

East Sussex Recovery Alliance is a small charity that provides drug and alcohol addiction recovery services at their two café hubs in Eastbourne and Hastings. They achieved the Commitment Award in January 2023.

Although they were already doing a lot in terms of staff wellbeing, all the activities were ad hoc. Undertaking the award has given them the opportunity to create a formal and continuous wellbeing offer in the workplace, with activities for staff during working hours e.g. yoga classes. As their role is to support people in recovery, which can be challenging at times, and with some employees in recovery themselves, the charity wanted to make sure all staff had the time and space to look after themselves and build their resilience.

To their Wellbeing Lead, Jacqui Skilton, overall taking part in the programme has been straightforward; the supporting documents provided have been useful and the Wellbeing at Work team have been very quick at replying to queries and providing support.

Seaview Project

Seaview Project achieved their Commitment Award in May 2023.

Old School Surgery

Old School Surgery, a GP practice based in Seaford, has been running for 30 years and achieved Commitment Award in August 2023.

When Wellbeing Lead Claire and Practice Manager Tracey joined a few years ago, they started changing the way things were done, implementing the mentality of  ‘if you don’t know, you can’t fix it’. This started to create an open culture, where they have had to be creative to think of alternatives with the resources they have.

The awards framework made them think differently about wellbeing, and gave them the resources they needed to improve it. The survey was helpful because it made them think of all aspects of wellbeing. If people are not afraid to say how they feel, they are more likely to talk about things. They are promoting a real organisational change, redesigning job roles and rotating roles, to become less hierarchical and more open. Their main achievement was to offer mental health training, through the programme, to their staff. It’s important for staff to feel confident to approach the subject, to know how to have skilled conversations with people, to know they are saying the right thing. Abuse and suicide are big topics among patients.

Ashdown Audio Visual

Ashdown Audio Visual, based in Uckfield, have achieved Commitment Award in August 2023.

Undertaking the award and running the employee health and wellbeing survey was a helpful eye-opener for them. The anonymous survey was a great tool to capture staff’s honest opinion in a confidential way, and help the company to understand what support they still needed to implement to enhance their staff mental health and wellbeing.

The survey results revealed that employee satisfaction was lower than expected, and mental health and work stress were the topics to focus on. Although senior leaders thought they had an open-door policy, this wasn’t being perceived that way by the younger members of staff because of their age gap and their different ways of working. As a result, their main achievement was to review their organisational structure and hire a middle level manager to bridge the gap and facilitate the communication between the younger workforce and the senior members, and to advocate for staff needs at all levels.

Mitchell & Cooper

Mitchell & Cooper, since 1879, are a designer, manufacturer and distributor who specialise in commercial catering equipment with their passion for product innovation. With just under 30 members of staff, they achieved the Wellbeing at Work Commitment Award in September 2023.

Mitchell & Cooper’s newly founded internal Wellbeing Team of champions, led by Director – Lucy Tiley, Jimmy Ransom & Ronnie Adshead facilitated an employee staff wellbeing survey, which was extremely well received by staff with a 100% response rate. The survey highlighted some key aspects that they wanted to focus on, and as a result, the company now has a wellbeing space full of interesting materials and information, a wellbeing suggestion box, an addition of a fruit bowl available always and have had specialist musculoskeletal checks for all staff. They hold bi-annual wellbeing days with all staff, the last being a summer BBQ which went down a treat.

Saffrons Park Nursery

Saffrons Park Nursery’s newly founded internal Wellbeing Team of Champions, conducted an employee staff wellbeing survey in the summer of 2023. It has started to create a culture of openness and honesty which has been received well by all members of staff. Liz Jupp nursery manager who acts as the Wellbeing Lead mentions how important it is for us to look after our staff and our families, and the Wellbeing at Work scheme has opened avenues for this to be achieved. Notable achievements include an improved working atmosphere, regular staff wellbeing events and the introduction of a Crochet Club.

Saffrons Park Nursery, situated within Eastbourne Town Centre, welcome children from six weeks up to 11 years of age. Inclusivity for their children, families and staff sits at the heart of their ethos. Saffrons Park employ over 40 members of staff and they achieved their Wellbeing at Work Commitment Award in September 2023.

Integrated Family Healthcare

The team of nine was awarded the Wellbeing at Work Commitment Award in November 2023.

Staff largely work autonomously in the community, healthcare practices or from home, meaning interactions within the team can be limited. As part of their award, Integrated Family Healthcare have identified opportunities to bring the team together to benefit wellbeing, setting up a monthly walk. This has been no mean feat, given the nature of how staff work. Nevertheless, the team have committed to the walks wherever possible. Wellbeing Lead, Nicola Brocklehust, said the experience of the Wellbeing at Work programme has been “really positive. It has made the team think about our wellbeing, talk about it and action things”.

Staff from Integrated Family Healthcare have taken up training opportunities, as part of the programme including Menopause Awareness. The Team are also looking forward to an office move, where they will have a larger dedicated space to work more closely together, and strengthen their team spirit.

Sussex Community Foundation

Sussex Community Foundation is a registered charity that exists to make Sussex a fairer and more equal place. They do this by enabling local people to support local causes, making grants to small charities and voluntary groups working in communities across Sussex. They achieved the Wellbeing at Work commitment award in December 2023.

They conducted their employee health and wellbeing survey and had close to 100% responses from all staff. As a result of the survey, healthy eating was a prime topic which welcomed the introduction of a staff fruit bowl and implementing bi-annual mindfulness sessions. Wellbeing leads Jackie Wilkes and Zoe Gandey are championing health and wellbeing within the workplace and are pleased that wellbeing is now a hot topic within the team, which has got everyone talking.

Sussex Community Foundation Wellbeing team with framed certificate of Commitment Award in December 2023

Citizens Advice Eastbourne

Citizens Advice Eastbourne achieved Commitment Award in December 2023. As part of the award, a health and wellbeing survey was conducted and the results were discussed in an organisation-wide team meeting, where staff and volunteers could give their input and contributions.

The charity went a step further. Two members of the Wellbeing Group arranged small group interviews with members of staff (two managers and three caseworkers) to gain a sharper focus on some of the points raised at the team meeting discussion. As interventions, a monthly Wellbeing Bulletin has been created for circulation by email to all staff and volunteers and for the new wellbeing noticeboard. The CEO led a discussion to address the increased pressures in managing expectations of clients.

For the Wellbeing Group, taking part in the award has helped them get the commitment from the organisation, put wellbeing on the agenda and open channels of communication. They want wellbeing to be part of the organisation’s culture and sustainable long-term. The survey has helped them understand the main issues and people’s level of wellbeing. Moving forward, the group are producing resources for staff and volunteers, and people have been encouraged to share their experience and expertise.

Citizen Advice Eastbourne’s Wellbeing Group with framed Commitment Award in December 2023

Charles Cox Ltd

Charles Cox Ltd, based in Newhaven, employ 20 staff and are specialists in property management, block management, lettings and property development. The Charles Cox Property Group was established 13 years ago, and specialise in tailoring property services to companies, landlords, and investors knowing that each building is unique.

The staff survey found there was a demand for more information on nutrition and physical activity. As a result, Charles Cox have planned to hold a Wellbeing Week in early 2024. Activities will include supplying fruit, organising lunchtime walks and sharing advice on moving more and nutrition. Charles Cox achieved the Wellbeing at Work Commitment award in December 2023, in just two weeks!

Staff from Charles Cox Ltd with framed Commitment Award in February 2024

We Group

Charles Cox Ltd, based in Newhaven, employ 20 staff and are specialists in property management, block management, lettings and property development. The Charles Cox Property Group was established 13 years ago, and specialise in tailoring property services to companies, landlords, and investors knowing that each building is unique.

The staff survey found there was a demand for more information on nutrition and physical activity. As a result, Charles Cox have planned to hold a Wellbeing Week in early 2024. Activities will include supplying fruit, organising lunchtime walks and sharing advice on moving more and nutrition. We Group achieved the Wellbeing at Work Commitment award in December 2023, in just two weeks!

Staff from We Group with the framed Commitment Award in February 2024