On Tuesday evening, 17th November 2015, Bridge were invited to attend the London Healthy Workplace Charter Awards at the GLA where we took to the stage to collect our Achievement Level certificate.
The charter is a framework designed to recognise and reward organisations who actively value and foster health and wellbeing throughout their workforce. It is measured by a set of eight standards, ranging from physical to mental health, including corporate support, attendance management, health and safety, and alcohol and substance use.
Working towards the accreditation highlighted many of the practices Bridge already had in place, such as providing employees with space to store bikes, supportive one-to-one guidance with managers, low sickness rates, regular donations to a local food bank, and free health and wellbeing courses offered to staff via our Recovery College. With help from our fantastic Workplace Health Programme advisor from Public Health Greenwich, Bach Luu, we were able to gather evidence that demonstrated how our caring and supportive culture extends beyond our client services to reach our entire workforce.
On the night itself, CEO Raymond Sheehy was joined by Debbie Towersey (Strategic HR & Quality Director), Sandra Dodgson (Strategic Development Director) and Alice Farquharson (Project Officer) to collect the certificate from Dame Carol Black. Maybe it was the dazzling views or celebratory glass of fizz, but we took rather a liking to being on stage and having our photograph taken.
Bridge was proud to be the only SME across the capital to pick up Achievement Level, and also to be part of Greenwich borough which was well represented at the event with six other organisations being accredited on the night.
This is only the beginning of our health and wellbeing journey, however, as we aim to be back in 2016 with our eyes on reaching Excellence level. With lots of exciting new projects on the horizon, such as the launch of our Recovery Café, lunch-time walks, mindful board meetings and more, we are committed to continuing to provide a happy and healthy work environment where our staff feel appreciated and supported in growing both personally and professionally.