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National Express board UK victory bus for employee wellness initiative conditions giving employees the chance to book follow-up appointments with their doctors and receive the treatment they need. The Health Bus also takes some pressure off the NHS as confidential advice is provided during visits. Operated by a health coach and coordinator, physical health checks onboard include BMI, body fat, visceral fat, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose. Confidential discussions also take place around levels of exercise, smoking, alcohol, satisfaction with daily energy levels, sleep, work-life balance and stress levels.
National Express has been named best in the UK for their employee wellness initiative at the British HR Awards held in London earlier this year. Showcasing two initiatives, National Express came out on the top spot amongst entries from over 100 different organisations across the country. Judges at the awards evening gave special praise for the transport company’s innovative Health Bus - a mobile health facility which travels across sites to allow employees with
varied working patterns to access medical checks. The National Express Health Bus was launched in 2014 and has reached over 11,700 employees. It was introduced following comments in an annual employee survey, which praised employee safety awareness and asked for similar support in health and wellbeing. It is no exaggeration to say that the Health Bus has saved lives – with early identification of potentially serious
National Express has also introduced a new ‘Mood Circles’ initiative as part of their mental health and wellbeing focus - to help normalise conversations around mental health. This initiative was again singled out for praise at the British HR Awards, for encouraging employees to openly communicate their day-today feelings and access support where needed.
have put into making these initiatives possible. “Both initiatives are a real credit to the teams who built and run them. With the backdrop of Covid-19, there has been an intensified need to take a more proactive approach towards employee health and wellbeing. It’s been great to see the positive impact that both strategies are having on our people.” Nate Harwood, Founder of New Possible and British HR Awards judge said: “The British HR Awards have a single aim, to recognise the organisations and individuals that are shaping a new possible for the future of work. “We believe that a great experience is essential to building a healthy business and we’re immensely proud to celebrate the leaders that are being bold, transforming the people experience and helping to showcase the best of British HR. Congratulations to all the Winners and Finalists.”
Rachel James, UK Human Resources Director for National Express, said: “We are delighted to have been named as having the Best UK Employee Wellness Initiative at the British HR Awards.
The British HR Awards is an annual campaign that sets out to discover and celebrate the organisations and individuals that are truly passionate about delivering a world-class people experience.
“Employee wellness is at the heart of everything we do and this award really recognises all the hard work the teams
For details of all vacancies and career opportunities at National Express, visit careers.nationalexpress.com
The value in customer research As an ambitious and growing organisation in the field of risk management Leamington based Risk Evolves need to demonstrate that they are achieving the same levels of compliance that they are encouraging and advising their clients to achieve. To this end Risk Evolves ascribe to the ISO9001 standard. This determines that they must understand whether they meet the requirements of their clients. What is more part of their strategy for growth is to be recognised as a thought leader in their field. As Helen Barge, MD of Risk Evolves says ‘We can only truly achieve that if we know that we’re not just meeting expectations, but exceeding them.’ The challenge is, that getting that honest feedback is difficult. Survey responses are low and offer limited insight into how things can be improved. Internally conducted customer research is compromised by the mutual desire to ‘not to offend’. So the independent and anonymous qualitative research that Engage Member Glued offers looked like a suitable methodology for getting the information to not only meet the requirements of ISO9001 but also to monitor the progress towards exceeding client expectations. Glued advised Rsk Evolves on how to approach a cross section of clients and prepared a set of questions as
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the guide for questions. Glued gently approached the candidate respondents to set dates in the diary to have the conversation. At the appointed date Glued re-iterated the purpose of the call and the fact that the respondent’s feedback would be anonymous to allow for openness. The conversations were conducted in an open-ended manner allowing for exploration of unexpected topics and individual expression.
Helen Barge, Managing Director of Risk Evolves summed up the benefits as follows: “The qualitative approach is key. We’ve always said that we want a long term relationship with a client and don’t see them as just another ‘transaction’. If we did a multiple choice trustpilot / google type review, that’s transactional. Taking the time to want to listen to their feedback, I think, shows that we value and want to invest in the relationship and aren’t taking it for granted.”
Glued collated the results into categories formed by the themes that arose and presented those to Risk Evolves covering: • Style of service • Level of Performance • Areas for improvement • Reason for choosing Risk Evolves • Quotes • Comparison to competitors • Would they recommend Risk Evolves and why Risk Evolves has the evidence it needs for ISO9001, pointers on how to improve services and a rich source of testimonials which, subject to Glued securing specific approval to do so, can be attributed.
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