Active Lancashire launches programme to support health and wellbeing of staff

Strategic lead for physical activity across the county, Active Lancashire, has today unveiled their plans to roll out a new health and wellbeing programme for the benefit of its employees.

The programme, centred around the newly formed ‘Health and Wellbeing Group’, will focus on internal initiatives that help support and improve the wellbeing of staff within the workplace.

Following discussions in the Health and Wellbeing group and feedback received from the wider team, Active Lancashire opted to introduce a number of initial ideas to kick-start the internal programme. All staff have been given a number of wellbeing hours each month to spend doing activities of their choice that improve their health and wellbeing, alongside an additional day of annual leave to be taken as a ‘wellbeing day’ each year. Later this week, the team are taking part in the first of a number of planned sessions, a socially-distanced walk in the Lake District.

These activities have been further supported by the development of ‘Working Well at Active Lancashire’, a guidance document produced by senior management which outlines a number of policies such as flexible working hours which set boundaries for staff, encouraging a healthy work-life balance.

Supporting the health and wellbeing of staff is not entirely new to the organisation as Active Lancashire has been committed to workplace health for many years, but the recent development comes as the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the teams’ physical and mental health, like that of the nation.

Working from home for over 12-months and a combination of other factors has led to staff feeling disconnected, and as advocates for physical and mental health, Active Lancashire has identified the important role they play in not only serving the county, but supporting their own team’s wellbeing too.

Active Lancashire’s chief executive commented on the recent developments saying: “The past year has been a year like no other and at times, we have all felt the strain of the pandemic on our own mental and physical wellbeing.

"Our team are at the heart of everything we do, therefore it’s important that we start from within and support staff to feel happy, healthy and engaged. As sport and physical activity begins to be recognised by the nation as the key to a community-wide recovery from COVID, our incredible team and their work will be in high demand and I am deeply committed to ensuring boundaries are set to allow for staff to work hard, but not at the detriment of their own health and wellbeing.”

The organisation’s internal workplace health programme is largely led by the Health and Wellbeing Group representing all areas of the business, who have volunteered to come together on a monthly basis to discuss wellbeing initiatives. Active Lancashire hope that as meetings continue and staff regularly feedback, the organisation can remain proactive with internal health and wellbeing, supporting the team to feel happy, healthy and motivated.