Implementation of Wellbeing Champions

What is the name of your intervention?

Implementation of Wellbeing Champions in key focus areas

Corresponding health and wellbeing category

Multiple

Why did you choose this area of focus for your staff? 

Being a charity we do not have the resources available for a stand alone role focusing on Health & Wellbeing but knew there was an appetite amongst our staff who were passionate about certain areas of Health & Wellbeing.

How did you involve your staff in the intervention? 

We asked for volunteers to take on the champion role and be the main point of contact for sharing tips/advice/support links for their chosen area. 

How engaged were senior leaders in the intervention? 

The initiative and communication was led by the Chief Executive. Four of the Senior Management Team act as Champions.

How did you promote and raise awareness of this intervention to staff

After the initial communication (above), a further one was sent out with details of the champions. Hospice Operational Managers share the information with the staff. 

During this time period the Champions were sending out information on the subject areas to all staff, so awareness has increased over a period of time. 

What has been the impact of this intervention for staff? 

The topic of Health & Wellbeing has become more manageable for the organisational as a whole. 

Staff know they have a point of contact for certain areas and there is anecdotal evidence that the Champions are contacted individually for advice eg menopause, financial wellbeing, mental health.

How do you plan to continue with this intervention in the future? 

We will continue with the use of champions and have a coordinated approach to Awareness Days/Weeks. 

The next step is that we are developing a microsite which will sit on our website and can be accessed by staff only. This will be a ‘one-stop shop’ for all advice relating to Health & Wellbeing. The Health &Wellbeing Champions will be able to update information and news directly onto the site. 

What have you learned from developing this intervention? 

Assigning people who have a passion/interest for focus areas has brought the communications to life rather than it becoming a corporate message.   

Champions don’t have to be experts in their focus areas, and this message needs to come through as some staff were hesitant in putting themselves forward.  

There has been more open discussions from employees as many of the champions are colleagues rather than their manager or HR. 

Can you offer any advice to other organisations thinking about developing this kind of intervention? 

Seek out those staff who have the passion and enjoy doing a bit of research into their subject area. 

It is also important to provide reassurance that Champions are not required, or expected, to be subject matter experts. Their role is to encourage, support and signpost staff to professional resources depending on the applicable topic/wellness area