Support Staffordshire
Organisation Name: Support Staffordshire
Sector: Charity and Voluntary Work
Size of Organisation: 91 employees
Thrive Lead: Sandra Payne and Rebecca Lancaster
What They do:
Support Staffordshire is the countywide support network for voluntary and community organisations across Staffordshire. They support Staffordshire communities, individuals and organisations to work in collaboration to bring about positive change in their community by actively encouraging social action.
How Thrive at Work has impacted the organisation:
Thrive at Work provided structure and guidance to build upon the great health and wellbeing work Support Staffordshire were already doing; “It shone light on stuff that we know we do … It brought to light extra bits we needed to do, and we've now got them in place and they're just part of business as usual. Which is great.”
As a result of utilising Thrive resources the organisation introduced a suite of new and updated policies and procedures helping to support all employees and managers in having a fair and consistent experience at work. Peer-led lunch and learn sessions on a breadth of health and wellbeing topics have been a huge success driving engagement and connectivity.
The organisation described that their annual PDR process has been developed and improved as a result of working towards Thrive, and the feedback and insight gained as a result has been reported as very positive; the conversations have supported both productivity and organisational culture and particularly a sense of being valued.
Some employees described increasing their physical activity and exercise habits outside of work as a result of the workplace sessions; some newly joining and regularly attending a gym, whilst others have incorporated lunchtime walks into their working day for an active break with the added benefit of time spent outdoors in the fresh air. An example of changed behaviours improving mental wellbeing was of an employee adjusting email notifications to both increase their focus and reduce work-related stressors.
As a result of the Thrive support meetings the organisation was able to keep momentum, develop new ideas and problem solve creatively in areas that had previously felt like a challenge.
Sandra Payne, Deputy Chief Executive said: "Achieving the Thrive at Work Bronze Award means a great deal to Support Staffordshire, showing that we are a caring and nurturing organisation taking positive actions to support the health and wellbeing of all our employees. Through this accreditation process we soon recognised the need for a dedicated HR & Wellbeing Officer, and Becky Lancaster was recruited and has been instrumental in this successful achievement. We now have an established Thrive at Work Group including 18 Wellbeing Champions, who support the development of our action plan and help to deliver our health and wellbeing initiatives. Initiatives include a pool of Listening Ears, referral to counselling sessions, information to enable staff to manage a range of wellbeing subjects and opportunities to attend formal and informal learning sessions. Our Lunch and Learn sessions are very popular with employees saying how valuable and positive it is to talk about issues and topics which not only support people’s understanding it has helped staff to feel more able to be open with colleagues; all of which supports our organisation’s values. We’d like to thank Naomi Berry, our Accreditation Coordinator from WMCA who was always there to guide us and support us with ideas for evidence to show how we are achieving interventions and incentives to truly embed positive health and wellbeing within the culture of Support Staffordshire."
Accreditation Date: November 2024
