Free charity programme boosts wellbeing and productivity at ASEE​

​The electrical and mechanical engineering specialists have trained a number of qualified Health Champions to roll out the strategy through the free programme, Work Well Live Well, which is available to workplaces in all industries across Northern Ireland.

The programme which is delivered by leading local charity Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS) and funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA) aims to help workplaces improve their employees' health and wellbeing through personalised support. NICHS supports organisations with carrying out a health and wellbeing survey, developing a bespoke 3-year action plan and strategy for their team, as well as providing access to training, webinars, resources and networking opportunities, all completely free of charge.

Heather McCracken, Human Resources Manager at ASEE Ltd., says, “We attended an event back at the end of 2021, where Emma from the Health Promotion team at NICHS spoke about the Work Well Live Well programme. At that time, we didn’t really have a structured wellbeing strategy in place and thought that our workplace could really benefit from the support of this programme. We wanted to support and improve our employees’ health and wellbeing and employee engagement. We wanted to promote a good work life balance and allow our employees to have a say in their workplace health and wellbeing priorities. Plus, the support is completely free of charge, which is amazing!”

“Since participating in the programme, we have been supported to survey our employees to gain an understanding of their health and wellbeing priorities. We have been able to develop a structured wellbeing strategy for the future to meet the needs of our employees through using the data and feedback from the wellbeing survey.”

“We established a wellbeing committee, who then attended the 2-day Health Champion training. We were also able to avail of the Mental Health First Aid training course, and now have an in-house team of trained Mental Health First Aiders. On top of that, in the past year we have also been able to run many initiatives such as health awareness sessions, NICHS health checks for staff, Strava challenges, marathon teams, free monthly breakfasts, team outings, social clubs, and raised thousands for various charities. We have achieved so much with the support of the Work Well Live Well programme, and look forward to what else is to come.”

“We have been able to put in place a well-established wellbeing strategy and initiatives based on data and employee needs, to support both the mental and physical wellbeing of our employees. We want to maintain this successful strategy for the future and to continue to support our employees’ health and wellbeing.”

To other businesses considering signing up, Heather says, “Do it! You will have no regrets! The NICHS Health Promotion team are very knowledgeable, patient, and supportive! We have benefited greatly from taking part in this programme. The best part about it, is that it is completely free of charge, which is unbelievable.”

Emma McCrudden, Work Well Live Well Programme Manager at Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke, says; “As a local charity, our mission is to prevent chest, heart and stroke conditions and support people affected by them. Our vision is a healthy Northern Ireland free from chest, heart and stroke illnesses. We recognise that the workplace is a priority setting for influencing the physical and mental wellbeing of employees and the PHA funded Work Well Live Well programme which we deliver, helps to promote good health in workplaces across Northern Ireland to prevent serious illness in the long term.”

“ASEE Ltd. is a great example of a workplace which wanted to make a positive change and put staff health first. The initiatives put in place by ASEE Ltd. staff have been a great success and have made a real difference to the health and wellbeing of the team.”

“We are now recruiting new workplaces to take part in the programme and would encourage organisations of all types and sizes to get in touch to find out how Work Well Live Well can help them.”

For more information and to register for Work Well Live Well, visit nichs.org.uk/workwelllivewell