The SHP Awards judging panel has selected five finalists for SHP’s Trailblazer in Workplace Wellbeing Award.
New for 2020, SHP Trailblazer Awards celebrate those who are going above and beyond to make a positive difference, the real pioneers of health and safety.
Trailblazer in Workplace Wellbeing recognises individuals who have done the most to contribute to people thriving at work, prioritising employees’ wellbeing and mental health.
SHP Trailblazer Awards is brought to you as part of the wider SHP Awards, in collaboration with the HSE and IATP.
The winners will be announced in mid-December.
The finalists are:
Louise Boston, Health & Wellbeing Manager, E.ON
Louise has over 25 years’ experience in occupational health & workplace wellbeing across several industries. She was noted as being a passionate and enthusiastic individual who recognises and drives upon the importance and relevance of wellbeing in the workplace. Recognising the impact that wellbeing programmes have both on individual colleagues and the commercials of any organisation.
She mentors and works alongside colleagues who are new to profession or taking up new roles in other organisations and encourages multi-disciplinary working.
Judges highlighted how Louise had led the development and implementation of several ‘interesting and innovative programmes’, including Workplace Wellbeing Warriors, The HeadShed (mental health), Keep the Beat (cardiac programme), Challenge Cancer (risk reduction programme), Active Steps (physical) and MIND Wellbeing Index (gold award winners). These programmes have been evaluated and demonstrated clear improvements in areas such as attendance and individual clinical indications, along with positive impact on organisation commercials. The results of the programmes have been shared widely in publications and at conferences.
Kelly Nicoll, Health and Safety Coach, Hawk-Eye Innovations
Kelly was described as someone putting mental health at the forefront of the company’s health and safety efforts. Her commitment and individual care towards each staff member ensured that that the company has cultivated a culture in which health and safety is not seen as a hindrance or annoyance, but as a critical part of how we take care of each other. Her focus on mental health has encouraged staff to be outspoken about how they are doing, especially when they are overseas or in unfamiliar environments.
To date, Kelly has personally trained 93 staff as Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs). She has also trained another 61 across Hawk-Eye’s parent company, Sony, and another 142 in half-day mental health awareness sessions.
Judges were impressed that the impact of her efforts have been felt by teams across the globe. Kelly has also rolled out the Unmind app across teams around the world, which has had a huge increase in usage and uptake, particularly through the pandemic. She has produced upwards of 15 mental health and wellbeing newsletters containing articles, tips and tricks and videos to build mental health literacy and preparedness.
Dr Rodrigo Rodriguez-Fernandez, Medical Director Wellbeing, International SOS
Trained both as a chef and a public health physician, Dr Rodriguez-Fernandez is accustomed to looking at other disciplines for solutions. He has implemented a wide range of interventions that have improved employees’ physical and mental wellbeing by taking pages out of numerous disciplines’ playbooks. Judges liked the examples of him using gorilla marketing strategies to improve physical activity levels, his use of colour theory (used in the advertising industry) to improve mental wellbeing in “calm rooms” he created, and his ability to draw on gastronomy and neurochemistry to improve taste and the appearance of workplace canteens. Judges commented how, “he goes down the eating route, which is quite unusual to that level.”
They were also impressed that he had produced an internal film about how to improve physical activity for the workforce, highlighting that physical health is just as important as mental health.
As a strong proponent of the phrase “what gets measured, gets done” his nomination said that he believes in workplace wellbeing programs that measure employee physical and mental health as well as business continuity impact. These measurements have been published in the BMJ and other reputable journals
Jigna Patel, Managing Director, British Safety Council
Jigna has been championing wellbeing at the British Safety Council for many years. As member of the Executive team, she has ensured that wellbeing is an ongoing priority on the agenda at both executive and senior manager meetings, something which was looked on positively by the judging panel. She has encouraged all senior managers and executives to be proactively involved in the wellbeing of all staff and to lead by example. She has pushed for workplace wellbeing to be embedded in performance and KPIs.
As committed as she is to health, safety and wellbeing, Jigna didn’t just stop at championing and overseeing the implementation of a health, safety and wellbeing strategy at the British Safety Council; she has taken the learnings and developed a new flexible programme, ‘Being Well Together’, for all organisations to access during these challenging times and beyond.
Judges noted how she was “not just focusing on the low hanging fruit, but really understanding what it takes to tackle the causes of poor mental health in the workplace. She actually understands that you need to take an organisational approach to tackling all of those issues, which is beyond what you see in a lot of organisations.”
Phil Spencer, Blue Light Programme Coordinator & Wellbeing Inspector, Cleveland Police
Judges noted how Phil was driven by his desire to support all things workplace wellbeing, due to his own experience of his daughter living with anorexia and social anxiety. His nomination said that he had been a ‘force of nature’ in the police force, driving forward the workplace wellbeing agenda and changing the way mental health is thought about in policing. He has transformed how Cleveland Police support their staff.
Phil has recently set up a wellbeing podcast at Cleveland Police and delivers training, bringing in other mental health champions from across the police talking about their own experience. He has become a Police Care Ambassador to build skills and knowledge in police wellbeing – sharing this with his networks.
As of October, Phil had 130 blue light champions, 100 supervisors trained in mental health and 50 trim practitioners. Judges noted that what Phil has been doing in his community highlight engaging yet simple ways to encourage the wellbeing conversation.
Phil works with the wider police family and collaborates with other emergency services, charities and volunteer organisations. His aim is to support his colleagues and others, in better understanding of mental health, and how to cope better with the trauma and difficulties of the working environment.
Judges highlighted that he had carried out this work whilst being a frontline worker during a global pandemic.
