2020 was an unusual year and one that brought us together as a team to support each other. As a business, we navigated our way through a challenging year and we feel incredibly proud to have entered 2021 having achieved the Silver level of the North East ‘Better Health at Work’ Award.
Our HR Manager, Helen Svensson shared her thoughts:
“As a business driven by strong values, Bazaar Group are delighted to have achieved the BHAW Silver Award. The award demonstrates our commitment to the Health and Wellbeing of our team in a year when this has never been more important. Our aim remains to provide a range of resources, training opportunities, and embedded policies to support our people. Not only is this the right thing to do, supporting our people-first culture, but it also contributes to strong business results with lower-than-average sickness absence, staff turnover, and higher productivity. We are committed to working with PHE and other local businesses to introduce further health and wellbeing campaigns in 2021.
We began our journey on the BHAW Award in 2018, starting with the Bronze level, and now we have our sights set on achieving Gold in early 2022. The award provides a great framework to develop a thorough and meaningful health and well-being programme. This has helped us add structure and formality to our support and has connected us with like-minded individuals and businesses across the North East who share our commitment in this field.
This year we trained 5 health advocates and re-started our Health and Well-being Committee, further increasing the support we were able to provide across the business. Our Health Advocates share our passion for health and well-being, whether it is signposting to HR or being an arm of support for a colleague, they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to promote wellness within the workplace.
Throughout 2020 we covered a range of topics from Cancer and to mental health, to financial advice and support, as well as changing our working styles to offer more flexibility for employees. We frequently re-evaluate and improve our efforts based on feedback, to ensure we are delivering campaigns and initiatives which truly matter to staff. This has been even more important during the ongoing pandemic, where we have had to adapt to the constantly changing circumstances.
Achieving the Silver Award during the Covid-19 pandemic has been challenging, but extremely worthwhile. Our top priority has always been the immediate health and safety of our staff, meaning a large majority of our office-based staff have been working from home since March 2020 and we have been unable to gather as a whole team. As a result, we were not able to carry out our initiatives in the usual way, and instead, quickly got to grips with providing support at a distance. We have focused on keeping people connected and encouraging staff to look after themselves and check-in on those around them. Many Zoom and Teams check-ins have been carried out, we even had socially distanced Christmas cheers, and a Covid-safe 15th birthday photoshoot in the office - masks and all!
The circumstances we have faced this year have further strengthened our commitment to health and well-being. We recognise that our people spend a significant proportion of their time at work, and we strive to make that time as enjoyable as possible, ensuring they are supported in the right way. Our achievements within this award would not be possible without the support of our Senior Management team and Board of Directors, who place staff well-being as a top priority. Our company values have come to the forefront this year and shown us the value of doing the right things for our people.
The challenges of Covid-19 are likely here for the long haul, and we are up to the challenge of providing support to employees into the future. We are currently developing a detailed health and well-being strategy to support the growth and expansion of the business over the next 3 years, ensuring we continue to put our people first.”
