Employee wellbeing: Communication is key
UK Power Reserve
This blog post has been produced for the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce as part of the 2019 Growth Through People campaign.
Growth Through People is the Chamber’s annual campaign aiming to help local firms boost productivity and grow through improved leadership and people management skills. In 2019 this involves 15 free events, workshops and training sessions taking place between 25 February and 26 March, along with thought leadership videos and blog content such as this.
Thanks to our Sponsors – the University of Birmingham, Aston University, Curium Solutions and CIPD - all events are free to attend. Interested readers can find out more here.
UK Power Reserve, part of the Sembcorp Group, are proud to take part in the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce ‘Growth Through People’ campaign 2019.
We believe that prioritising the happiness and wellbeing of our workforce helps our team to maintain a strong work ethic, whilst enabling our employees to perform at their best in a fast-paced environment. As a company, we’ve experienced rapid growth since 2010, something we’ve achieved through having a hard-working, motivated team.
Ensuring a happy and healthy workforce
The key to a good relationship between companies and their employees, and improving wellbeing, is communication. Wherever our employees are working – in the office or out on site – everyone must be made to feel equally connected and that they have a voice.
Here at UK Power Reserve, we created our Wellbeing Committee – an internal group dedicated to providing resource and guidance to staff, focusing on the mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing of our team. The committee has a responsibility to:
- Make sure employees know they have the platform to make suggestions and give feedback
- Listen to what they have to say
- Respond and act on what they’ve heard
All teams within our organisation are represented on the Wellbeing Committee, which meets regularly to discuss any items of concern, new ideas, and innovations. Topics are fed into the committee from all around the business, either directly through their representatives, or to the dedicated Wellbeing email. To date, UK Power Reserve’s Wellbeing Committee has introduced a range of changes, from plants in the office to water bottles for all staff, to talks on mental health awareness – and that’s only the beginning. A range of action points are being taken forward to continuously improve the working environment, and the support we offer to all staff, which are communicated to the whole team on a regular basis. In a recent office move, we listened to employee feedback and developed our kitchen space, and we continue to provide free fresh fruit, along with hot drinks, to keep the team fuelled throughout the day.
Extra support
We also like to offer our employees additional support with causes that are close to their hearts. One way we do this is to offer Match Funding. Employees taking part in voluntary activities, or fundraising for charities and causes that mean a lot to them, can apply to our Charity Committee to have their efforts matched by UK Power Reserve.
As well as regularly communicating to the team as whole through bi-monthly newsletters, we also offer the employees the chance to join our monthly Brown Bag Lunches. These are relaxed sessions that give staff the chance to learn from one another, whether about different roles within the business or a particular industry topic. Lunch is provided for those attending in person, and lunch vouchers are sent to all who listen in to the presentation on the phone.
We recognise the importance of flexible working and offer our team the chance to adapt their working patterns to help them manage the different demands of life.
Amy Shaw
Communications and PR Officer
UK Power Reserve