Warwickshire college group launches staff wellbeing initiative

A leading Warwickshire college group has launched a new staff wellbeing initiative which offers tailored support to create a healthier environment for its employees.

WCG, which includes six colleges across Warwickshire and Worcestershire, has launched Wellbeing @ WCG for its 1,400 employees.

The initiative aims to bring wellbeing to life for staff members, and will focus on different topics throughout the year that are tailored to their needs.

Employees will be invited to take part in awareness training, join online community forums and will be provided with guides featuring information and top tips to build awareness.

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They will also be signposted to a variety of external support services as well as WCG’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provider should anyone require additional help.

The first topic being covered is menopause support which will see general awareness training provided and also a programme specifically aimed at managers, giving them the tools to help their team.

A community forum will also be created to give employees a chance to connect with others going through menopause, share experiences and helpful resources and provide support to each other.

The second topic of domestic abuse will then be focused on after Easter, and staff members will be given the opportunity to provide continuous feedback to help decide on future topics and shape the support being provided.

The college group includes Royal Leamington Spa College, Rugby College, Warwick Trident College, Moreton Morrell College, Evesham College and Pershore College.

The initiative is being run by WCG’s Human Resources Department, which is headed up by Jo Hodgson.

She said: “We’ve always run small wellbeing initiatives in line with national awareness events and have also completed some very general workplace wellbeing programmes, but we wanted to go one step further and create something specifically tailored to the needs of our staff.

“Our staff are our most important asset at WCG, and we want to look after them and also provide them with ways to look after themselves.

“One of the main aims of the initiative is to bring wellbeing to life. We don’t just want to signpost staff members to information, we want to hold engaging events, create supportive communities and ensure there is two-way communication.

“We have profiled our workforce and have looked at what is affecting them which will help to shape the content.

“We’ll also be covering topics which can be difficult to talk about, such as domestic abuse. We probably wouldn’t know if this is affecting someone, but statistically, given the size of our workforce, it may well be, and if we can do something that could help one just one person, it will all be worth it.

“We’re proud to have launched our pregnancy loss support policy just before Christmas which provides paid time off for anyone suffering from pregnancy loss, demonstrating to our staff that we want to go above and beyond to support them, and this initiative goes further still.

“We’re focused on creating a healthier, more inclusive culture, which increases awareness of our wellbeing agenda, and we look forward to working with colleagues as we continue to develop the initiative."