A Health Advocate is someone who is passionate about health and wellbeing, wants to help raise awareness of health topics, and contribute to developing a positive wellbeing culture in the workplace - and even beyond. This can be anyone in the organisation, regardless of role or experience. The Health Advocate role is voluntary, and can be a great addition to a CV. It is a good opportunity to develop and practice skills such as communication, persuasion and motivating others.
The award is a declaration of our commitment to building a healthy and happy workplace culture for every employee. Designing a positive and engaging health and wellbeing offer where health inequalities are reduced is so important to us and we know we will achieve this with the support of BHAWA.
The award process provides structure for Better Health at Work. It provides support, guidance and networking opportunities to learn and improve. The opportunity to collaborate and hear about others practice across the region is always inspiring, we always come away buzzing with ideas.
"The programme encourages organisations to look at prioritising the physical and mental health of employees.
Using the Better Health at Work programme, structure and guidance, the organisation has introduced a number of ways to improve individuals’ physical and mental health; whilst encouraging employees to take responsibility themselves".
"Our employees are our biggest asset, and we wanted to offer something that made a positive difference to their health and wellbeing.
The Award benefits businesses of any size. The structure it provides means employee wellbeing becomes embedded in your business as you work through the award levels.
Employees notice the improvements. Training and networking opportunities give great ideas for campaigns. And it is free!"
"We loved the fact that the award has a local focus about wellbeing in the North-East. The framework it provides is exceptional.
The support and network are invaluable. You don't feel like you're starting from scratch, there's always someone with an idea of what they've tried.
The portal is great. It has a huge number of resources and it's easy to use and access. It's helped us with campaigns where we've less experience, and they're now part of our annual calendar".
We started the award in 2020 as we were keen to help improve the wellbeing of our employees, particularly post covid. One of our values is putting people first, and we felt like this was a step in the right direction to achieve this.
We now have a team of 10 passionate health advocates to help improve the wellbeing in the office. It’s a great feeling when the office looks forward to the health campaigns and want to be involved. It feels as though the work we’re doing is benefiting our employees.
"Participating in the Award has provided access to support and resources that have shaped the delivery of our health and wellbeing programme, and established a structure in which health leads are recognized and rewarded through the Health Advocate role.
The Award has enabled us to plan meaningful delivery, aligned with local and national campaigns, whilst evaluating the impact on the workforce.
The visibility of the Award has established a level of expectancy in the delivery of campaigns which has maintained momentum and inspired innovation".
