Renfrewshire Council gets gold for caring attitude to employees

Home > News and Events > News - release archive > 2008 > September

Renfrewshire Council has been recognised as one of Scotland's most caring employers by Healthy Working Lives, which has just awarded the local authority a prestigious Gold Award for its long term commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of its employees.

Renfrewshire Council now joins the ranks of just 32 employers across Scotland which hold the award, and is just one of four local authorities to meet the health and wellbeing gold standard.

The Healthy Working Lives award involves a structured programme to encourage employers to make their workplaces safer and to encourage employees to change their lifestyles to improve their health.

Organisations must secure the Bronze and Silver Awards before they can be eligible for a Gold. To successfully secure all three, an organisation must demonstrate its long term commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of its employees and carry out a range of practical measures including:

• Developing a policy on smoking and offering employees help to stop
• Providing information and raising awareness about mental health issues including stress
• Acting on accident reports to reduce workplace injuries
• Promoting healthy eating and exercise
• Encouraging workplaces to reduce their impact on the environment

Councillor Allan Noon, convener of Renfrewshire Council's general management and finance policy board, said: "Renfrewshire Council has around 9,000 employees and looking after their health and wellbeing at work is a major responsibility - a responsibility that the council takes very seriously."

"Employees have been fully involved in developing and implementing the Healthy Working Lives programme, and it is very gratifying that all our efforts have been recognised with this Gold award. We have gone from holding a Scotland's Health at Work Bronze Award (Scotland's Health at Work was the predecessor to Healthy Working Lives) to the Gold award in just 12 months which is a very significant achievement."

"Looking after our employees has a range of benefits for everyone. Healthy, happy people work better and take less time off sick. They also live longer lives. Employees also take home the good habits they learn at work in terms of healthy eating and taking more exercise so there is also a knock-on benefit for the wider population."

Healthy Working Lives is part of NHS Health Scotland.

Press release: Thursday 4 September 2008