NHS West Sussex sees healthy competition at awards

Hove-based online marketing agency Propellernet saw off competition to win the Healthiest Workplace Award, which was sponsored by NHS West Sussex.

This is the 21^st year of these prestigious awards, which were organised by Midnight Communications, and the Healthiest Workplace Award was an innovation for this year.

A total of 46 individuals and businesses fought it out for honours in 15 categories and winners were announced at the ceremony at The Grand Hotel in Brighton on 6 November.

Award-winning comedienne Zoe Lyons, a regular panellist on the Mock The Week show, presented the awards.

David Robinson, who judged the Healthiest Workplace Award for NHS West Sussex this year, said: “The standards and initiatives shown by the entrants was excellent.

“We hope their examples can help in the development of the Sussex Healthy Business Framework which proposes to offer practical guidance and assistance to all businesses and workplaces to improve health and wellbeing both in and outside of the workplace.”

Thomasin Keeble, Health Improvement Lead at NHS West Sussex, said: “Many of us can spend 60 per cent of our waking lives at work. The potential for our working environments, the cultures of our workplaces and the opportunities that they can offer for us all to be healthier is important and it is something we can all work together on and help employers to achieve.”

The criteria for the Healthiest Workplace Award was based on the Sussex Healthy Business Framework, which is currently in development. This will propose a series of best practice themes for businesses of any size wishing to develop a healthy workplace.

The themes include Organisational Culture and Values, corporate social responsibility, eg: tackling worklessness; sustainable development and processes that support health and wellbeing in and outside of work including mental health, alcohol, smoking and encouraging physical activity and eating well.

David Robinson congratulated Propellernet on its success, which was based on its strong record in health promotion and investment.

He said: “Health and wellbeing is clearly at the heart of this company’s business culture and it is very impressive. This year their plans have been taken to a new level, adopting simple and low-cost proposals and activities and opportunities organised on a regular basis. The company plans to carry on this investment further in the next few years.”

Jack Hubbard, Managing Director at Propellernet, said: “We’re delighted to have won the Healthiest Workplace Award at the Sussex Business Awards. As one of the UK’s leading online and social marketing agencies, delivering the best work possible for our clients is key and we fundamentally believe that having a happy and healthy team positively impacts the quality of work that we in turn deliver to our clients. To win an award recognising our hard work and effort surrounding ‘employee wellbeing’ is a great achievement for us. Find out more at www.propellernet.co.uk.”

NHS West Sussex, working with the County Council, District and Borough Councils and other public and private-sector partners, is seeking to work with employers and business leaders across West Sussex to make the workplace a positive promoter of health.

The other finalists for the Healthiest Workplace Award this year, Domestic & General and the Sussex County Sports Partnership, were both highly commended.

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For further information, please contact:

NHS West Sussex Communications

Office 01903 707447

E-mail at media.enquiries@westsussexpct.nhs.uk

Editors’ Notes:

NHS West Sussex

NHS West Sussex is the working name of West Sussex Primary Care Trust.

The criteria questions for the Healthiest Workplace Award were as follows:

·  What have you achieved so far in promoting positive health and wellbeing in your business culture?

·  How do you promote healthy lifestyles, in and out of the workplace, on issues such as alcohol or substance misuse, smoking cessation, healthy eating, physical activity and emotional wellbeing and tackling stress?

·  How do you enable rehabilitation, maintaining people at work and opportunities for those disadvantaged or those presently out of work?

·  What is your approach to promoting safety and reducing injuries?