Accountancy firm focuses on staff wellbeing

Water Wellpoint* helps Stephen Hill Partnership (SHP) to manage the health of its employees in innovative initiative

Kent based accountancy practice, Stephen Hill Partnership (SHP) has been taking some innovative steps to address the wellbeing of its 25-strong workforce. Working in partnership with hydration & wellbeing experts, Water Wellpoint, SHP ran a wellbeing day for its employees in January 2009, providing health checks and advice on health issues.

A Water Wellpoint Kiosk was installed at SHPís offices in Gillingham for a day. Lance Clifton, Director of SHP saw it as an opportunity to engage staff in their wellbeing. ìWeíve got a great bunch of staff and I wanted to show them we are here and helping them. Itís in my best interests to keep everybody healthy at SHP so that they can be as productive as possible. For the small investment of 900 for the Water Wellpoint Kiosk for the day, including support from the Water Wellpoint team, we were able to give employees the ability to check some key measures of their wellbeing in a highly engaging but non-confrontational way.

ìThe beauty of the Water Wellpoint Kiosk is that employees can self-test without any involvement from SHP management. And the results of each test are completely confidential to the individual. We were, however, able to look at the aggregated results of the day to identify if there were any particular health issues affecting our staff.î

Water Wellpoint is stressing the importance of looking after the health of staff as the economic downturn continues to put pressure on businesses. The Water Wellpoint is a unique interactive health kiosk that allows individuals to self-test themselves at work using six key indicators of their general health. The vital signs include weight, hydration quota, body mass index, body fat content, heart rate and blood pressure and can be measured simply and accurately in around five minutes.

Malcolm Sackett, Director of Stephen Hill Partnership comments: ìThe wellbeing day was interesting and informative and offered me and my colleagues an opportunity to look at managing our own health holistically instead of focusing on one specific area such as weight. As an office, I have noticed that we have swapped the compulsory coffee for glasses of water. Itís amazing to think that one ëwellbeingí day can have such a lasting affect.î
Staff at SHP were given access to the Wellpoint kiosk and took a range of tests, including blood pressure, pulse and heart rate. The Water Wellpoint offers a quick and easy early-warning system for potential problems, as well as a way for each individual to highlight areas they can work on to improve their personal health and wellbeing. The health kiosk can easily be taken into businesses to help them engage staff and encourage them to play an active role in their wellbeing.

ìThis is a really interesting way of engaging the staff in an on-going process to manage their wellbeing, as well as demonstrating an employerís commitment to the value of their staffî confirmed Ben McGannan, Managing Director, Water Wellpoint, ìDuring a recession the health of staff is more important than ever and the Water Wellpoint can help businesses track the progress of employee health and make positive changes to increase wellness in the workplace.î

ìI would highly recommend the Wellpoint kiosk to businesses like ours that are keen to look after the wellbeing of their staffî concluded Lance Clifton. ìFor us to lose a member of staff for a day is in excess of 500 of lost chargeable time, so 900 in the scheme of things is easily justifiable. If you can keep people healthy, itís fantastic from their point of view and great from the practiceís point of view too!î

* Wellpoint is a registered trademark solely owned by the Wellpoint Group Limited