For International Women’s Day, Charley Roberts Health Improvement Practitioner and Wellbeing Champion Lead and Shawnie Lea Health Improvement Advisor, part of Wellbeing at Work and Wellbeing Champions, wanted to celebrate the female Wellbeing Champions who are making some amazing changes within their organisations for Wellbeing.

We caught up with several female champions from different organisations all doing a variety of things to ensure that wellbeing is at the forefront of their workplace. Here is our interview with Kath Hendrick, Engagement Coordinator at Co-op’s Plymouth depot, read more to see what she has to say when it comes to Wellbeing in her workplace…

Hi Kath, it’s great to see you and thank you for meeting with us today to celebrate International Women’s Day and show other champions and workplaces the great things that you are implementing in Co op for wellbeing. With that, we’d like to go back to November 2019 when you started your journey with Wellbeing at Work, what made you become a Champion for your workplace?

“For my role as an Engagement Coordinator at Co-op, part of it is to ensure ‘colleague wellbeing’ in the depot. So, I did some research to find out what was out there and what we could do for our workplace and from that I came across Wellbeing at Work, Livewell Southwest! I approached my line manager about the wellbeing at work awards, she agreed for us to do this. We started to get together a group of colleagues, including managers, to do the champion training and we have continued to use the skills that we learnt in the training so that all colleagues can benefit from what we do.”

Its so important to have Wellbeing Champions on all different levels throughout an organisation. How do you think Champions have benefitted your organisation?

“Colleague involvement and interest is quite a challenge in our depot, we have got quite a few champions on the main floor though who know our colleagues quite well, on a more personal level than I do. They know their likes and dislikes, so they come to our wellbeing meetings, and they give input into the things that they might like and potentially could be successful for us to do to help engage everyone in the depot. So, freebies, are always a good one. When everyone has had a busy day, or they’ve just come off a shift tired/hungry or feeling a bit exhausted having some free food and cups of tea has helped. Doing the health checks also help, the guys come in for their blood pressure checks and they are lining up to get it done, it gives them a break for 10 minutes and a chance for them to have a chat if they want to!

Completing the bronze award for wellbeing at work, allows us the opportunity to meet regularly to discuss colleague needs and look at national awareness days so that we can plan an appropriate activity and information to be shared to educate raise awareness to the rest of the team in the depot.”

 

You’ve certainly been doing a lot throughout the years, and you are making pathways to better wellbeing also which is great – like the wellbeing room we are in right now, this is a brilliant space to have for the whole team! Do you have any highlights of being a Wellbeing Champion so far Kath?

“For me, it is important to support my colleagues to the best of my ability in the way that I can. I do this alongside the rest of my wellbeing champion team, by exploring the national awareness days, which are highlighted on the wellbeing champion emails that I receive each month. I am always looking for more opportunities to get involved to support the community also. National awareness days are great opportunities to raise awareness in the community and a chance to link up with other groups and charities that work for the benefit of the communities – like time to talk day, we had Samaritans working with us for the day.

I have a particular interest in mental health, and I have often taken further training so to enable me to support my colleagues around me and within the community. My highlight so far, is being named wellbeing champion of the year, which came as a massive shock, because I see supporting and educating colleagues as part of my job, but I feel so honoured to have been recognised for the differences I try to make.”

Congratulations again on being named Wellbeing Champion of the Year! Do you have any tips to share with other Wellbeing Champions?

 “Don’t try to go above and beyond, we’re not there to look after someone’s wellbeing, we are there to try to enhance it! Look for opportunities to share information and if you can provide for others to participate in, create a space for others to connect with you so you can support in other ways that are appropriate. You might be signposting, listening, or seeking professional support outside of the organisation.”

Any final words of encourage to help others to become Wellbeing Champions?

“Enjoy what you do! I think you need to enjoy looking out for people, that is half the battle and wanting to look after people. That’s my thing, I want to help all the time, I want to make things better and I think how I can help that person to help them make improvements – but also be mindful to not assume that you know what they need, sometimes its best to just listen.”

Thank you, Kath, for meeting with us to celebrate International Women’s Day and share your efforts with other Wellbeing Champions and Workplaces and what you are doing at The Co-op.

The Co-op are active within our Wellbeing Champion Programme as well as successfully achieving our Bronze Award for Wellbeing at Work Awards, implementing those important wellbeing initiatives into the organisation – we look forward to seeing more from you in the future!