Business gathered for the County Durham Better Health at Work Awards ceremony, held at Ramside Hall Hotel near Durham.
A total of 50 businesses (small, medium and large) attended the ceremony organised by Newton Aycliffe-based the Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP), which manages the County Durham sub-region of the North East Better Health at Work Award.
The awards were officially opened by Carol Gaskarth, PCP’s chief executive, who also picked up an award, on behalf of local charity PCP, for Continuing Excellence.
Carol said “I was delighted to open the fabulous and unique awards ceremony, celebrating the hard work and dedication of local businesses and Healthy Living Pharmacies.
“Their commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of employees and local people was outstanding.
“Seeing business progress from Bronze to Silver to Gold and then Continuing Excellence and hearing about some of the special achievements was a real pleasure.
“As an organisation PCP is immensely proud of our workplace health journey and the added value it has brought to the health and wellbeing of our teams. The Better Health at Work Award is certainly a valuable standard to hold.”
On top of the 50 Better Health at Work awards, four special awards were presented for Innovation, Social Value, Health Advocate and Ambassador Award.
The Ambassador status was introduced as a recent addition to the award, created to recognised employers who demonstrate both long term commitment and outstanding practice around workplace health and wellbeing, not only achieving, but consistently going above and beyond at every stage of assessment.
The Better Health at Work Ambassador Status Award was presented to Department of Working Pensions (DWP) Seaham.
The workplace setting offers a unique opportunity to engage with and support employers and employees with the aim of creating workplaces that both protect the health and wellbeing of employees and optimise the opportunity to help people improve their own health and wellbeing through education and awareness.
Participation in health improving activities through a workplace health programme allows individuals to develop knowledge, self-management and coping skills as well as build a social support network among co-workers, managers and family.
The Better Health at Work Award provides a framework to help businesses achieve this and workplace delivery and engagement is fundamental to its success.