Health and Well-being Award Winners 2008

HCL BPO Services (NI) Ltd - Workplace Health and Well-being

HCL is a Business Process Outsource Organisation with 2000 employees in N.Ireland. Much of their work is outbound sales which can be highly pressurised and three to four years ago they suffered the same high absence and attrition rates as the rest of the contact sector in the UK.

What they did

HCL saw an effective health and well-being strategy as the key factor in tackling this issue and implemented their strategy in a variety of ways. Firstly they took a pro-active approach to avoiding work related health problems. Three times per year they have a Health and Well-being week with the aim of promoting awareness in wellbeing, they enlisted the support of external partners to ensure these were delivered effectively.

To promote physical health HCL provide ergonomic training to all staff and have a strict policy regarding frequent breaks. They also provide free eye testing to all staff and carry out stringent display screen equipment assessments. To ensure employees mental health is looked after managers receive awareness training and employees have support from partners such as Carecall and Action Mental Health.

HCL is very keen to provide flexible working arrangements for staff and over 400 employees benefit from this. They are also facilitate employees who have been off on maternity or absence by providing a phased return policy whereby workers can ease themselves back into the working environment. HCL also work closely with the Cedar Foundation to meet the needs of disabled employees.

HCL has embraced a holistic approach to employee well-being. They have pushed employees towards a healthier diet through their ‘U Matter’ healthy food brand and healthy eating weeks.

Physical exercise is strongly promoted within the organisation through schemes such as discounted gym membership, sporting clubs, clinics in yoga, massage and reflexology with trained specialists. The company has also worked with cancer charities to encourage smoking cessation and with a leading bank to ensure employees are looking after their financial health.

Impact

HCL believes their work life balance policy has helped them retain over 400 staff that otherwise would have left if they did not receive adjustments to working arrangements
51 employees have signed up to participate in smoking cessation clinics
There has been a 31% increase in uptake of healthy eating options
A 58% increase in use of the Carecall service through proactive promotion
A 28% reduction in attrition rates
A 7% reduction in absenteeism.

HCL BPO - NI Workplace Health and Well-being Award Winners 2008