Improving Workplace Health summit: business toolkit launched

Over 130 delegates packed the John Bray Theatre at BT’s Adastral Park campus on Friday 1st November to celebrate the launch of the ‘Building a Resilient County’ toolkit’, written by businesses to help other businesses improve the health and wellbeing of their staff.

The toolkit brings together the shared experiences, case studies and personal accounts of the many Suffolk businesses who have participated in four themed workshops over the last six months, organised jointly by Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and Suffolk County Council as part of their Improving Workplace Health (IWH) initiative.

The result is a toolkit that can be easily accessed by businesses of all sizes and which is written in a language of direct relevance to businesspeople looking to do the best for their workforce – and hence boost growth and productivity.

Each workshop looked at different aspects of ‘building resilience’: of individuals, leaders and managers, teams and across the whole of the county.

The issues coming out of each of the workshops were shared with an IWH ‘virtual’ board, comprising Suffolk-based health sector experts, for their ideas and comments.

Stuart Keeble, director of public health at Suffolk County Council, said: “I am delighted that new toolkit is available to Suffolk employers, providing a combination of practical resources and examples from organisations who are already championing workplace wellbeing.

“With the evidence clearly pointing to the links between a healthy and productive workforce, the success of the summit is testament to the business community’s enthusiasm to prioritise workplace wellbeing. Our pioneering collaboration with the Suffolk Chamber is incredibly important in embedding resilience in our businesses and other local organisations now and in the years to come.”

The summit was also addressed by Dame Carol Black, an adviser to the British Government who inspirationally spoke about the relationship between work and health, Stuart Keeble, Suffolk’s new director of public health, James Milnes of Zoono, a leading experts in antimicrobial protection and Richard Caddis, the director of health, safety and wellbeing & chief medical officer at BT.

John Dugmore, Suffolk Chamber’s chief executive said: “the summit, which we believe was the first in the county to bring together businesses and public health experts in this way, was a great success.

“Suffolk businesses have a great hunger to do what is right for their staff and we believe that the Building a Resilient County toolkit is a significant first step in helping to consistently do this.”

The toolkit can be downloaded from the Suffolk Chamber website here.