College receives award for health and well-being work

The Manchester College is one of the first organisations in the country to have been awarded the brand new Health and Well-being Good Practice Award during a cross-college assessment by Investors in People (IIP) at the end of February.

This innovative and prestigious award has only just been introduced by IIP, making the college the first organisation in the north west to have achieved the accolade and one of only a handful in the country.

The award is designed to recognise the work of employers who have developed effective health and well-being strategies, ensuring that activity is linked to corporate objectives. It is the result of extensive research which shows that effective and proactive management of health and well-being can improve business performance by increasing productivity, reducing sickness and absenteeism, and enhancing employee retention.

The first seven organisations to achieve this accolade were presented with their certificates by Dame Carol Black, the government's national director for health and work, at a special awards ceremony in London on 11 March. Vice principal Sue Hart attended the event on behalf of the college, along with human resources advisor Lisa Brierley and sports operations manager Neil McMillan.

Principal Peter Tavernor said: ‘We have made a huge investment in ensuring the facilities, development opportunities and communication processes are in place to enable us to achieve our health and well-being goals across the college, and so we are delighted that we have been recognised for excellence in this area by IIP. We drive for continuous improvement and intend to take on board the report’s suggestions for making our college an even healthier environment for our staff and students going forward.’

Healthy College initiative

The official report, which was released in early March, commends the college for the measures put in place over the last 18 months to establish and deliver the Healthy College initiative, aimed at both staff and students.

In particular, it praises the college for the following indicators of excellence

  • our comprehensive Health and Well-being Policy, with its clear aim, definition of what health and well-being means at the college and rationale of how the policy links with other college policies
  • our investment in improving the environments through the capital buildings project
  • food outlets that provide healthy options at all campuses
  • the range of opportunities and facilities on offer for staff and students, including subsidised gym membership
  • our strong commitment to staff health and well-being illustrated in the state-of-the-art spa, health, beauty and fitness facilities at the Moston Campus
  • the implementation of The Pacific Institute programme to support staff and students’ health and well-being
  • our Healthy College group and Go Green group that enable staff to feed in their views, ideas and suggestions
  • strong managers, who are good role models and encourage staff to access the services that are available in order to maintain their health and fitness
  • our successes relating to absence management
  • the dissemination of information about health and well-being through the induction process, site and team meetings, bulletins, newsletters and the website

Jane Jones, acting chief executive of Investors in People UK, said: ‘Over the past five years we have worked with some of the UK’s leading employers to analyse the role of health and well-being in the workplace. It’s about embedding health and well-being into the culture of the business to ensure everyone benefits. The organisations we have worked with recognise these benefits and we believe this new award will help others reap the same rewards.’

IIP accreditation

Alongside receiving the Good Practice Award for Health and Well-being, we have also been awarded IIP accreditation for the whole organisation.

Assessors were particularly impressed with the college’s clear vision, mission and values; its robust planning processes; highly visible and approachable members of the principalship and senior management team; forward-looking good practice in curriculum innovation; good support from human resources; and the involvement of staff members in decision-making processes.

Pictured (from left to right): Jane Jones of IIP UK, Dame Carol Black, Lisa Brierley, Neil McMillan and Sue Hart at the presentation ceremony in London.