Last updated 15:43, Wednesday, 19 November 2008

WHILE many people go to work and get stressed, staff at one consultancy firm in Cumbria went to work to de-stress in November...

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stress-busting massages: Capita Symonds staff got the chance to get involved in the schemes at work, with a full programme of events

More than 500 staff at national consultancy firm Capita Symonds were well looked after throughout the Wellbeing Launch Week in November, when they received stress-busting massages, fitness tests, gym passes and various other freebies.

Capita Symonds has invested time and effort into making sure that staff are stress-free and happy at work in a bid to increase awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and work life balance, provide opportunities to improve the lifestyle of staff, make links with local businesses which staff can benefit from and contribute to higher levels of morale, reduced absence and illness.

Staff working across the company’s local offices, including Maryport, Whitehaven, Lillyhall, Carlisle, Barrow, Kendal and Penrith, are currently involved on projects including the A595 bypass, the M6 extension, Cumbria Academies, school improvement and various other projects on behalf of Cumbria County Council.

However, they were all given the chance to get involved in the schemes in their place of work, with a full programme of events organised. They included:

Stress busting massages, manicures and pedicures in Kendal

Fitness tests in Penrith and Maryport

Personal safety talks in Whitehaven and Lillyhall

Gym recruitment sessions and free weekend passes in Barrow

Spa vouchers and gym recruitment sessions in Carlisle

Fitness tests in Penrith

Glenn Studholme, a Building Surveying technician at the Maryport office attended the fitness and wellbeing talk and took part in the fitness testing.

He said of the event: “It’s good to find out what fitness level you are at and when we do it again, you can measure how much you have improved.

“The talk was really good too and I think it’s an excellent idea to help and support employees with wellbeing.”

Staff at all offices were also given a Wellbeing pack containing a sports water bottle, leaflets, healthy recipes and information about events to try at the weekends. A make-up evening at The Retreat spa, Wigton, was also organised.

The wellbeing week ran alongside the other schemes already set up by Capita Symonds including ‘Fruity Friday’, where staff are given free fruit on the second Friday of each month.

Capita Symonds also runs a Work Life Balance programme for staff, an approach that provides flexibility and enables employees to balance the needs of home and work life better. The scheme allows for flexitime, compressed hours, home working, sabbaticals and individual work patterns.

Jen Garnett, Head of Organisational Development, said of the programme: “Our employees are the lifeblood of our business and we want to ensure that they are happy and healthy in their workplace.

“We identified four main areas of wellbeing which we will concentrate on; emotional wellbeing, health and fitness, work life balance and nutrition and we organised a varied programme of events to cover these areas.”