The effectiveness of a staff welfare programme introduced by Swindon-based Excalibur has been recognised with an award win at this year’s Federation of Small Business ‘Celebrating Small Business Awards 2020’ for the South West region, held on 26th February.
Excalibur scooped the Wellbeing Award for initiatives such as subsidised weekly Yoga and Five-a-Side football, free fruit, voluntary team charity fundraising challenges, financial health and mental health workshops, fun opportunities to celebrate events and time management/systems training.
The schemes kicked off in 2018 following consultation with employees who wanted to see initiatives on physical, financial and mental health.
"As awareness of Wellness and managing positive mental health has grown over the past few years, Excalibur took the decision to review its workplace practices and look at areas where it could further support employees professionally and personally," said CEO, Peter Boucher.
“Our Health and Wellbeing programme has made us proactively look at ways to improve how colleagues support and work with each other, from being better listeners to making sure we celebrate our achievements.
"It’s given us all a greater understanding of each others perspectives and improved communications across teams.
"The impact on the business has been positive, with our annual ‘wellbeing’ score rising by 15% since last year, and employee retention rates going up by over 50%.”
This award win builds on Excalibur being named as a Sunday Times Top 100 UK Small Company to Work For and as ‘Employer of the Year’ at the South West Business and Community Awards 2020.