Britain’s Healthiest Workplace Award
25 February 2020
MARCOL is delighted to have been awarded 3rd place in the ‘Healthiest New Entry’ category of the Financial Times’ Britain’s Healthiest Workplace awards in late 2019.
The annual survey ranks organisations by healthy employees, corporate culture and the use of workplace interventions. MARCOL employees took part in the survey which is developed by insurer Vitality Health and produced in association with The Financial Times, the University of Cambridge and consultancy Mercer. Now in its seventh year, the awards incorporate data from 120 companies and 23,632 employees.
MARCOL’s Founders, Terence Cole and Mark Steinberg, founded the MARCOL Health division in 2014 to invest in health technology and over the last six years have invested millions in improving people’s lives through advanced technologies and innovative services. The health and wellbeing of employees is paramount to the overall success of the business, and the employee health and wellbeing programme has been developed to support this strategy.
The survey uses a broad set of questions covering lifestyle, clinical and mental health, work engagement and productivity, and an in-depth assessment of leadership, culture and the health and wellbeing interventions offered by employers.
Vitality Private Medical insurance is offered to all staff which has an incentivised points and benefits system focusing on preventative measures and supports healthy lifestyle choices. Talks known as ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions take place regularly, and give employees an opportunity to understand more about relevant health topics such as nutrition, movement, spinal health, and the importance of sleep. Educational News Blasts covering a variety of health-related subjects and the latest company news are distributed to all monthly. The teams are offered lunchtime yoga in the park, Wednesday walks, regular social outings, discounted gym membership, the opportunity to join a team for charity runs as well as healthy food options and weekly office fruit baskets. MARCOL takes the health and wellbeing of its staff seriously and continues to explore new avenues to strengthen the programme.
Fellow winners of the Healthiest Workplace Awards are a broad range of companies, such as Johnson & Johnson, Adidas UK, Nomura International, Thompson Reuters, The Co-operative Group, Which?, Taylor Wessing, World Challenge Expeditions and Academy Music Group.
Health-related lost productivity is costing the UK economy an estimated £91 billion yearly, which would reduce significantly with adequate investment in health and wellbeing. Britain’s Healthiest Workplace aims to study the link between modifiable health risks and short-term productivity, develop a common understanding of what employee health and wellbeing means, and establish a common set of standards that can be applied to all industries.