"Your employees are the people who make you win" Dave Ulrich

Daniel O'Connell from the Brighton Housing Trust recently published this great post about their fantastic effort in the Brighton & Hove Cycle Challenge on LinkedIn. He's kindly agreed for us to share it: 

Here at Brighton Housing Trust we have just won the Brighton & Hove Cycle Challenge 2017. Results:

1st Place (200-499): Brighton Housing Trust

1st Place (20-49): Archway Project (a BHT mental health service)

With a recognised culture of wellbeing for our clients and residents it is also established and enabled in our culture with staff. Cycling in Brighton is a well known tradition and cycling to work has doubled across the city between 2001 and 2011. Our participation levels in this great initiative with Brighton and Hove Council and Love to Ride were 3 times the local average.

It may seem like a no-brainer, but in a competitive and challenging environment our investment in the wellbeing of our staff has many business benefits, improved health and wellbeing, reduced absence, increased productivity and morale, an authentic brand and commitment as an employer to our staff wellbeing, enabling us to attract and retain the best employees. Our staff cycled 1293 miles during the month of March and saved 635lbs of CO2 to win.

By 2020 it is estimated 1 in 3 UK workers will be over the age of 50, half the workforce will want or need to work beyond 65 (recent reports state that at least six million people may have to work longer before they qualify for the state pension), studies show 1 in 3 people report having a long-term physical health condition, 1 in 4 employee's have a physical health condition, 1 in 8 have a mental health condition, 1 in 10 a musculoskeletal condition. Healthy life expectancy has fallen in recent years from 63.9 years to 62.4 years and 131 million working days are lost to sickness absence every year.

Other studies show as we live longer 39% of us will be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetime, Alzheimer's has overtaken heart disease, diabetes has doubled since 1996, results for 2015 showed 62.9% of adults were obese and the always on culture has been linked to cardiovascular disease. Who does not know someone affected? It would stand that investing and looking after an organisation's greatest asset, its staff, remains a no-brainer, financially, ethically and morally.

The good news is prevention is better than cure and even with the great advances in medical treatments and early diagnosis there is a growing recognition of the positive link between employee well-being and long term sustainable organisational health.

This scheme is just one of the actions Brighton Housing Trust is taking towards engagement with our staff on wellbeing and I have just heard funding will be there for another three years, which is great news for organisations across Brighton and Hove.

We also have another great challenge open to everyone, our Round the World Cycle Challenge at Preston Park Velodrome on 25th June 2017, it's accessible and available to all levels, ages and abilities for a very worthy cause First Base Day Centre. Why not consider joining us in this culture of fun, fitness and fundraising, we would love to see you. Volunteer opportunities also available.  Hopefully another no-brainer?

Thanks for reading and as I heard Geoff McDonald state recently at a talk on practical ways to tackle employee stress at work.......

"If a flower does not bloom, its not the flower, it's the environment."