Over 35 businesses from across Lancashire have taken part in the region’s first Workplace Wellbeing conference, an event dedicated to sharing best practice for improving employee mental health and business performance.
The ‘Time to Talk About Wellbeing at Work’ conference was hosted by leading mental health charity Lancashire Mind, in partnership with the Lancashire Care NHS Foundation. The event follows the announcement that new data extracted by NHS Digital from GP practices shows 31% of all fit notes issued between December 2014 and March 2017 were mental health related, making it the leading cause of absence from work.
During the event employers from across the county had the opportunity to share their experiences of achieving wellbeing at work by delivering good practice talks; whilst delegates participated in workshops led by wellbeing industry experts.
Lauren Oakland, Chief Executive Interim Cover, Lancashire Mind said: “The first ‘Time to Talk About Wellbeing at Work’ conference was a huge success and celebrated the work already being carried out by Lancashire employers. The event has also given us the opportunity to create a new network of like-minded colleagues, with a renewed energy for developing and transforming wellbeing within workplaces across Lancashire supported by new practical tools and ideas. I would like to thank all the organisations involvedfor sharing their ideas, advice and experiences.”
Karen White, Occupational Health and Wellbeing Manager at Blackpool Council, attended the conference. She said: “This was an excellent event and I’m so pleased to have been a part of it. The whole concept was incredibly inspiring and generated some great new ideas to implement.”
