SAM has been presented with the Workplace Health & Wellbeing Recognition Award in partnership with the Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke (NICHS) Work Well Live Well programme (WWLW).

This award recognises companies that have worked hard to improve the overall health and wellbeing of their workforce through various initiatives.

Staff health and wellbeing have been focal points for SAM over the last few years, with the company appointing dedicated Health Champions within the team and signing up for the WWLW programme to gain knowledge and resources to support staff across both sites.

WWLW is a free health and wellbeing support programme for workplaces, delivered by NICHS. The programme has enabled the company to develop a three year health action plan to improve the overall wellbeing of employees through various activities such as health and nutrition talks.

Stephanie Allen, NICHS Workplace Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, visited SAM last month to present the award: “I have had the opportunity to work with SAM over the last year as part of the Work Well Live Well programme. They have showed great commitment to improving staff health and wellbeing in the workplace. The Health Champions have showed lots of motivation and enthusiasm to put staff health and wellbeing as a priority and I’m really looking forward to working with them on the next stage of the action plan for year 2 of the programme.”

Shauna McErlain, SAM HR Manager, added: “We felt that this was the perfect opportunity and time to put an action plan in place to improve the overall wellbeing of our workforce, both physically and mentally. We have carried out numerous health initiatives including providing fresh fruit, nutrition talks, sports days, cancer awareness talks and mental health training.

We are very pleased to receive this award from NICHS. Our Health Champions have put in a lot of hard work organising initiatives and providing resources to their colleagues, so we are delighted to receive recognition for this.”

SAM will continue implementing health and wellbeing initiatives throughout the year, including a May Step Challenge where the team are being encouraged to walk a total of 5,000,000 steps throughout May to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

For more information on NICHS Work Well Live Well programme, visit the website here: https://nichs.org.uk/our-support-services/prevention-services/workplace-health-and-well-being/workwelllivewell