How taking a 360 degree view is helping us all stay well for another year

2024 is off to a great start for us at The Hub, because with the help and support of all of you – the Quorum Park community – we’ve maintained Excellence Award status for another year from Better Health at Work!

Although we’ve been ambassadors for Better Health at Work, the regional award scheme recognising the efforts of employers striving to both prevent and address health issues, since 2021, last year we officially achieved the Better Health at Work Maintaining Excellence Award for our many activities and campaigns that support your health and wellbeing.

To hold this recognition means a lot to us, but to sustain it this year is extra special because it’s in no small part down to the feedback you gave us throughout 2023.

Some highlights you helped us with

Using the responses of more than 1,000 individuals who took part in our staff survey last year, we developed a strategic action plan based on the needs and requests put forward.

Contributors made it clear they wanted their working day on the park to include more widely accessible activities focused on physical and mental wellbeing. This insight enabled us to feel confident in re-introducing more in-person events post-Covid, such as free yoga in Q11, attendance at which has doubled over recent months.

Similarly, regular one-to-one health checks at our on-site Pure Gym have proved popular, so we now plan to expand this offer to include services from GP practices, such as cancer screenings and vaccinations against common winter bugs like flu.

We also know that hybrid working has been embraced across the park, so while we continue to work to make in-office days as high value as possible for everyone, we’re also in touch with those working from home, for whom a healthy balance has never been more important.

The introduction of our community Quorum App, which is available on Google Play or through the Apple App Store, has been a big help with this, and as well as making constant improvements to its functionality and the information it offers, we continue to use both social media and internal communications to help all members of our community to know what’s available to them and how to access it, whether they’re at home or in the office.

This includes sections in the app that are dedicated to Personal Development, Wellness at Work, Q Learning, and Sustainability and Environment.

Home and away

As part of this, in 2023 we aligned our wellbeing commitments to our Environmental Social Governance strategy by providing more active travel options, using and improving the park’s abundant nature and wildlife to encourage people to take time away from their desks, and empowering people to bring their whole selves to work with holistic initiatives that help them look after their bodies, their minds, their identity, their finances, their CV, and their ongoing development.

Our free travel passes from Four Lane Ends Interchange was also a game changer in helping people adopt more sustainable habits, while those attending our regular lunchtime ‘net-walks’ and open allotment days had the added benefit of enjoying some of our home-grown produce.

We know from our survey results that opportunities like these are valued for multiple health benefits, including getting some fresh air, improved feelings of mental, social and physical wellbeing, and a sense that people are doing their bit for the local and global environment.

All for one and one for all

We’re proud that inclusivity and diversity make up a large part of our business model, because we know that they not only foster innovation, but enhance decision making, improve employee morale and productivity, and reflect the values of a society that is both fair and equitable.

The growing Q Pride Festival is a great example and is now the park’s second most well-attended event after the Christmas market. In 2023, it raised £130 for Northern Pride that is being used to support local LGQBTIA+ community projects, and two members of the Hub team were honoured to be part of the annual city centre Northern Pride weekend march, which was also supported and enjoyed by many members of the park community.

Our Events Manager Claire Lusk said: “It's overwhelming to see the support we get from everyone on the park each year at our Pride festival. It's always the photos from that event that I look back on that make me think, ‘wow this really is a great place to work’.

“It’s evidence to me that staff feel safe to express their true selves in their workplace and we are proud to have a community that helps us support that.

“Our events programme is designed around equity, not equality, which is an important difference. We want to know if there are any changes we can implement to make it easier for any particular group or community. If there are, then great – let’s try it!

“It's exciting to see the wealth of opportunities available for personal development in the North East, and I'm thrilled we can be part of that journey."

Looking ahead

We plan to host more regular Q Pride LGBTQ+ and Q Belong neurodivergent group events so we can gain a better insight into what life on the park is like for these communities, and this includes a Pride ally training workshop on February 13th, an ADHD impact and connection networking session, and of course we’ll be continuing our People and Culture Forum sessions, the first one of which is this Wednesday morning on Workplace Resilience.

Having had such incredible engagement with our 2023 Action Plan, this year’s strategy is modelled on an evaluation of that document, using the themes of 'High Value Office Days', and 'Inclusivity for home workers' while embedding the importance of a healthy 'work-life-balance.'

The 2024 Action Plan is built around our five business strategy principles:

·        Embedding wellbeing through partnership and collaboration

·        Providing a positive environment for staff to work in while allowing local wildlife to flourish

·        Making the best use of resources and committing to lowering our carbon emissions

·        Embracing innovation and sharing best practice wherever possible, and

·        Being a force for good and a voice for change

As part of this we commit to using only local and sustainable companies for our events and community programme, and we hope this will start a trend among the businesses and individuals based on the park.

We’ll also be creating more personal development opportunities featuring a wide range of topics and activities, and of course the results this month’s feedback survey will be used to inform this, so keep an eye out for it in your inbox and on the app!

So far, responses show there's interest in more financial awareness, British Sign Language arts and crafts, and communication skills training, which is great because Laura and Claire have just started getting crafty with some of our upcoming events! Laura has even invested in a new pink toolkit, glue gun and drill, so watch this space.

And if you can’t wait to attend something, or to let us know what you’d like to see in the Quorum Park calendar this year, you can check our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, follow @Quorum_Park on X or on Instagram, visit quorumpark.com/news-and-events, contact The Hub on 0191 691 0889 or email hub@quorumpark.com.

Happy New Year!