Health, wellbeing and CSR have never been more important to us and we’re proud to be recognised for the work we’ve put into building not only a great culture, but a social and sustainability promise that we act on too.
Last month, we attended The State of EX conference in London, where our Director of HR, Jane Austin, spoke about Wave’s journey to fostering an exemplary health and wellbeing culture. She then joined a panel discussing how organisations can create a sense of purpose and meaning in the work they do and how employee experience can drive continuous improvement.
The conference was later followed by the UK Employee Experience Awards (UK EXA) ceremony where we were delighted to be awarded two gold awards, one for Best CSR Strategy and one for Health and Wellbeing.
Up against global organisations, our winning entry for Best CSR strategy detailed our approach to creating a strategy that centred around making a positive difference in the communities and world that we live in, by harnessing the efforts and passion of Wave employees. Key achievements included:
- Developing (with employee involvement) four pillars that formed our Social and Sustainability Promise: Our People, Our Customers and Communities, Our Company and Our Planet.
- Publishing our first Social and Sustainability report.
- Holding multiple volunteering events with customers.
- Embedding our platform for good, Alaya, where our people can complete challenges, donate goods, raise money, record volunteering and be matched for volunteering opportunities that fit their skills and time commitments.
We also demonstrated our commitment to our people in our Health and Wellbeing submission, which looked at how our Health, Safety and Wellbeing strategy is continuously developed, led by employee feedback, and responsive to internal and external factors. Key achievements included:
- Holding education sessions on mental, physical and financial health.
- Introducing employee-led benefits that are a mix of financial and non-financial.
- Launching our Living Library, where employees can speak to a human ‘book’ on a range of topics. All of these books are Wave employees who’ve volunteered to share their own experiences.
- Created support groups including Talking BS (Bloke Support), Go with the flow (women’s health), the Carers Forum and One Wave (LGBTQIA+).
Jane Austin, Director of HR said: “There are moments of sheer joy in your career, and winning double gold was one of them. I’ve always been backed by our CEO, Lucy, and my amazing team to shape our culture in the way I believed would bring out the best in people. But the story of Wave is about the ideas and the enthusiasm shown by our employees to supporting each other and bring our health and wellbeing strategy to life. To win gold for best CSR strategy too is such great recognition for all we’re doing. We’ve worked hand in hand with customers and suppliers to shape our strategy and there’s no end to the good we’re going to do. We have less than 350 employees so to compete against global companies and win these awards, shows that if you have passion and creativity, you can still achieve great things even despite small budgets.”
The UK EXA by Awards International are designed to reward organisations who put their employees first and we’re proud that Wave has been recognised by these national employment awards.
