In furthering its commitment to its staff, Whittlesea is one of two Victorian councils undergoing a pilot program designed to increase staff health and wellbeing levels.
The program is in line with Council’s Employer of Choice and Finding Your Balance values. Organised by Kinect Australia and Andrology Australia with funding from the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, the worksite based program is accessible to all staff, including outdoor workers.
Council’s Health Promotion Officer, Jessica Bailey, said the program is tailored to suit the needs and requests of staff.
“All staff were invited to attend a focus group to determine what they wanted from the program, how it could help them, how they wanted to receive information, and how the program could be made suitable for all staff across the organisation,” she said. “We found that our staff wanted the information to be available both online and over the phone to cater for those that do not have access to the web.
“As such, when the 12 month pilot program kicked off in November, staff had access to a website and health coaching via telephone.”
The website includes information on healthy eating, men’s and women’s health and appropriate activities. Staff can also use the site to track their fitness activity level by inputting activities they have completed.
Telephone health coaching is provided by a trained health coach and comprises psychology, counselling and lifestyle coaching.
Jessica Bailey said the coach calls the participant numerous times over the course of the program to discuss progress, any issues or problems.
“The program complements Council’s Wellbeing at Whittlesea program, which involves lunchtime gym and massage sessions, walking groups, healthy cooking demonstrations and more,” she said. “All these sessions have proved quite popular over time, but we hope participation will increase further as a result of the information provided through the pilot program. This should lead to healthier employees and an increase in productivity and job satisfaction.”
Staff are able to use work hours to participate in phone interviews and use the internet to access relevant information.
The program is also designed to be sustainable, so that once the pilot is finished, staff can continue to access its resources.
It is also hoped that the pilot program will be able to be rolled out on a larger scale to other Victorian councils, with amendments made to suit individual workplaces.
