Case Study: Mars UK
Winning with Wellness Programme
Mars takes associate health and wellbeing seriously and as such has a range of
initiatives across its UK sites. These range from on site Occupational Health
services through to the provision of excellent on-site cafeteria facilities
offering a range of healthy eating options. Mars provide education and advice on
an
ongoing basis on a diverse range of health issues which include diet and
exercise,
drink awareness, smoking cessation, coping with stress, and general
health
awareness.
Experience has shown that associates all have individual preferences when it
comes to maintaining their health and Mars is committed to providing a wide
variety of on-site activities. One of the best examples of the diversity of
initiatives is at the Slough snack food site where, as part of the national “Well @
Work”
partnership with Berkshire East PCT Mars has a broad programme of
education and
activities. For example, fitness classes ranging from Boxercise to
Pilates and
Yoga are all part of the range available on site. These are
complemented by
education and information initiatives, one of which is the in-house
weight management
programme, “Fat Busters”.
The programme sessions are on exercise, behavioural change and understanding
food labelling. Of the 1100 associates based at Slough, 69 participated in fat
busters during 2006 and the achievements include a combined weight loss of 5.5
stones by ten associates in one of the manufacturing teams. To complement the
information and activities Mars have a “Wellpoint” kiosk where associates can
check
their bodyweight and body fat amongst other measures. The kiosk was used
more than
5000 times during its first year on the Slough site. Eight “Wellness
Champions”
have also been recruited on site to help run the range of activities
on offer.
Measures of success and capturing learnings are an essential part of the
continuous improvement of health and wellbeing plans. All the learnings from “Well @
Work” are consolidated by a team at Loughborough University and will be
implemented into programmes at other UK sites. This ensures that Mars continues to
provide a range of opportunities for their associates to maintain their health
and
wellbeing in the way that best suits their individual lifestyles.
This case study is featured in our booklet Workplace Wellbeing: The Food Industry in Action (pdf, 1.2Mb) . Mars UK is a member of FDF's Workplace Wellbeing Group.
top
Last reviewed: 25 Jun 2008