In partnership with the Institute of Employment Studies (IES), we conducted an evaluation of the Workplace Health Champion project by Business Health Matters.

The Workplace Health Champion Scheme was an initiative delivered by Active Lancashire and a network of partners, funded by the European Social Fund. The scheme aims to improve workforce health and wellbeing through providing accredited training which enable organisations to implement health champion roles within their workplaces. 

In April 2022 Rocket Science and the IES was commissioned to undertake and independent evaluation of the scheme to understand the impact of Workplace Health Champions (WHCs) operating within their workplaces and learn from the process of delivering the project. The evaluation took a mixed methodological approach over the two years. Some key findings from the evaluation include:

• 940 WHCs have been trained across Lancashire
• The training provided is consistently seen as high quality and supports trainees to implement the role within their workplaces through increasing the knowledge, skills and confidence of those trained.
• 59% of WHCs who participated in the evaluation reported successfully implementing the role within their organisations within 3 months of being trained. By 9 months this had increased to 68%.
• 63% of WHCs report positive health and wellbeing impacts for themselves within three months of the training. These benefits are sustained and built upon with 73% reporting health and wellbeing improvements nine months post training.
• 63% of WHCs also reported an increase in workplace leadership skills as a result of the training and the role.

Read the full report here.