Healthy Working Wales

About Us

Healthy Working Wales (HWW) is a free national programme that aims to improve health and prevent ill-health among the working age population by working with and through employers and workplaces in Wales. HWW is funded by Welsh Government and delivered by Public Health Wales.

HWW supports employers to:

• Create healthy and safe working environments and practices.
• Take action to improve the health and wellbeing of their staff and promote healthy behaviours.
• Prevent and manage sickness absence and supportive return to work effectively to prevent people from falling out of work due to ill-health.
• Support those with chronic conditions to stay in work.
• Take a proactive approach to recruiting disabled people into the workforce.

How We Do This

We provide a digital offer to employers with a self-directed approach to employee and workplace health and wellbeing, including:

• Website content with information, advice, quick wins, resources and signposting on a wide range of topics
• Action planning tools, case studies, podcasts
• Employer research and insights to inform products and plans (reports available on HWW website)
• Accessible training and development resources on a range of topics, for example:
  • Musculoskeletal conditions
  • Sickness absence management
  • EDI with specific focus on disability
  • Work-related stress

We are currently developing:

• Digital survey tools and automated reports:
  • Employer survey tool to measure organisational baseline position in relation to staff health and wellbeing and readiness to take action and to identify priorities for action
  • Employee survey tool to secure employee input and to identify employee health and wellbeing needs
• Capacity building via a mentoring programme plus a network of Workplace Health Champions

Healthy Eating

Promoting and normalising healthy behaviours, including healthy eating, is an important responsibility for employers. This benefits employees’ physical and mental health, boosts productivity, and fosters a positive workplace culture. Employers can significantly impact their workforce’s overall wellbeing through strategies such as:

• Share information
  Distribute information on healthy diets and eating well, for example on the intranet, in staff newsletters and by running workshops.

• Normalise healthy eating
  Encourage healthy eating by promoting healthy food choices and making them easily accessible.

• Encourage campaigns and peer support
  Campaigns can utilise workshops, informative materials, and themed weeks to educate employees on nutrition and promote healthy choices. Peer support, through buddy systems, support groups, and team challenges create accountability and encouragement among colleagues.

• Provide healthy food options
  Ensure cafeterias, vending machines, and catered events offer healthy food options.

• Offer incentives
  Provide incentives for choosing healthier meals, such as discounts on healthy food items.

Since people consume at least a third of their daily calories at work, diet directly affects health and job performance. Without regular, well-balanced meals and adequate hydration, employees may experience headaches, sluggishness, and difficulty concentrating.

Employers play a pivotal role in promoting and normalising healthy eating by sharing information on nutrition, organising wellness activities, and developing a supportive workplace culture that emphasises holistic wellbeing beyond food choices.

Further information

Healthy Working Wales can support employers with ideas for promoting and encouraging healthy eating. For more information, guidance and resources, visit the Healthy Eating page on our website.

Healthy Weight Healthy You offers a range of information and resources that are tailored to individuals’ needs. Their ’Find Your Journey’ tool allows individuals to find the right solutions for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, to give the best chance of success.

Find out more

Email us: Workplacehealth@wales.nhs.uk

Sign-up to the monthly HWW e-bulletin to receive updates and links to new resources and campaigns.

Follow us on social media:

• X: @Healthywork_HWW  
• Facebook: @HealthyWorkingWales
• Instagram: @HealthyWorkingWales
• LinkedIn: @Healthy Working Wales / Cymru Iach Ar Waith
• Listen to our podcasts on YouTube