About Swale Borough Council

Swale Borough Council incorporate mental health first aid as part of their strategy for improving employee wellbeing. They trained their own Learning and Development Officer to deliver the training in-house, and have so far trained 12 employees, with a further 12 trained for this year.

The support their mental health first aiders are able to provide to staff aligns with the overall strategy for improving employee engagement through improving staff wellbeing. They signed up to the Time for Change pledge, and trained in-house champions, whose role is to encourage and support people to talk about mental health and end mental health discrimination.

In addition, they continue to provide training to staff on what they can do to continue to build their own resilience, and they run a similar programme for managers to help them understand how to better support people in their teams to try and prevent stress and ill-health.

What is it like to work for Swale Borough Council

My Manager

77% of staff agreed:

My manager regularly expresses his / her appreciation when I do a good job

They are members of the Kent and South East England Coaching Network, which was set up to provide a network of coaches available to all employees at no cost. This allows them to access coaching for anyone who requires it.

77% of staff agreed:

My manager regularly expresses his / her appreciation when I do a good job

My Team

85% of staff agreed:

People in my team go out of their way to help me

To improve team communication, they host quarterly all-staff briefings, which involve four 90 minute sessions run by the Chief Executive and guest presenters for all staff. Staff are also provided with volunteering days to participate in activities and support the borough.

85% of staff agreed:

People in my team go out of their way to help me

Fair Deal

56% of staff agreed:

I am happy with the pay and benefits I receive in this job

In order to reward the whole workforce, they had a breakfast van arrive in the car park to provide breakfast baguettes and hot drinks. The senior management team also visit each office with a cake trolley and fruit trolley throughout the year to reward employees.

56% of staff agreed:

I am happy with the pay and benefits I receive in this job

Learn more about the 8 factors of workplace engagement here

Benefits:

Women

At least 40% of senior managers are women
Gym

Companies offering either free gym/ sports facilities or offering subsidised gym membership for all employees
Long Service

50% of employees with more than 5 years' service
Family Friendly

School hours contracts offered to all staff