Northern Foods shares were delisted from the London Stock Exchange from 13 May 2011

Well-Being

'Healthy, Happy and Here' is the focus of our wellbeing programme, which aims to improve the health, peace of mind, and success of colleagues, reducing levels of absence and increasing productivity.

In our 2010 employment satisfaction survey 56 per cent of respondents agreed that Northern Foods cared about their health and wellbeing.  In the three years to April 2010, working days lost to absence because of sickness have gradually reduced from nearly six per cent to just above four per cent.  The target for the year to April 2011 is four per cent or less.

The wellbeing programme covers initiatives to promote physical and mental health, as well as ideas to help relieve pressures on family finances.  They form part of our rewards model to attract, motivate and retain good people. 

Northern Foods partnered with CIGNA Healthcare to produce a comprehensive range of guides to enable colleagues to make more informed choices about their health. The information can be easily accessed in many ways, including through our wellbeing intranet and a confidential wellbeing email address. 

Companywide schemes are supplemented by initiatives at groups of sites and individual sites, often based around the national calendar of health promotions such as back care, healthy eating, cancer awareness, stop-smoking advice, stress awareness, and tips on looking after your heart.

Award-winning Fit4Life campaign

The Fit4Life initiatives include:

One of the most innovative wellbeing programmes is in our Sandwiches, Salads & Pizza business, where a campaign branded Fit4Life runs across all of its four sites at Sheffield, Worksop, Nottingham, and Corby.  It has been so successful that in 2010 it won the Business in the Community national award for Healthy Workplaces initiatives, earning the coveted title Example of Excellence. 

Judges said the company had created “a fun and innovative programme that had resulted in great employee engagement.”  Initiatives include:

  • Free annual health check and assessment with an occupational health adviser offered to all colleagues
  • Activities linked to national health-awareness promotions such as blood-pressure-awareness ‘Know Your Numbers Week’, National Bike Week, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, World Sight Day, and National Stress Awareness Day
  • Free pedometers given colleagues to encourage more walking
  • Encouragement to adopt healthier methods of getting to work, such as cycling.  Solway Foods at Corby invested £5,000 in a bicycle shed.
  • Running and walking clubs established at Solway Foods Manton Wood at Worksop 
  • Site canteens offer healthier menu choices such as salad bar and fresh fruit. 

Childcare vouchers – Northern Foods participates in a UK scheme that allows people in employment to take part of their gross pay in childcare vouchers, which are exempt from tax and national insurance deductions.  For families with two working parents, the scheme can provide a boost to household finances of around £2,000 a year. 

Employee discounts – The company has a comprehensive employee discount scheme, which provides access to more than 8,000 discounts at local and national levels.  The scheme helps colleagues make their money go further and in many cases encourages them to support local businesses. Included in the scheme are discounts at childcare nurseries operated by the UK's largest provider, Busy Bees.

Give As You Earn – Northern Foods participates in the Give As You Earn scheme, which means that colleagues’ donations to charities made through the company payroll are increased by the taxman by at least 20 per cent.  More than 1,000 colleagues take part in the scheme, which encourages a caring response to the needs of others.

Share Save Scheme – Our Employee Share Save Scheme enables colleagues to benefit from the long-term growth of Northern Foods and the success that this brings, reinforcing the business ethos of 'profiting together through performance'.