July 2021
Welcome to the Healthy Working Wales July E-bulletin

Our monthly e-bulletin provides the latest from the Healthy Working Wales (HWW) team, including Covid-19 guidance, workplace health and wellbeing news, links to upcoming campaigns and events plus keeping you updated on future plans for the programme. 

This is an exciting time for HWW. With the continued relaxation of Welsh Government lockdown measures, we are looking forward to resuming our programme of activities and working alongside employers to create a healthy and sustainable Welsh workforce.

Feel free to share with colleagues and your networks, subscription information can be found below.
Covid-19 Latest

The HWW website provides a one-stop shop of Covid-19 related information, toolkits and resources including risk assessments, sector guidance, vaccination information and wider health campaigns and information.
 
Wales moved fully into alert level one on 17 July and there will be further changes to the rules outdoors as Wales takes the first careful step towards a new alert level zero.

Updated guidance for workplaces and premises open to the public have recently been published by Welsh Government. Key changes include the importance of workforce communication in sharing and minimising the risk of Covid-19 exposure. Using a specific Covid-19 risk assessment and by following an updated 4-Step approach, employers can mitigate risks through taking a considered approach.

The Business Wales directory of support, guidance and FAQs can be found here.

Visit Public Health Wales for information about the Covid-19 vaccine. If you or your staff are due a Covid-19 vaccination but not been contacted, click here for information.

Click here to find out about getting support for recovery from COVID-19 (long COVID).
Healthy Working Wales New Delivery Model

The new HWW model will expand its reach to more workplaces, reflect the changing nature of work and the workforce, and aim to better meet the needs of employers across Wales through needs assessment tools and group based support and training. As a Welsh Government programme, the awards will remain a key part of the new model as the national quality mark for employer action on health and wellbeing.
We have worked with Cardiff University to develop two online tools to assess an employer’s readiness to implement health and wellbeing approaches and the health and wellbeing needs of their workforce – if you are an employer and would like to help pilot these new tools, please email decipher-hww@cardiff.ac.uk.

While the HWW team works behind the scenes to develop details of the new programme, a range of resources will soon become available including: podcasts, topic specific resources, case studies and virtual workshops. We will keep you posted as resources and new aspects of the programme are launched.
Healthy Working Wales Covid-19 Commendation Event

The HWW team is planning a virtual Covid-19 commendation event to take place in Autumn 2021 to recognise and celebrate employers in Wales who have demonstrated innovative practice in adapting to protect their workforce and wider community during the pandemic.

Further details about the event and how to submit entries for the awards will be coming soon!
Disabled People's Employment Champions

The Welsh Government has employed Disabled People’s Employment Champions to work with employers across Wales to increase awareness of the benefits of employing disabled people and to help employers access funding and other support to make any necessary, often easy, adaptations.

Working in partnership with Business Wales’ Specialist Advisors in a scheme unique to Wales, the Champions provide free support to help you adapt recruitment practices to get the right people for your business, retain or retrain existing staff who have become disabled, or ensure workplace and HR policies are inclusive.

To find out more about increasing diversity at work and the benefits of and support available for employing disabled people, contact the Champions at DPEC@gov.wales.
Key Dates

1 – 7 August World Breastfeeding Week
#WBW2021 will focus on how breastfeeding contributes to the survival, health and wellbeing of all, and the imperative to protect breastfeeding worldwide.

Take part in the UK’s biggest cycle commuting event.

Links to a range of health awareness campaigns can also be accessed via our Healthy Working Wales website.
To sign up for monthly Healthy Working Wales e-bulletins and view previous e-bulletins, click here. 

We are continuing to contact organisations where their HWW Workplace Health Award has/is due to expire to offer a Revalidation Status Check to extend the award by 12 months. If this applies to your organisation, please email workplacehealth@wales.nhs.uk.