Caerphilly County Borough Council has been praised for its promotion of healthy living to its 9,655 staff.
The local authority recently achieved a gold corporate health standard award from Public Health Wales.
Inspectors for the scheme spent two days assessing the council’s approach to nutrition, physical activity, occupational health and the general health and wellbeing of employees.
Cllr. Christine Forehead, cabinet member responsible for HR and governance, said: “I am delighted that the assessors from Welsh Government recognised the work we have been doing to promote health and wellbeing within the authority. We endeavour to integrate the health and wellbeing message into the strategic goals of the organisation and equally in our policies and procedures to create a positive working environment.
“This award marks the beginning of a journey to drive the employee health and wellbeing strategy forward to ensure our continued success in the future.”
The authority’s feedback report on the inspection read: “The assessors were impressed with the commitment, enthusiasm, passion and vibrancy of the Employee Health and Wellbeing group who answered questions with an air of openness and frankness and who seem well placed to drive the authority on to greater and better things within the Corporate Health Standard process.”
Valerie Scholey, principal practitioner in workplace health for Public Health Wales, congratulated Caerphilly County Borough Council on the award.
She said: “The Welsh Government introduced the Corporate Health Standard to recognise workplaces in Wales that have adopted practices to improve employee health and wellbeing. Public Health Wales advisors worked closely with the team at Caerphilly throughout the process to support them in their efforts so we were delighted to learn that they had achieved the gold standard.”