Train to Gain is the national skills service that supports employers of all sizes and in all sectors to improve the skills of their employees as a route to improving their business performance.Train to Gain is a joint investment – you and the Government working together to boost your business by improving the skills of your individual staff members.

To find out if your company is eligible for a grant of £1,000 towards team building or training and development just answer the following questions:

• Are you in the private/franchise/public or voluntary sectors?
• Does your company employ between 5-249 employees?
• Is your head office in England?
• Do you have an annual turnover of less than £29 Million?
• Has your company received no Leadership and Management funding since April 2006?
• Has your company received less than 500,000 Euros of State Aid over the past three years?

If you answered yes to all of the above then your company is in for a good chance of gaining £1000 towards team building.

Click here for more information.

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Five Minute Angels, which specialises in Indian Head Massage for employees and events, has been tasked with providing the UK’s most recommended bank, first direct, with its services.

Five Minute Angels will be providing first direct offices with professional Indian Head masseuses on a regular basis as part of the company’s policy to maximise employee well-being.

first direct’s People Experience Analyst Angela Parkes says: “first direct is renowned for its mission to pioneer amazing service for its customers and good employee engagement and motivation is key to that mission.

“Five Minute Angels’ Indian Head Massages have helped with that, with employees commenting that they feel much more refreshed and energised after only a few minutes without the need to disrupt their busy schedule”.

The entrepreneur behind the business says he is not surprised that the business is taking off well.

He says: “Having worked previously for large multinationals, I recognised that stress and sitting for a long time in front of a computer had a significant negative impact on people’s well-being and performance. Our service provides a cost effective way to increase employee morale which helps companies to retain their best talent by making employees feel truly valued”.

“It’s not just about our Angels giving exceptional massages – our unique focus ensures that the whole interaction is exciting, invigorating and most importantly, fun. We can also work miracles at corporate and social events, treating staff and guests to a ‘touch of heaven’ that cannot fail to impress”.

For more information on Five Minute Angels freephone 0800 288 8673 or visit www.5minuteangels.com

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81% of employers now publicly report their commitment to health & wellbeing compared with 68% in 2007

According to the Business Action on Health Campaign by Business in the Community (BITC) there has been a “dramatic” increase in the number of FTSE100 companies reporting their progress on health and wellbeing using quantitative measures, up from 7% last year to 23% in 2008.

Louise Aston, campaign director of Business Action on Health, said: “Significant milestones have been reached over the past year and the issue of health and wellbeing in the workplace has, it seems, finally reached its tipping point. However, we still have a long way to go and ambitious targets to meet.

“We have committed ourselves to raising the proportion of FTSE100 companies reporting and measuring on employee health using quantitative measures from 23% to 75% by 2011.”
Speaking at The Business Action on Heath Work Well International Food Fest in London, Christine Hancock, director of Oxford Health Alliance, addressed the problems in promoting health and wellbeing to employees.

She said: “The problem at the moment is that we do not get the ‘Heineken effect’. Initiatives do not reach all parts of organisations. Initiatives mostly address employees who are fitter or already interested.”

She praised businesses that have made moves in this area. “What we need are really simple key performance indicators – for example, find out how many smokers there are in a workplace and focus reducing this number or find out employees’ body mass indexes and reduce these. Really simple things can have much more benefit.”

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