Wellbeing has long been a buzzword in the health and fitness world, but is now being claimed by industry. MAXINE GORDON meets one of York's first business wellbeing consultants

WELLBEING is more than gym memberships and having a bowl of fruit in reception. So begins Jo Denton, a pioneer in a national move to get business to take wellbeing at work more seriously.

Jo is one of the city's first wellbeing consultants, following on from 17 years working in this field for the Food. Environment and Research Agency.

In her new role, she seeks to work with local companies and examine ways they can boost productivity and morale.

"Its not necessarily about looking at why people are off sick, but why they are not stepping up and going that extra mile," she says, pointing out that presenteeism can cost companies more than absenteeism.

Working with bosses and staff, she identifies the problem areas and suggests ways to solve them.

"I use my expertise to find out where businesses aren't doing so well; then it's quite easy to go into these areas to fix them."

The barriers preventing productivity are many and varied, she points out. Maybe there is too much to do, or not enough; maybe there is a lack of training or skills; or it might be staff want different working hours, longer breaks, or a better environment at work.

The economic climate takes its toll too, and job uncertainty and the threat of redundancy can impact of work life - and profits.

Jo understands that pressure at first hand. She lost her post at FERA through redundancy, and is now ploughing ahead with her consultancy business while writing her MSc thesis in health and wellbeing.

Jo, who is a former nurse and occupational health advisor, says the three watchwords for business success are wellbeing, engagement and resilience. "If there is a high level of wellbeing and engagement in the workplace and staff are resilient to ups and downs in business and in their own lives, these are the good things that enable businesses to be successful."

And she insists that you don't have to take her word: there's a building field of research into the area. More over, the government is seriously behind this initiative and supports the new Workplace Wellbeing Charter that is currently being rolled out across England. Jo is a qualified national assessor for the charter.

The charter's champion is Dame Carol Black, an expert adviser to the Department of Health. She said: "Whether our organisations, public or private, large or small, do well depends on the people who make up the workforce and how they flourish. The Wellbeing Charter shows organisations the way to excellence in supporting their staff, to being an exemplary employer with a reputation that is well-earned and secure."

City of York Council is looking into climbing aboard. A spokesperson for the council, said: “The council is fully committed to its employees’ health and wellbeing and has various strategies it place to support this. We regularly review these strategies so they are as effective as possible and while we’re not currently signed up to a Charter for Wellbeing we are interested in exploring this further.”

Jo welcomes the national initiative to encourage companies to take more notice of this issue. "Wellbeing is one area of the workplace that is being overlooked, but the government wants companies to take it seriously."

She adds: "If staff are not in a good place, they might be at work, but not doing the greatest job they can do."

For more information, visit Jo's website: wellbeing4all.co.uk