13 December 2022

Baker Labels Achieves Top Level in Wellbeing Accreditation

Baker Labels has been awarded Essex Working Well’s Level 3 Accreditation

Being a family-run business, Bakers has always had a big heart and cared about the people that make the company work. It has just been standard practice to support the staff when and where they needed it. As the company has grown in recent years to well over 100 employees, it has become obvious that a more structured and consistent approach to wellbeing needed to be put in place.

The Essex Working Well Accreditation programme is “A holistic health and wellbeing accreditation, that allows you to build, maintain and evidence a robust wellbeing strategy and programme for your employees.” It was introduced to Baker Labels in December 2021 by Lyn Mowforth, Essex Working Well Manager and embraced by the team at Bakers straight away.

Bakers were already on the right track and had achieved various Employer of the Year Awards in recognition of their efforts in being a great place to work. A formal accreditation made good business sense as it is a consistent way to promote the commitment to employee health and wellbeing. 

Essex Working Well not only provide the guidance and accountability to businesses seeking the accreditation, but they also offer a range of free benefits. These include MHFA England training places, online training for Workplace Health Champions and weekly newsletters that provide employees with a vast range of online training sessions, workshops and webinars. 

To be awarded the Level 3 award after just a year of working with Essex Working Well is a testament to the high level of employee wellbeing Bakers already had in place. It is not usually expected to achieve this award until the 2nd or 3rd year of the programme.

How do companies achieve Level 3 Accreditation?

To achieve Level 3 Bakers had to establish a wellbeing strategy and provide evidence of on-going activities that were in line with this strategy. In addition, they had to show evidence of the promotion and provision of internal and external support for staff health and wellbeing; provide details of any numbers of staff completing training of any kind; show all green initiatives the company is involved in and any support given to charities and good causes. This is just a snippet of what was required. The Workplace Health Champion Team were able to co-ordinate and action a range of projects and activities, including an NHS health check for all staff over 40, and a team entering a muddy obstacle race.

Without buy in at management and supervisor level, the program would never have got off the ground. They fully understood the value of a structured wellbeing program, not only for staff but for the company in general. The strategy included continued professional development for staff that the inhouse training platform, Bakers Academy was key in providing and monitoring. 

Quote from Steve Baker, Managing Director:

“It may sound like a cliché, but our staff genuinely are our greatest assets. We have spent £millions over the last five decades on print equipment and technologies, in addition to their regular maintenance and care. Having a Health and Wellbeing program is almost like a maintenance and care package for staff.  We need our operators to not only have had the best training but also to be in good mental and physical condition. Great presses can take you so far with label production, but a great team makes us who we are.”

Quote from Clare Coles, HR Manager:

“It has been extremely valuable to be part of the Essex Working Well programme. We now have six trained Mental Health First Aiders, a team of Workplace Health Champions and a structure that supports training, growth, health and wellbeing. Recruitment of new staff to Bakers is made easier because we attract a high calibre of applicants, often recommended by those already working here. What better recognition is there than that that Bakers is a great place to work?”

2023 marks Baker Labels’ 50th year and a whole new wellbeing / social strategy is beginning to form. There are standards now to maintain!

About Baker Labels

• Established in 1973 by Roy and Marian Baker.

• Company moved to Brentwood in April 2011

• Managing Director – Steve Baker

• Annual turnover – £16 million

• 112 members of staff

• Address Unit A2 Hubert Road, Brentwood, CM14 4JE

• Bakers divisions (all based in Brentwood):

- Baker Labels, trade printer of self-adhesive labels,
- Baker Materials, label material distributors
- BakPac, manufacturer of flexible packaging
- Sportstiks, produces athlete ID (race bibs, wristbands, temporary tattoos)

• Digital Printer Award 2022, Closing the Skills Gap

• 2021 Brentwood Employer of the Year

• 2021 Essex Activity Awards Active Workplace of the Year

• 2020 Essex Employer of the year

• 2019 Brentwood Business of the year