Selco Builders Warehouse has launched a new pilot scheme to offer free ‘MOT’ health checks for its colleagues, helping them to potentially avoid serious illness.
The leading builders’ merchant has introduced health screenings for staff members based at its central Support Centre in Wythall, near Birmingham. Dozens of colleagues have already taken advantage of the scheme – which is run in conjunction with health and wellbeing specialists Westfield Health – in the opening two days of activity.
There are plans in place to extend the offering to Selco’s entire workforce of nearly 3,000 people across 75 branches around the UK if the trial proves successful. The programme was launched to coincide with Know Your Numbers Week (2-8 September, 2024), the UK’s biggest blood pressure testing and awareness event.
Sally Kerr, HR Director at Selco, said: “Ensuring we have a team of engaged and healthy colleagues is a key priority for us at Selco and these health checks are the latest important initiative in us delivering on that.
“It’s vital that everyone keeps on top of their physical health and wellbeing with regular checks, but it’s not always easy to achieve and making health appointments is something which often gets put on the back-burner due to other pressures. Our colleagues live very busy lifestyles, many working full time and across a variety of shift patterns.”
She continued: “Providing the opportunity for colleagues to secure appointments during a working day will give them the chance to ‘know their numbers’ and much more in a convenient way, and also allow them to have access to professional advice so they can make informed lifestyle choices.
“Our first two days of health checks saw all appointments fully booked and the feedback has been extremely positive from the 80 people who took part. In addition to this, Westfield Health will also produce an anonymised overview report for us which will allow us to identify areas of focus for our wellness strategy in 2025.”
As well as checking blood pressure levels, the screenings also provide an assessment on a range of other metrics including cholesterol, BMI and blood glucose. Results are produced immediately with a personal report provided and a discussion with a wellbeing coach included.
Main image: Selco’s Group Payroll Manager Luke Thomas with a Westfield Health specialist.
