Halo Leisure - a registered charity and flagship Social Enterprise which manages sports and leisure centres in England and Wales - have announced a new corporate partnership with Sony UK Tec in South Wales. 

The contract - initially for one year - involves the leisure trust developing and delivering a range of workplace initiatives to promote health and wellbeing.

"Sony, like Halo, are one of those forward thinking employers who are committed to a more holistic approach to the health of their workforce," says Jon Argent, Chief Executive of Halo, which has eight sites in Bridgend County Borough where Sony is based.

"They wanted to introduce employees to our corporate membership plan, but they wanted to go further. They have invited us to create a programme of initiatives that raise their staff's awareness of their mind and body and to give them the tools to keep both healthy. It has been so exciting developing this, and I think exactly the right kind of initiative for a social enterprise to be looking at. We know we have to respond to growing concerns in the health arena and look at new ways to tackle them, find new ways to reach more people, and to make opportunities for better health more accessible."

The workplace wellbeing initiative kicked off with a staff survey which showed that while the majority of employees recognise how important regular physical activity can be, nearly half of respondents didn't consider themselves active, and nearly two thirds said they were not eating well.  Less than one in five rated their current state of health very good or excellent.

Now onsite group exercise classes, team sports, sports coaching workshops, one to one fitness testing, personal fitness plans, expert advice and guidance on using the onsite gym, cookery demos, guest speakers and workshops offering advice on all aspects of physical, mental and financial health  are all being scheduled for the 12 month programme.

"I think what this has shown us is that while these are tough times - they also present opportunities for new, exciting collaborations which allow us to grow, and do more of what we do best," says Jon Argent. "We hope this will be the first of several new partnerships in the coming years with the business community."

 "We are absolutely delighted to be working with Halo, " says Cecilia Fritz from Sony UK Tec. "This is an exciting project for us and we truly believe it will make a different to our workforce."