OSB Group has been awarded the Campaign for Learning Award for the wellbeing support it provides to its workforce.

Campaign for Learning champion lifelong learning working with partners to collaborate on initiatives of all scales to test new approaches and generate new conversations and ideas about lifelong learning, sharing findings and research with its network. The awards are nationally recognised and regulated, as well as being committed to sustainable and flexible ongoing learning and development for employees across all sectors.

The award was presented to OSB Group in recognition of the creative internal campaigns led by the People Development team, supporting and promoting a variety of wellbeing initiatives including yoga classes, breathing sessions, psychological safety webinars and setting up a dedicated pool of volunteer Mental Health First Aiders.

Since the first cohort of Mental Health First Aiders launched in May this year, OSB Group now has over 30 volunteers across the business with more cohorts planned later this year and into 2023. This learning framework helps the volunteers to listen without judgement and signpost available support via both professional and charitable organisations.

Julia Wright, national director, Campaign for Learning, said: “As a specialist lender, the group delivered Learning at Work Week at a time of increased pressure on the business. Increased rising interest rates and the cost-of-living crisis meant the focus needed to be on customers. By being flexible and with clever planning and a variety of learning methods, the group were able to still deliver Learning at Work Week and support employee wellbeing with a 10% increase in participation on the previous year. Senior leaders supported the wellbeing training and have endorsed additional internal courses and external classes such as the breathing and yoga classes. By bringing colleagues together to connect across two countries, the week has facilitated cultural knowledge exchanges and team building.”

Richard Barrett, group head of people development, OSB Group, added: “I am incredibly grateful for the recognition from Campaign for Learning for our efforts as a People Development function, but also for the importance that OSB Group places on the wellbeing of all of our employees. As an initiative, the annual Learning for Work Week campaign provides an amazing platform for firms and Learning & Development functions to showcase their creativity and the benefit to their workforces.

“Our company’s purpose is to help ‘Customers, colleagues and communities prosper’ is more than just a collection of words. As a learning function we have focused a huge amount of energy in ensuring our people have the support and access to tools that can be of use to them during these difficult times.”