Workplace support in action
NHS Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
Training volunteers to help hospital visitors make the most of public transport
Our travel advisor Laura Fish has been training Sheffield Teaching Hospitals volunteers so they can help patients, visitors and staff alike to make the best of public transport connections to Sheffield hospitals.
In a series of training sessions, Laura has been demonstrating Travel South Yorkshire’s website travelling tools, how to find out about different routes and different services, different ticket options and how to offer appropriate information for different needs.
“The idea is that we’ll have tablets around the hospitals connected to the Travel South Yorkshire website, so the volunteers can help anyone by searching routes, finding bus stops and advising on the best public transport option to and from the hospitals”, explained Laura.
On top of the iPads, live departure screens referring to the bus stops around the Northern General will also be installed at the hospital, to make it even easier for customers to travel by public transport.
“The volunteers will act as public transport champions, encouraging more people to use the bus and tram.”
Carrie McKenzie, who manages the Voluntary Services at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, is in a great place to set a good example: “I walk, cycle or take the bus everywhere. I’ve done that all my career, and I do feel healthier for that”.
As the Northern General hospital sits in one of the areas with highest air pollution levels in Sheffield, and as vehicle emissions are one of the main sources of this pollution, the aim is to encourage more and more people to leave their cars at home when heading to and from the hospital.
Twelve different bus services operate in the area, which is served by 19 bus stops. There are also 11 services that operate around the Royal Hallamshire and surrounding Weston Park and Charles Clifford teaching hospitals, which are served by nine bus stops. Passengers can find information about services, stops and destinations at the Travel South Yorkshire website’s hospital guide.
The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals receive around two million visits a year.
Mott MacDonald .jpg "Mott MacDonald")
Supporting global engineering, management and development consultancy with relocation
When global engineering, management and development consultancy Mott MacDonald relocated their Sheffield office to state-of-the-art city centre premises there was one challenge for employees – there were no parking spaces.
However, this gave the consultancy’s staff that commute the chance to think seriously about leaving their car keys at home and consider embracing new ways to travel to and from work. And now – a year after its move – and with the ongoing support of our active and sustainable travel team, Mott MacDonald has a workforce which is committed to cycling, walking and using public transport.
“Working with Travel South Yorkshire's active and sustainable travel team has helped us enormously,” said Kathryn Close, transport planner at Mott MacDonald.
“It’s meant so much to have that support and understanding about the challenges we have faced and the things we’ve set out to achieve.”
Prior to the move, our travel advisor Autumn Hague went to meet the Mott MacDonald team and provided a travel surgery, which involved her talking to people about how sustainable transport could help them individually.
“The staff here really like Autumn – she has made them feel really comfortable and at ease,” said Kathryn. “It’s nice to have her insight and she keeps us informed about things that are happening with sustainable travel.
In the past year, the consultancy has seen an increase both in the number of people cycling to and from work and those using public transport. It’s a testament to our staff – they took on the challenge of moving to a new office without parking facilities,” said Kathryn. “They’ve embraced all the incentives we’ve introduced and we have excellent facilities in the new offices for those who cycle in.”
Moving to city centre offices without any parking spaces has been described by staff as a ‘brilliant’ move.
“We’ve seen the number of people cycling to and from work increase from 15 to 18.5 per cent and private car use drop from 45 per cent to 25 per cent. A small number of my colleagues have taken to car sharing and we’ve also seen a rise in the number using public transport to get to and from work.”
Kathryn said moving to new premises had been a ‘very positive’ experience.
“A year on and it’s really come together!”
Sheffield Hallam University
Staff at Sheffield Hallam University were left in a quandary when their regular car park closed due to building work. Our Travel Advisor, Gail Parkes, stepped in to help!
The car park serves several University buildings, this coupled with the city centre location means the volume of traffic is usually heavy and air pollution levels high. The aim is to offer staff an alternative to car travel and encourage more and more people to leave their cars at home when heading to and from work, alleviating some of these problems and getting staff more active too.’
We asked the staff who took part in the trial to complete a short survey following the 28 days. 80% of the car drivers surveyed said they will keep using public transport instead of the car for part of their journey to and from work. 8/10 people also said they’d recommend public transport to people they know.
When we asked staff what the most important benefit of public transport was for them compared to driving, ‘reduced stress levels’ was top of the list.
Mark Rooker, Commercial Manager, Facilities Directorate said: Staff have been really positive about the travel trial. Interestingly, there was a pause in the building work and the car park reopened for a short time (3 weeks). There were spare spaces each day. There used to be complaints people couldn’t get in! ‘
Travel trials are a great way of introducing staff to the benefits of public transport.
HSBC
Changing your job or relocating to new premises can provide a perfect opportunity to think about the way you get to and from your workplace
We’re supporting over two hundred HSBC staff with their phased move to new offices in Sheffield City Centre, where there’s limited car parking facilities.‘As a change champion for our move to the new premises, I encouraged colleagues to try new forms of transport to get to work. There will no longer be any assigned car parking at the new place of work and it is a great opportunity to explore alternatives. I have decided to take the lead and try alternatives to driving in the city centre. I will be using trains, park and ride and other combinations of travelling from Barnsley to show that it can be done without too much disruption’.
‘The 28-day trial period will support the bank’s move to new offices in Sheffield City Centre, with limited parking facilities. We believe that many employees should be able to get there without using a car, so we encourage them to try out their options.
B. Braun
The MoveMore Workplace Challenge may be over for another year but B.Braun are determined to keep their staff the most active in Sheffield.
Andrew chairs the employee led Health and Wellbeing programme that links in with B. Braun’s HR, payroll and benefits to provide a suite of health and wellbeing services and activities. This suite has its own brand ‘B. Healthy B. Braun’.
Gail said: ‘With a special Health and Wellbeing Programme of events suited to staff needs, from lunchtime walks, a cycle to work scheme and E-bike loans there really is something to keep everyone active. B.Braun are a great example of an active workplace, supporting their staff to be just that – active!’
Andy told us about some exciting additions to the B. Healthy B.Braun offer: ‘B.Braun have really invested in cycle provision with new showers, covered cycle storage and heated locker storage. We’re really lucky to have these facilities as it makes cycling and being active so easy to fit into your working day.
This year the B. Healthy B. Braun programme is offering cycle training for employees onsite through Pedal Ready. Andy continued: ‘It’s really exciting as it means people who haven’t cycled before can give it a go, in a safe environment with professional support. There’s also training for people who can ride a bike but might not feel confident riding on the roads – Pedal Ready can help boost road confidence with tailored training.’
It’s not just about cycling. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the nearby Trans Pennine Trail, we’re including walks on the trail in our programme of walks that run throughout the working week. The trail also links up B.Braun’s second site, which is a mile from head office – perfect for squeezing activity in between meetings or visits to the two sites.’
Increasing numbers of businesses across South Yorkshire are seeing the benefits of sustainable and active travel alternatives both for their employees and for their everyday business needs.
Bluetree Group
Retailer and manufacturer of print, Bluetree Group demonstrated their commitment to staff health and wellbeing with a dedicated two-day event
Bluetree Group operate several brands and are based at their 100,000 square foot Rotherham production site. It’s the second time they’ve ran the health and wellbeing event for staff and this years didn’t disappoint. The event gave staff opportunity to get their bikes checked by the Hubs expert mechanics, find out about free bike loans, cycling courses and routes. #WalkRotherham also led a health walk and provided free health checks for the staff taking part.
48 members of staff had a health check during the event and 25 signed up to the #WalkRotherham Step Challenge.
Margaret Barker, #WalkRotherham, Walk Project Coordinator said: ‘This is the best workplace uptake we’ve had this year. Bluetree clearly have a strong dedication to staff wellbeing which must be commended. ‘
The Step Challenge is suitable for all levels even if you’ve never followed a walking plan before.
The Cycle Hub also had a busy couple of days with people signing up for electric bike loans and eight opting for a free bike check.
Gemma Jarvis, Operations PA at Bluetree Group, coordinated the event and told us: ‘We invest in our people as much as we do our technology. It’s the second time Laura and the Active and Sustainable Travel have been involved in the event, without them we might not know about the initiatives going on in the area that our staff can take advantage of. We’re thrilled there was so much engagement at the event and are really proud of the commitment our staff have made to be more active.’
When software company ANSYS UK relocated to Sheffield City Centre, our Travel Advisor Laura Fish was at hand to help.
ANSYS, which makes simulation software, has five offices in the UK, is headquartered in Pennsylvania and has outlets worldwide. After a 19-year long residency at Sheffield Business Park the ANSYS Sheffield team moved to the city centre with mixed feelings from staff. Most staff had been driving to work and had access to free parking, facing a commute into the busy City Centre was obviously worrying for some.Laura explains: ‘We worked with ANSYS to offer staff who would usually drive to the workplace a free travel trial, so they could try using bus, tram and train to commute to their new office. We know that the move had received a mixed response – it was quite a change for some staff. ANSYS had been calling Sheffield Business Park their home for 19 years after all. A travel trial was the perfect way to ease staff into their new commute.’
Principal Technical Support Engineer, Adam Anderson said: ‘It's been so nice to hop on the bus each day and not sit in traffic’.
And Claire Nundy, Senior Marketing Specialist added: “The office move unfortunately meant a longer journey to and from work for me. I had been travelling 20 minutes in the car and now my journey is an hour. However, I’m really enjoying using Halfway Park & Ride. Being on the tram means I get some time to myself to read a book and some extra activity into my day. I choose to get off the tram a stop early, at the train station so I have a slightly longer walk and more active time.’
It’s really encouraging to see that 88% of people who took part in the trial said they would continue to use public transport after the travel trial was over, helping to reduce the number of car trips being taken in to the city centre And when asked if they would continue to choose public transport for some of their journeys to and from work, over a third of those took part in the trial said they would use public transport for 5 days or more.
