Gower College Swansea has been named the recipient of a prestigious Princess Royal Training Award for meeting the standard of excellence in workplace training and wellbeing through its pioneering menopause support initiative.
Celebrating a decade of training excellence, The Princess Royal Training Awards honour organisations that demonstrate outstanding commitment to learning and development.
Coinciding with HRH The Princess Royal’s 75th birthday, the tenth year of the Awards saw 143 applications, with 57 achieving the prestigious award.
Among those success stories is Gower College Swansea, which won for its innovative Transforming Wellbeing at Work initiative.
Designed in consultation with staff and led by Vice Principal of People and Wellbeing, Sarah King, the programme introduced a three-pronged approach to menopause awareness across the organisation: clinical expertise from leading specialists at Newson Health; organisation-wide awareness training; and the use of Balance+, a pioneering app which helps staff track and manage symptoms.
Male colleagues were also engaged through the innovative Menovest, a wearable device that simulates menopausal symptoms to build empathy and understanding.
The results at the College have been transformational. Menopause-related sickness absence has reduced by 70% and staff turnover has also dropped, with participants reporting life-changing improvements in their health and ability to thrive at work.
“By breaking down stigma, embedding sustainable wellbeing practices and promoting gender equality, we aim to create a lasting culture of empathy and inclusivity at Gower College Swansea as well as demonstrating our commitment to innovation and measurable impact,” says Sarah. “We are delighted to be named a recipient of a Princess Royal Training Award, an accolade that marks the College as a national leader in staff wellbeing and organisational excellence.”
Now celebrating a decade of training excellence, The Princess Royal Training Awards honour organisations that demonstrate outstanding commitment to learning and development, and highlight the tangible impact of exceptional training on both businesses and individuals.
Launched in 2016 in response to demand from employers for recognition of excellence in workplace training, more than 1,000 training programmes have been put forward for evaluation. Since then, 415 Awards have been presented to 274 organisations, who have collectively trained almost 1 million people, demonstrating the Awards’ far-reaching place in skills development across the UK and Ireland.
This year’s recipients represent a wide range of sectors including construction, hospitality, education and training, the public sector, not-for-profit, and heritage crafts.