Workday blues go with a bang

Published on Wednesday 4 June 2008 10:24

IT'S not a typical way for stressed-out finance workers to spend their lunch hour, but management at Scottish Widows think they have the ideal way for staff to unwind.

For the past year, thousands of employees in Edinburgh have been taking part in activities such as learning to play the bongos and making hats, as part of an innovative project to bring arts into the workplace.

The company started its Arts@Work programme in January last year and since then has had more than 3000 staff involved in 70 events. The idea of the project was to help staff feel more relaxed in the workplace, to help to improve their health and well-being and get to know their fellow workers better.

The programme covers everything from singing and samba dancing to painting, poetry and photography.

One of the first people to get involved in the programme was David Gough, 56, an IT analyst from East Lothian, who works at the company's main offices on Morrison Street.

His lifelong hobby of photography was unknown to his colleagues until a chance meeting with the company's artist in residence Sylvia Dow, two years ago.

Now preparing to show his first exhibit outside the company, Mr Gough said he was amazed at how much confidence the arts programme had given him.

"The photography group has been like an antidote to my everyday job of IT, which can be rigid and structured," he said.

"I have done more in the last year-and-a-half than in the last 19 years. It has given me a fresh attitude to the work environment and really motivated me."

Karen Dennis, 41, who lives in Edinburgh, is one of the most recent recruits to art courses, joining the company as a programme analyst in April this year.

She has already tried out hat making, film production, singing and Brazilian drumming, and said the programme had helped her settle into work and make contacts within the company. "I have met more people and made more business contacts in six weeks than some folks have in years. Finding my own voice has also helped me become more comfortable in meetings," she said.

Karen now performs in West African drumming events across Edinburgh and is working on a film which it is hoped will be shown at the Cameo or Filmhouse later this year. Scottish Widows recently received the Big Tick – a prestigious Business in the Community Award for Excellence – for its arts programme.

Cameron Walker, director of corporate communications at Scottish Widows, said: "Winning such a prestigious award is far from easy.

"Our success is a credit to the enthusiasm and involvement of staff who participate."

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