Twelve local and international companies were revealed as the winners of the inaugural Daman Corporate Health Awards, at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on 5 November.

The awards recognise the best UAE employers for their corporate wellness practices, leaders and teams.

UK double-Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes was among those who cheered the winners of the programme, organised by MEED together with The National Health Insurance Company Daman.

The winners of the inaugural Daman Corporate Health Awards were:

A pioneer of corporate wellness practices in the emirates, AlMansoori Specialised Engineering won the Daman Award for Corporate Health and Wellness (Organisation), for running several wellness initiatives that have achieved, among many milestones, a significant reduction in obesity and cholesterol levels among employees. Its programmes have also focused on educating employees about making healthy lifestyle choices.

Ahmad Bin Byat, CEO of Dubai Holding was honoured with the Corporate Wellness Leader of the Year award for having established wellness initiatives across Dubai Holding’s various business units; and for tirelessly promoting a healthy lifestyle in leading by example. He takes part in all of the company’s wellness events. Bin Byat has also inspired all the CEOs reporting to him to engage in a form of physical activity and healthy eating. As a result of his visionary policies, the Dubai Holding offices promote fitness and practice physical activities, healthy food and work life balance.

“As ardent supporters of wellness practices, we are delighted to have been a part of the inaugural awards programme and congratulate the winners for adopting and promoting wellness initiatives in their workplaces. In recognising their outstanding examples, we hope to encourage other companies and individuals to initiate and adopt corporate wellness practices in their organisations,” says Dr Michael Bitzer, CEO, National Health Insurance Company – Daman, headline sponsor of the awards.

The Daman Award for Improved Corporate Health and Wellness Performance was given to Lamprell, for having introduced several reforms and innovations that improved overall wellness performance across the organisation, including conducting periodic health checks, as well as organising team-building activities and sports events. Due to all these initiatives, Lamprell has improved its insurance claims ratio and plans to re-invest the cost-savings into its wellness programmes.

Al-Hosn Gas set up a Heat Stress Steering Committee to protect employees and contractors from heat-related illnesses at its sites, and in the process reduced heat-stress incidents to a minimum of one, down from 34, three years ago. The programme included minimum standards for heat-stress shelters, the establishment of governance systems to ensure these standards are met, effective systems for water distribution and maintaining water quality, consistent worker rest periods based on temperature, and heat index. For these reasons, Al-Hosn Gas is this year’s winner of the Daman Award for Corporate Health and Wellness (Initiative).

The Employee Relations Team at Dubai Airports was honoured with the prestigious ‘MEED Editor’s Award for Inspiration’ for their passionate team work and inspiring success story of its support for global cancer awareness. The team achieved this through the world’s largest cancer awareness ribbon on an air traffic control tower at Dubai International airport as part of a major campaign under the theme “Early Detection Saves Lives!”.  The campaign was launched under the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Airports.

For successfully implementing health and wellness initiatives that have gained substantial employee support, the CSR Employee Engagement of the Year award was given to Summertown Interiors, whose programmes have resulted in better utilisation of employee hours, a reduction in staff working overtime, more satisfied employees and increased productivity.

Wellness culture has been driven by a proactive group at Mashreq and for its success in promoting health practices throughout the bank. Their team was honoured as the Corporate Wellness Team of the Year.

The Workplace of the Year award went to Omnicom Media Group, for creating a great work environment for its staff, examples of which, include recreational facilities within its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified building, as well as a dedicated health and wellness space, which covers half of an entire floor in the building. The company runs monthly seminars in its recreational space, providing guidance on striking a better work-life balance.

Through the Atkins Minimum Requirements for Construction Safety (AMR), Atkins enables its employees to provide meaningful advice to clients and their supply chain on how to practically apply health, safety and welfare statutory regulations on their projects. By helping clients and contractors make better choices. Atkins has helped achieve safer, better managed construction projects and for this reason, has been awarded the Health & Safety Initiative of the Year award.

Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts Management designed activity cards to be used in the departments during their daily operational briefing – this innovation has provoked discussion and led to more meaningful delivery of the hotel’s Natural Enjoyment brand promise. This spark of creativity earned the Innovation in Work Culture award.

The Corporate Wellness Rising Star of the Year award was given to Judit Toth of Talise Fitness (Jumeirah), for helping promote a healthy lifestyle among employees and executives of the organisation. The complex executive wellness programme that she developed has so far worked for 65 per cent of clients, improving the participating executives’ energy levels, and enabling them to have greater concentration at work.

Finally, the Communications Campaign of the Year award was given to OSN’s ‘Live More’ campaign, which harnessed the power and influence of television to encourage their staff and wider public across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region to adopt healthier lifestyles; educating and encouraging them to make simple day-to-day changes that have a big difference on their health and wellbeing.

“We have been overwhelmed with the number of entries for the first edition of the awards. Congratulations to the winners for making employee wellness a priority in their respective organisations,” says Becky Crayman, Head of Awards at MEED.

The Daman Corporate Health Awards was held last night at the Rosewood Abu Dhabi, Al-Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi.