«Friendly Work Space®» is the quality label for companies that have integrated workplace health management (WHM) in their corporate strategy. With the «Friendly Work Space®» label, the Health Promotion Switzerland foundation confirms that the companies that have been awarded the label make a comprehensive and systematic commitment to the health of their employees.
The label's quality criteria include developing the relevant leadership skills at managerial level, ensuring that employees are challenged in line with their respective skills, professional staff recruitment, support and development, promoting the work-life balance, as well as preventative measures, such as ergonomic workplace design, accident prevention or, in the case of the Migros Group, also discounts on Club School courses and Migros gym memberships for employees.
In 2009, Migros was the first retailer to be awarded the label for one of its companies. By 2015, as part of the "Generation M" sustainability programme, Migros wants all ten regional cooperatives and the Federation of Migros Cooperatives to have met the requirements of Health Promotion Switzerland and to have been awarded the "Friendly Work Space®" label. Other Migros companies should follow this model successively, as indeed Mifa AG has done in the last few months.
The Mibelle Group introduced a workplace health management system a number of years ago. The certification of Mifa AG has now proven that the internal measures taken are clear and structured and can be assigned to the individual targets. A steering group has now been set up and this is made up of prominent people active in the field of occupational safety, health protection and healthcare. This steering group develops basic principles to aid implementation decisions for the attention of the company management. These measures are also aimed at continuous and forward-looking improvements in workplace health management as a whole.
A clear plus is, of course, the fact that employees are included in health-related issues which, in turn, has a lasting effect on a healthy and motivating working environment. In addition, this award also offers an important competitive advantage for the recruitment and retention of qualified new employees.
