That was the message to businesses from a summit held in Warrington recently to encourage employers to consider their staffs’ health and wellbeing.

The successful summit was held by Warrington Borough Council and Warrington & Co to launch the town’s ‘Health in Business’ programme.

Council chief executive, Professor Steven Broomhead, welcomed nearly 100 local business and public sector representatives to the event which was held at the Halliwell Jones stadium.

The Health in Business programme aims to encourage companies in Warrington to develop responsible employer policies and practices which consider employee health and wellbeing, with a view to reducing staff sickness levels and increasing productivity, to benefit the local economy.

Cllr Maureen McLaughlin, executive board member for public health and wellbeing, opened the event. She explained the value of the health in business programme and how it will benefit Warrington.

She said afterwards: “This summit is the first of its kind in Warrington and we were really pleased with the response from businesses. The summit was well attended and delegates interacted positively and expressed their support for the programme. We hope this is the start of an ongoing conversation for health and business prosperity in the town.”

A review carried out by Price Waterhouse Cooper found that there is a 100 per cent return on investment from raising health awareness.

Delegates heard from national and local experts including Neil McInroy, chief executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies and Dave Thompson MBE, chief executive of Warrington Disability Partnership.

Workshop sessions offered guidance and support to businesses around workplace wellbeing, tips for productivity and environmental sustainability, and a recruitment offer to support local jobs and nurture local supply chains.

The programme will continue in 2016/17, providing networking opportunities for partners in the town, and peer learning sessions for businesses to support each other. The programme will promote win-wins for businesses, the environment, health of Warrington residents, and support for the smaller businesses and sole traders in the town.

The summit was sponsored by Active Cheshire, LiveWire, Onyx Health, NHS 5 Boroughs Partnership, The PAM Group, RPS and NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group.