Manchester’s NHS Foundation Trust launches gamification staff behaviour change scheme

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) has become the first NHS Trust to sign up to the JUMP employee engagement initiative, in a bid to encourage its 20,000+ employees to develop habits which improve the organisation's environmental impact while also boosting their own wellbeing.


Manchester’s NHS Foundation Trust launches gamification staff behaviour change scheme

The scheme will be rolled out to all staff across the Trust's nine hospitals

Run by sustainable programmes supplier Green Rewards, the JUMP scheme encourages staff members to engage in a range of “positive behaviours” such as saving energy, commuting using low-carbon transport options and reducing their waste outputs.

The encouragement is given through an online platform and smartphone app, which enable users to track their activity and earn “Green Points” for each positive action taken. The actions and behaviours are divided across the pillars of carbon, resources, travel, food and drink, community volunteering and health and wellbeing.

MFT will use the “Green Points” tracking system provided by JUMP to award employees who perform the most “green” actions with a high street or local cinema gift voucher on a monthly basis. Staff will also be ranked against each other on a department basis, with winning departments set to receive donations to an MFT charity of their choice later this year. In total, the Trust has pledged to make £1,000 worth of donations within its first year of running JUMP.

“Green Rewards brings together sustainability and wellness in a fun, competitive way that we feel is really going to capture the imagination of our employees,” MFT’s head of environmental sustainability Claire Igoe said.

“We’re rewarding people for taking a whole range of actions that will help us reduce our environmental impact, and, as one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK, we’re hoping to lead the way in delivering sustainable healthcare.”

JUMP in

MFT joins the likes of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and dozens of higher education institutions across the UK in rolling out the JUMP scheme.

Last year, Green Rewards revealed to edie that a record 216,348 positive actions were recorded at universities in the last academic year as part of the programme.

Actions aimed at reducing plastic waste were the most popular under the scheme, with 82,540 positive actions taken collectively. For example, the University of Strathclyde diverted 2,939 disposable coffee cups from entering landfill by using reusable alternatives – the equivalent of 30kg of waste – during a five-month trial of the scheme.

The scheme has also seen Bournemouth University achieve a 99-tonne reduction in its Scope 3 emissions, after staff travelled 240,000 miles to and from campus sustainably during 2018. The University’s sustainability manager Neil Smith recently told edie that the JUMP model, which provides frequent rewards and the consistent opportunity to get involved in a competitive game with colleagues, has proven far more effective than schemes which solely provide information or punish “negative” behaviours alone.


Solve the behaviour change challenge at edie Live 

Readers keen to find out more about how behaviour change can be used to spur their organisation’s sustainability progress are encouraged to register to attend edie Live, which is taking place on 21 and 22 May at the NEC in Birmingham. Over the course of the show, which is edie’s biggest of the year and a highlight in the calendar for sustainability, energy and environment professionals, expert speakers will take part in the following sessions on stakeholder engagement… 

The sessions are just some of many taking place across four theatres during the two-day show. Under the theme of “turning ambition into ACTION”, we will be bringing attendees the inspiration and solutions needed to achieve a low-carbon, resource efficient and profitable future for their organisation.

Register for your free edie Live 2019 pass here.


Sarah George

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