Mental Health - supporting colleague wellbeing

Colleague wellness is of the utmost importance to us, not only as a health, safety and wellbeing team, but as an organisation. We know that when colleagues feel safe and well and supported, their experience in the workplace will be a more positive one, so we strive to ensure that all our colleagues feel that way. However, we also know that mental ill health is on the rise due to the current climate, so we are committed to increasing and improving our services to tackle it from a workplace perspective.

Responding to a mental health crisis

Research and public conversation tell us that we are in the grip of a mental health crisis. With this knowledge, it is therefore imperative that we act proactively and put support in place for our colleagues. In the past twelve months we have introduced many new resources, including the implementation of Mental Health First Aiders, internal campaigns around key dates to raise awareness and signpost to support services, and introducing a wellbeing newsletter.

COVID-19: increasing services

The national crisis we now face has put the onus on upping our focus on maintaining positive wellbeing. Being inside for long periods of time poses its own challenges, so we have focused our resources on providing more mental health support since the government released their directive to stay at home.

We are pleased to have launched a series of podcasts based on wellness themes, as well as digital yoga and fitness classes for free. Our People Development team have also introduced Eight Dimensions of Wellness, a set of accessible tools providing emotional support and tips for agile working. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the action we are taking, but a snapshot of our continued commitment to colleague welfare.

Investing in wellbeing long-term

Mental health support and wellbeing resources will remain a priority for us. We will continue to listen to our colleagues and work closely with other teams to better understand how we can impact our colleagues lives positively so that they come to work knowing there is support available to them.

As we navigate the next few weeks, learning more about the government’s recovery strategy from COVID-19, our support will be reflective, enabling us to respond to the challenges of now.

We know that open and honest conversation – year round, not just during this week – works, so we will continue to operate with that understanding in mind.