Tag: Wellbeing

30/06/2020

Furloughed or working – How your employees are feeling and how you can support them

The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant economic impact on UK businesses, with many employees being furloughed – according to Statista, as of 28 June 2020, approximately 9.3 million jobs, from 1.1 million different employers were furloughed in the UK as part of the government’s job retention scheme.

Those who are on furlough have had to adapt to a substantial change in their everyday lives. As a result, their wellbeing is likely to have been affected. As an employer, here’s what you need to know about how they may be feeling, how you can support them during this time and how you should handle your employee’s return to the workplace:

How furloughed employees might be feeling

How your employees are feeling will depend entirely on their personal circumstances. Those with caring responsibilities for children, the elderly or vulnerable people will have welcomed being furloughed, but there are those who will have found these circumstances challenging.

Some employees may feel that they are not valued by their employer and may have concerns about whether they will be made redundant. Other common feelings include a sense of guilt if they are aware that their colleagues are very busy and those who live alone are likely to feel isolated. Many will have experienced anxiety and challenges relating to the following:

Fear of infection
Social isolation
Juggling childcare
Caring for a vulnerable relative
Financial worries
Illness
Bereavement

Continue to support furloughed employees based on their individual circumstances

Be clear and honest, explaining why you are making the decisions you are and what your intentions are for the future. Try to be sympathetic towards the feelings of your employees, which will be entirely different based on the individual.

If you haven’t already, plan your meetings by individual so that you can tailor it based on their situation. Things that you should consider include:

Whether the employee lives alone
Whether the employee has caring responsibilities
If they have underlying health problems
Whether their home circumstances are problematic

For those that live alone, you should be mindful of their mental wellbeing during this time. Some people may be experiencing increased relationship issues, family health problems, domestic violence or financial difficulties. It may be useful to provide details of local support groups, organisations and charities for those who need help.

If you have an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), many include counselling services and advice on family and financial issues and both furloughed and working employees should be encouraged to use this.

Keep encouraging furloughed employees to communicate and to develop

Continue to schedule frequent wellbeing calls with furloughed employees so that they can talk about how they are coping. This should help those who are feeling isolated. If you haven’t already, set up a group call with other furloughed employees where they can share tools and tips amongst one another. Ask about their mental wellbeing and encourage conversations around this.

Ensure that you are frequently revisiting and setting new goals with your employees, including:

Training and development – it’s likely that they may have already gained some new skills whilst on furlough. Are there any additional skills that they would like to learn or develop?

Volunteering – if you haven’t already, suggest that they help local charities and support groups as this can provide great advantages to a person’s mental wellbeing

To make sure that your employees continue to feel part of the larger team, encourage them to keep in regular contact with those who are on furloughed leave. Sending newsletters and employee updates to furloughed employees will also help.

Returning employees to the workplace

It is likely that many of your employees will have continued working and taken part in telephone and video meetings. Despite this, they will still need to adapt to working in an environment with their colleagues, with some taking more time than others through this period of readjustment. Some employees will have concerns about travelling on public transport and ensuring social distancing. They may still be adjusting to the substantial change which we have all encountered and the workplace that they were familiar with and accustomed to may now feel very different.

If you have an EAP at your organisation or access to Occupational Health advisors, ensure that your employees are made aware of the services that they have access to.

When returning employees to the workplace you should implement a re-induction process, encouraging and supporting managers to conduct one-to-one meetings with every employee upon their return. The focus of this should be on health, safety and wellbeing. Open and sensitive conversations should be had with each and every individual to ensure that you provide an effective return to the workplace. This is particularly important for those who have been furloughed. The points for discussion should include:

Any changes to the company’s products, services or procedures
Agreed changes to work duties or tasks
Any changes in supply arrangements
How specific customer enquiries or problems should be dealt with

Although you should not try to change previous terms and conditions, some employees will want to discuss new working arrangements or a phased return to work based on their individual domestic situations as a result of the pandemic.

Ensuring an inclusive culture

It is vital for every employer to ensure that every employee is returning to a caring and supportive environment. Individuals and groups of employees will have been impacted by the pandemic in varying ways, based on their role in the organisation and their own individual circumstances. For example, some people will have been furloughed on 80% or full pay, whilst others will have continued working and may have experienced increased workloads.

There is a possibility that there may be some negativity from some employees given the vast differences in the personal and work experiences of each individual and the challenging nature of the lockdown. Any underlying tensions should be dealt with sensitively and reduced where possible.

Be mindful that employees with health conditions, disabilities or caring responsibilities may not be able to return to ‘normal’ working as quickly. Also, there will be some individuals who may have experienced mental health challenges and will require support in overcoming any difficulties that have an impact on their role.

Communication with your employees is vitally important. Whether it’s good or bad news, keeping employees in the loop regarding plans for the business will allow them to make individual decisions and provide them with some reassurance during uncertain times. Feeling supported and valued by their employer and feeling that their health and safety is a priority to you, is key to their wellbeing.

31/03/2020

The Benefits of a Day Plan [with downloadable template]

In our distracted world, we tend to underestimate the benefits that time planning can bring to our lives. Making the time to write a Day Plan could vastly improve your work-life balance and can transform your stress levels, focus, productivity and overall happiness. Here are the benefits:

Helps you manage your time

Do you often run out of time and not get everything done? This is most likely because you are not planning your time effectively. Many people will go from one task to the next without thinking about what they need to do that day and what their priorities are. Using a Day Plan means that you can schedule each task, event, appointment or meeting, so that you set expectations and don’t run out of time. Setting goals and outcomes will help you to stay focused and hopefully provide you with some additional time to spend with your family or doing something just for you. Don’t just add work commitments to your plan – make sure that you are scheduling time for you and your friends and family too. Spending quality time with your friend, parent/s, partner, child/ren and doing things you enjoy will make a great difference to your overall wellbeing.

Helps to improve your productivity

Many people relate productivity with their work but it’s also as important to be productive at home. This could mean scheduling shopping, cleaning, clearing out and other home projects that you keep putting off. Regardless of what the task is, a Day Plan will keep you on track with individual tasks – you should move through them and on to each more efficiently and effectively.

Helps to reduce stress levels

Are you or have you ever felt overwhelmed because of a hectic schedule? Stress can be caused by too many demands and trying to remember, deal with and process these. As well as these internal influences, external influences also affect our stress levels. A Day Plan will enable you to move from one responsibility to the next without missing something, being late or having to cancel or reschedule. You’ll notice a big difference to your mood when you’ve achieved your big three targets for the day and this will prevent you from being too hard on yourself.

Remember: Use your Day Plan to schedule self-care activities

DOWNLOAD DAY PLAN TEMPLATE HERE

Helps you to stay healthy

Use your Day Plan to keep you physically healthy by keeping track of your diet and exercise. Scheduling regular activities such as a morning workout and fresh air outdoors in an afternoon when you have finished work, will keep your mind and body healthy. This should also contribute to reducing your stress and anxiety levels.

Helps you to free up more time for creativity and growth

Once you have mastered the art of daily planning and you are sticking to your schedule for your ‘must-do’ daily activities, you will start to see that you have more free time to undertake creative activities. This might be a hobby or activity that you enjoy, or why not try something new? Make sure that you are utilising the time to reflect, learn from your experiences and grow.

Helps you to stay on track

As you mark your tasks as complete on your Day Plan, you should acknowledge this as a success. This should boost your mood and give you the drive to complete the next task. Likewise, you are kept on track as you focus on what is important to the business. Your planning will help you to answer the who, what, why, how and when questions about your business or project.

Tip: Don’t just give yourself a large ‘to-do’ list – this will become demoralising and impractical

Planning your time can greatly reduce your stress levels as it provides you with clear direction for achieving your goals. Planning can also help you to prepare for obstacles as it enables you to create a contingency should you encounter any unexpected problems. Planning serves as a way to monitor and evaluate progress as you work – scheduling your daily activities clearly illustrates whether you are achieving your goals.

Download our Day Plan Template – give it a try and see what benefits it brings to your work-life balance.

08/01/2020

You’re attracting employees but are you retaining them?

Why investing in the long-term wellbeing of your employees will bring your company greater success

Familiar with the terms ‘employee wellbeing’, ‘flexible working’ and ‘company culture’? These are widely used phrases, commonly used in job adverts, aimed at attracting prospective employees to a company. On the surface, these perks are appealing and in keeping with modern ways of working, but the question is, do they really add value to the lives of your employees?

Rather than using ‘perks’ as ways of enticing prospective employees, forward-thinking companies are now looking at building long-term plans which support the development, retention and wellbeing of their employees.

Are your employees happy and engaged?

A strong company culture is formed as a result of a healthy and well-balanced workforce. If your employees are performing at their best, this will extend to your team and company. Research demonstrates that employee productivity and wellness come hand-in-hand, with those who feel happy and engaged at work showing higher levels of effort and achievement.

Putting the time and money into your employees’ health and wellness is an indirect investment into your business’ productivity, which is very likely to result in an increase in company performance. Neglecting the health and wellbeing of your employees is likely to result in them leaving the company for roles which offer them better growth and development opportunities. This can be costly as replacing these employees, particularly strong ones, results in time, resources and money being spent recruiting and training new staff members.

How to increase employee engagement and productivity

Investing in the wellbeing of your employees and your company culture doesn’t mean providing a fully stocked kitchen, table football and games console. Obviously, these are great additions to the workplace, but they won’t mean much to your employees if you haven’t also implemented robust cultural support systems.

Investing in your team’s growth and development, both in and outside of the workplace, is likely to substantially increase employee engagement and productivity. Supporting your employees in their growth and providing them with opportunities to extent this, will show them that they are valued and important to you, beyond the obligations of their role.

In order to create an environment focused on progress and development, consider providing your employees with continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for both their job roles and for their lives outside of the workplace. Things that have worked well for successful companies include, for example, providing:

yoga classes – one per week with the objective of destressing and refocusing
online courses, workshops and conferences – with the objective of broadening networks, employees establishing themselves within the industry and becoming known as an ‘expert’
lunch and learn sessions e.g. with a financial consultant or life coach – with the aim of helping people achieve their goals in life

Companies that don’t look to implement the above are likely to experience more challenges and barriers when trying to achieve success and happiness. They will lack the support, guidance and teamwork required to overcome shifts in their environments and to successfully get to the other side.

Those providing their employees with new ways of thinking and behaving are those who are much more likely to proactively and effectively stay one step ahead, deal with changes to their business environment and to thrive.

Continuing learning, growth and development for you and your employees will empower you with the knowledge, ideas and methods to make new achievements, both professionally and personally.

29/10/2019

Four benefits employees would choose over money

Over recent years, the wants and needs of employees have evolved. Findings from Deloitte (Global Talent Trends, 2018), for example, show that organisations don’t prioritise the things that matter the most to millennials, who are the fastest growing segment in the workforce. Many companies focus on profitability, yet the overriding millennial view is that it should be more about people than numbers. Their view is that priority should be to provide a positive social impact in the workplace through:

Job creation
Career progression
Diversity and inclusion

The research also demonstrates that company culture is viewed as the most important consideration for millennials when deciding where they would like to work. An organisation’s mission, vision, values and reputation were rated equally as important when choosing an employer to work for (and also leaving one).

Competitive pay and good benefits do influence an employee’s decision to join and remain at a company, but there are many wants and needs that can be overlooked. From seeing first-hand at Corecom Consulting some of the varied and impressive employee benefits, here are four top employee benefits that we are seeing more and more and which have been the main attraction for prospective employees:

Flexible working

It is apparent that the 9.00am – 5.00pm working day is outdated. 51% of employees say that they seek more flexibility in the workplace. Working parents, for example, scored flexibility in the workplace ahead of pay, with 84% stating that this was their primary priority in a job. Work-life balance came in next at 80%.

For flexibility to work well for both employees and employers, there needs to be a level of trust between them and a culture where this can work efficiently. It involves planning the who, what, when, where and how of work. Employers need to provide the right technology to support remote working, providing the support required for positive flexibility.

Companies who are adopting fixed workplace flexibility arrangements, including reviewing their flexibility policies and addressing the barriers around flexible working are those that are flourishing, with employees being encouraged to take up the flexible benefits on offer. This has reduced workplace stress, boosted mental well-being and encouraged productivity.

Recommended Resource: How Flexible Working can increase Recruitment and Retention (includes Flexible Working Proposal Form for use in your organisation)

Wellness, health and mental wellbeing

Employees need to feel cared for, respected and be able to grow within a company. Activities and initiatives can reassure employees that their wellbeing is at the heart of the business. This can be done through, not just healthy eating and exercise advice, but also through guidance on how to deal with stress and who they can talk to when they need support or advice. Providing physical, psychological and financial support shows employees that their employer really cares about their health and wellbeing.

Need some workplace wellness ideas? Take a look at our Photo Gallery which is full of employee engagement initiatives and activities.

As well as the above, employers should consider offering employees opportunities such as:

Stress relief initiatives
Mental health days
Standing desks
Meditation classes
Exercise/physical activity classes

Perks

Providing perks shows employees that a company prioritises their happiness and enjoyment and that they are invested in them. Common and well received perks that businesses provide to employees include, for example:

healthcare plans
gym memberships
buying extra holiday days schemes
duvet days
day off on your birthday
pizza days

Engaging with your team is recommended to gather some ideas of which perks would add the most value and excitement to their lives. You could, for example, distribute a questionnaire or hold a group brainstorming session in order to gain feedback.

Having a purpose

To ensure employees are happy, stay with and grow with a company long-term, they need to feel like there is a reason behind the work they are doing to give them a purpose. Employers can give employees purpose and ensure that they feel valued through providing:

Rewards
Incentives
Recognition

Letting employees know their work is appreciated and important creates increased morale, motivation and a good culture within the business, which will shine through to clients.

Recommended resource: Five methods to boost employee engagement

Managers can try using Pontefract’s Six C’s of successful leadership:

Connect: regularly engage with people on both an emotional and transformational level
Consider: consider as many options as possible, asking people around you for their input before making a decision
Communicate: when a decision has been made, be proactive in your communication – let people know
Create: make the next step to execute the decision and communicate this with an engaging approach
Confirm: has the decision been implemented? Make sure that you keep people focused and hold them accountable
Congratulate: celebrate and congratulate good work, recognising successes

Every employee will have differing priorities and values which will influence their engagement levels, job fulfilment and loyalty to a company. These obviously won’t be the same for each individual so your engagement approach should consider differing generations, be inclusive and be balanced so that each employee gains value.

02/07/2019

Six stress-busting apps to make you more productive

Most of us are working around the clock, have our mobile phones with us everywhere we go and are taking work calls and answering e-mails out of hours.

Mobile phone apps are a great way to listen to music, play games and order your groceries whilst on the go, but they could also transform your productivity and reduce your stress levels at work too.

Here are six stress-busting apps you should try to make you more productive at work:

Start the day with Wakie

Find it hard to get out of bed in a morning? Then Wakie could be the app for you.

Turn your alarm clock off…because a stranger is going to call you for a quick chat at the time of your choice!

If that’s a bit too strange for your start to the day, why not be the one to wake others? Yes, you can make the calls and help fellow sleepy heads come around more quickly in a morning.

Be more productive with Focus Booster

Have you picked up your cuppa, sifted through your inbox and made a start at planning your day? Make your working life more productive with Focus Booster which will assist you in breaking your work down into 25 minute intervals, followed by breaks, using the Pomodoro Technique and some additional fun features.

Transform your project planning with MindNode

Got a meeting to discuss a project you’re currently working on or some new work? Award-winning MindNode is a mind mapping tool which allows you to formulate a visual of your brainstorming session. All you need to do is to put your project objective or subject in the centre of the spider diagram and the app allows you to add in your thoughts and comments for increased clarity and focus.

Struggling to remember too many passwords?

LastPass is your solution; it securely stores all of your passwords so you don’t have to remember them all. It will even remember those crazy complex high security passwords with its clever encryption technology. Just remember not to forget your LastPass password!

End the day with Headspace

Take care of your psychological wellbeing with Headspace, which is beneficial for stress and anxiety reduction and increasing creativity and focus. The app introduces the practice of mindfulness meditation, including what you need to do and how it will improve your life.

Remembered something as you’re drifting off?

If you’re one for waking in the night with an idea or something you’ve forgotten to do, get Google Keep; a note taking app developed by Google. It allows you to add notes, create lists, set up reminders, upload photos and record audio. You can even write your shopping list which will pop up when you arrive at the supermarket. Share your list with someone – simply tick the item off to let your other half know that you’ve picked it up. This app is great as it syncs across your devices, therefore you’ve always got your important lists and reminders with you.

For further advice and guidance on managing stress and wellbeing in the workplace, take a look at the resources below.

22/05/2019

Leeds Wellbeing Week is fully embraced by Corecom Consulting

This year, as part of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy at Corecom Consulting, employees actively signed up to take part in events and workshops for Leeds Wellbeing Week.

Gemma Robinson, Operations Director at Corecom Consulting, said:

“At Corecom Consulting we are passionate about the health and wellbeing of our team and this year we actively encouraged employees to participate in Leeds wellbeing week. Lucile from MindIt organised some fantastic events, which the team and I thoroughly enjoyed.

“Internally, the team took part in a wellbeing themed sales game where some of the prizes included; massages, facials, graze snack boxes and sports equipment. Some of the team swapped public transport for cycling to work too, a great way to boost productivity levels.”

To kick start the week, Georgie Lynskey and Julie Mombielova attended a workshop on ‘Communicating with Less Conflict’ which involved thought-provoking topics on growth and overcoming limiting beliefs. It provided practical techniques and learnings on how best to deal with stress and enhance confidence.

Employees also enjoyed a healthy Lean Lunch and presentation on Nutrition for Everyday Living by Nutritional Therapist, Lisa Chothia. They were taught to understand the benefits of good nutrition for wellness which can affect gut health and immunity.

Myles Dacres, Recruitment Consultant, said:

“I thought the talk was very beneficial and I took a lot from it, including how to eat better and improve my energy and mood as well as mental performance. I’ll definitely be eating healthier and smarter now, just by adding berries and more colours to my meals, to help balance blood sugar levels and improve concentration at work.”

Additional wellbeing activities organised by Corecom Consulting and undertaken by the team included:

Lunch time Pilates sessions
Health shots
Free fruit
Picnic in the park

Looking for advice on health and wellbeing?

Get hints and tips for how to implement health and wellbeing into your teams in the following guide: Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace.

06/02/2019

Team promote wellbeing with meditation, fitness MOTs and health shots

Corecom Consulting is dedicated to ensuring that its employees’ mental health and physical wellbeing are cared for. In light of this, the team have taken part in a Wellbeing Month during January where they have been shown how to take good care of their bodies and minds.

As part of the initiative, employees experienced a relaxing guided meditation session, hosted by Kevin Whittington – Managing Director at Nooksrest. They were provided with advice and techniques for sleeping better, coping with a busy workplace and methods for day to day relaxation. Kevin said:

“Meditating gives you the opportunity to put things into perspective and to learn skills to deal with stress and anxiety.

“The wellbeing coaching and mentoring provided as part of the Nooksrest session allows employees to think about their mental health and to make changes in their habits before mental ill-health becomes an issue.”

Additional wellbeing activities organised by Corecom Consulting and undertaken by the team included:

Pilates Mondays
Smoothie Fridays
Homemade Ginger & Apple Health Shots
Breakfast omelettes
Sight and hearing health checks
Mini Health MOTs, including body weight, blood pressure and BMI
Physiotherapy sessions
Free team gym sessions during and after office hours
Healthy Tuck Shop, including detox teas, fruit, healthy snack bars and nuts

Regular team goal sharing to increase shared motivation levels
‘Dry January’ (for those who dared)

Gemma Robinson, Director & Head of Operations and Georgie Lynskey, Head of Business Analysis and Senior IT Appointments, attended a wellbeing course together, hosted by reputable recruitment professional, Mike Walmsley and Katie Maycock. Gemma said:

“It was really eye opening to meet with likeminded CEOs, directors and leaders to share and discuss health and wellbeing initiatives. Stress is very common in the workplace, affecting digestion, physical health, mental health, relationships and productivity.

“At Corecom Consulting, we are committed to ensuring that employees take healthy measures to prevent stress and anxiety. We have been running our annual wellbeing month for the last four years and this year we will be delivering our health and wellbeing initiatives throughout the whole year. We firmly believe that a healthy, happy and supported workforce is the key to a successful business.”

In celebration of successfully reaching the end of a very healthy month, the team was rewarded with a nutritious breakfast, whilst sharing their key successes and achievements from the month. Take a look at ‘The Breakfast Hash’ below:

‘The Breakfast Hash’ – Sautéed bacon, poached egg, spinach, chorizo, sweet potato and avocado

Jonathan Sanderson, Managing Director at Corecom Consulting, said:

“The team have all had their own separate goals to achieve; some have dipped their toes in and some have taken the initiative very seriously and done a full detox, strict diet and exercise regime. The team have experienced real benefits whilst doing so; feeling healthier, having more energy, being happier, comradery, clear thinking, increased mental strength, positivity, sleeping better and feeling better overall.”

Health and wellbeing – we recommend…

There are a wealth of health and wellbeing initiatives you can implement into your teams. For hints and tips read the following guide: Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace.

31/01/2019

Are you prioritising mental health and well-being?

Organisations vary considerably in how proactive they are in promoting employee well-being. Health and well-being in the workplace can never stand still – it should constantly evolve. When people are happy and feel good, businesses can thrive. An effective well-being programme can provide mutual benefit to companies, employees, economies and society as a whole.

Did you know?

Two-fifths of employers have a standalone well-being strategy
55% say well-being is on the agenda of senior leaders
Almost half report that line managers are bought into the importance of well-being

Source: www.cipd.co.uk

Health and Well-being at Work Survey 2018 by CIPD

Do you view mental health and wellbeing as important matters?
Are your mental health and wellbeing policies reactive and driven by staff events and experience?
Do you monitor performance indicators such as recruitment, retention and presenteeism (employees choosing to work while they are sick)?
Do you have an evidence base for measuring the return on investment (ROI) from wellbeing strategies?
Have you established best practice?

Watch Wolter Smit, co-founder and CEO of TOPdesk, address the importance of hiring great employees and the importance of what you do once you have found them. He discusses how you can bring company principles such as freedom, trust and responsibility to life, as well as how to ensure that your company is empowering employees and providing a work environment where employees feel cared about.

Here’s what you can do

As an employer, you should ensure you are recognising the following:

Workplace triggers for reduced mental health
Steps for increasing mental health
Steps for increasing wellbeing

To learn what these are and for further advice, take a look at Mental health and wellbeing in the workplace – what to consider and steps for improvement

21/03/2018

We’re losing an hour… but look on the ‘bright’ side

The clocks will be going forward by an hour at 2.00am this Sunday 25 March 2018, meaning that we in effect lose an hour of sleep.

If you’re a parent, young children in particular will need some help in adjusting their schedule. To assist with the transition, you can take steps to gradually get used to the time change, such as:

Going to bed and getting up a bit earlier, starting a few days before the adjustment.
Make a walk in the daylight part of your morning routine. Daylight first thing in a morning can help reset your body’s clock.
Try to avoid caffeine and other stimulants which affect wakefulness after lunchtime.

But the ‘spring forward’ isn’t all doom and gloom – moving an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening means that we’re likely be transposed to more daylight.

Research shows that an increase in daylight:

increases the amount that people sleep on a night
increases productivity
improves creativity and learning
reduces absence due to sickness
improves moods and reduces stress.

Daylight supports the regulation of Vitamin D, serotonin, melatonin and promotes healthy eye development. It promotes human health and potential. Daylight research has proven that exposure to natural light makes a marked difference in the workplace. Take a look:

So if you’re suffering as a result of losing an hour in bed, bear in mind that you’ll soon be more productive, creative and knowledgeable – and less tired, ill, moody and stressed! Look on the ‘bright’ side peeps.

01/03/2018

Going the extra mile for Wellbeing

Corecom Consulting prides itself on its Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Our employees are vital to keeping the wheel of our business turning, so it’s important we ensure our staff feel valued and supported.

This year we are taking Wellbeing a step further, encouraging employees to save lives by taking part in a blood drive. Since January, 60% of our staff generously donated blood, the majority of which were first-time donors.

Josh O’Hanlon, Head of Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence said:

“I’ll definitely be doing it more often. Knowing that you’re helping someone who could one day be in an emergency situation gives me a sense of pride and makes me appreciate the NHS and volunteers even more.”

Jonathan Sanderson, Managing Director was inspired by his grandad whose life was saved thanks to blood donation. Jonathan previously donated blood over 20 times as well as bone marrow. He explained:

“My Grandad lost around 22.5 litres of blood during a severe motoring accident. If it wasn’t for volunteers who donated blood, I wouldn’t have grown up and learnt the positive values and goals which helped me get to where I am today.”

“As a cause close to my heart I am extremely proud of the team who are helping save and improve lives by donating blood.”

Gemma Robinson, Operations Director who launched Corecom Consulting’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy in 2016 commented:

“The activities we promote have boosted the team’s morale, productivity and performance, impacting the business in a positive way.”

Mental Health and Wellbeing activities so far have included:

Fruity Mondays – Free fruit for the office.
Smoothie Fridays – Swapping our usual coffee run for a healthy smoothie instead.
Team goal sharing – Encouraging each other to stay on track and plan for the future.
Fitness lunch – Allowing employees to leave 20 minutes early before lunch to go to the gym or a fitness class.
Physiotherapy – Sessions for employees with any pain or discomforts.
Healthy snack shack – Free green tea and healthy snacks.
Healthy team breakfast at the end of January whilst sharing the success of everyone’s goals.
Desk massages – To relieve tension and stress caused by sitting at a desk.

For further hints and tips download the Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace White Paper.

02/02/2016

January: Wellbeing Success

Staff at Corecom Consulting have had a busy January, embarking on a wellness initiative designed to improve the physical and psychological wellbeing of employees, promoting an active healthy lifestyle whilst increasing productivity and engagement in the workplace.

The initiative was implemented by Gemma Robinson, Operations Manager at Corecom, in a bid to increase the engagement levels of staff throughout the month. Commenting on the success of Corecom’s wellbeing initiative, Gemma said:

“I am extremely pleased with how involved the Corecom team have been with this initiative. It has been very well received and seeing everyone take part in all the activities is a real testament to Corecom’s core values. Providing health services to our staff, including: healthy eating, promoting exercise, mental health awareness, stress release workshops and mindfulness sessions, has had a positive impact on everyone in the office and it shows in their job performance and overall work ethic.

“Working together towards a shared goal has strengthened already existing relationships and encouraged effective team work. Being able to complete the activities together as a team has motivated us all to hit our wellbeing targets. I am delighted with the way I feel as a result of January’s initiative and I look forward to continuing my wellness activities throughout 2016.”

Corecom’s staff completed a number of wellbeing activities including:

A body composition assessment from personal trainers at Speedflex, alongside an induction and a 2 week trial at their gym in Leeds
Weekly fruit baskets delivered to the office and smoothies made in-house on a regular basis
Homemade protein bars offered to all employees and healthy recipes distributed weekly
A physiotherapy session for employees with any pain/discomforts
Temporary gym membership at Virgin Active for each employee
Team games and a health related quiz with healthy treats for the winners
Weekly training on health and wellbeing
A meditation session aimed to reduce stress levels
A mindfulness session to aid goal setting and motivate staff to achieve their goals
Desk yoga
‘Lunch Buddy’ and ‘Chef Buddy’ initiatives to strengthen relationships between employees during the lunch break
‘Power half hour’ whereby employees stand for 30 minutes twice a day to tackle inactivity in the workplace

Wellbeing goals were set at the start of January and the individuals who achieved their targets were treated to a massage at the end of the month. Due to the general consensus of all employees, Corecom has decided to keep providing weekly fruit baskets, meaning that staff are able to enjoy fresh fruit whenever they want throughout the day. Corecom’s wellbeing initiative has been a real success in improving employee engagement and overall wellness during January and is certainly something that will be addressed during the entirety of 2016.

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Tag: Wellbeing

Furloughed or working – How your employees are feeling and how you can support them

How furloughed employees might be feeling

Continue to support furloughed employees based on their individual circumstances

Keep encouraging furloughed employees to communicate and to develop

Returning employees to the workplace

Ensuring an inclusive culture

The Benefits of a Day Plan [with downloadable template]

You’re attracting employees but are you retaining them?

Four benefits employees would choose over money

Six stress-busting apps to make you more productive

Leeds Wellbeing Week is fully embraced by Corecom Consulting

Team promote wellbeing with meditation, fitness MOTs and health shots

Are you prioritising mental health and well-being?

We’re losing an hour… but look on the ‘bright’ side

January: Wellbeing Success

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Tag: Wellbeing

How furloughed employees might be feeling

Continue to support furloughed employees based on their individual circumstances

Keep encouraging furloughed employees to communicate and to develop

Returning employees to the workplace

Ensuring an inclusive culture

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