Blenheim: The Importance Of Wellbeing For Employees In The Current Climate

The current climate with Covid-19 and Wellbeing

Covid has put heavy pressure on our mental health. Which to most of us is no surprise when we found out about lock down! The ONS reports that one in five adults have experienced some form of depression since COVID-appeared. And 84 per cent of adults admit to feeling stressed or anxious in the current climate.

• Remote working
• Mounting job fears
• home schooling pressures
• ongoing health concerns
• Its no surprise that people are struggling

So what can and should employers do ?….

To start with…. one of the best things we can do, as employers, is to Provide a working environment where staff are engaged in meaningful, challenging and achievable work activities.

With appreciation and encouragement of a work life balance and we should always Encourage and promote wellbeing to support our colleagues and foster a positive culture .

Although we do LOVE Yoga at Blenheim… Wellbeing is not just about Yoga!

So how start ? We start with Communication

Offer Wellbeing Support

At Blenheim the way we try and Create an environment where employees feel mentally supported – so we offer..

• Mindfulness Mental Health Champions
• Anxiety and Depression Awareness
• Dealing with Stress training for all
• Free Help Line & The Help Hub
• Oxfordshire MIND online courses

Coming back to work…. We have to consider that some people have been on furlough for a while so.

• Back to work Induction
• World at Blenheim has changed info
• Safety Induction
• Employee Wellbeing Survey
• Employee Hub

The other ting we do is We train our managers…

HR provide HR and management inductions for all people managers and we offer quarterly training, including recruitment training, grievance, effective people management and mental health first aid.

We ‘up-skill’ our people manager HR skills by providing HR workshops, drop in sessions and regular updated policies and practices on SharePoint, keeping up to date with employment law changes – this all helps our managers to support employees and feel confident managing.

We have also recently introduced our management development programme run by the Oxford Group.

We also train all of our people…

We will align individual performance objectives in annual PPD’s (personal performance discussions) and take care to understand individuals’ future career aspirations so we can plan how to deliver the full potential of our people.

We supports managers in identifying talent for promotion and development, as well as proactively designing career paths and helping employees diversify their knowledge and careers, we all have Personal Development Plans. This in itself promotes wellbeing in that it helps people reach their own potential.

Home Working

• Home working to be a part of culture
• Trust and Empower
• Ensure people have the right equipment and IT software
• Ensure they complete DBS
• Keep in Touch Teams
• Look out for those with less favourable working conditions
• Set Boundaries – out of office and Teams status
• Keep being social – Quiz’s online

Doing our bit

We recognise that Blenheim plays a key influencing role in Oxfordshire and we will drive positive ideas and promote Wellbeing in the workplace.