"Why staying connected is more important now than
ever"
When I started building Redspire's Mental Health and
Wellbeing Roadmap, I had no idea that a global pandemic would soon
be changing the way we all work.
Employee wellbeing has always been super important to us.
Straddling technology and Financial Services, we're mindful that
our teams operate in high pressure environments on
detail-orientated projects. It can be an intense process bringing
these large transformation projects to life, at times away from
home. Peer support and mental health protection was, and still is,
vital.
Staying connected during flexible working
patterns
We tentatively launched flexible Work from Home policies in
2019, with the overarching goal of 'staying connected.' With
hindsight, we took that leap to flexible working just at the right
time to embed best practice. It helped us launch our business
continuity and switch to a fully remote working plan, in response
to Covid-19.
Whilst we got slightly ahead of the curve, it's important to
acknowledge that working from home during the crisis has
still been challenging. Whilst we're enjoying more family
time, reduced commute and staying safe from the virus, maintaining
mentally healthy habits whilst working from home feels like
something we need to work hard at, daily. It's easy to fall into
habits that blur the lines of work and home. Answering emails over
dinner, working alone and not taking breaks.
With that in mind, staying connected has become even
more important. This takes many forms. Staying connected with each
other during our working day. Making time for virtual coffee breaks
and collaboration. Staying connected socially and checking in on
each other. We've introduced hobbies groups, a buddy system and
larger group hubs. Managers are embedding new ways to stay
connected to their teams each week, making sure positive working
relationships can continue.
Mindfulness and Mental Health First
Aid
Just as importantly, we're encouraging our teams to stay
connected to their own thoughts and feelings, as well as ensuring
they prioritise their downtime to stay connected to friends and
family. The former we're helping with, in the shape of mindfulness
in the workplace sessions, with mental health first aid training
and peer accreditations too. We see this as a huge benefit to
individuals but also to our team's ability to look out for one
another too.
A health and wellbeing toolkit
When it comes to health and wellbeing, we're conscious that
one size doesn't fit all. We've just launched a new support package
that gives our teams a range of support, in the form of
counselling, financial programmes, access to CBT and more for their
friends and family. The programme is constantly updating with
relevant and timely health and wellness webinars, workshops and
other resources on how to prioritise your day for example whilst
working from home.
Microsoft's Insights to support
Microsoft's Wellbeing Insights should also help us get
through what's likely to be a tricky winter. Personal analytics
encourage focus time and quiet time away from the computer. Manager
insights can help managers steer a positive work life balance to
protect their teams from burn out. Productivity tools, the virtual
commute and access to Headspace within Microsoft Teams are all very
welcome too.
Be kind to each other
Let's look out for each other - and ourselves - in the
months ahead and nurture positivity and staying connected wherever
we can. It's the only way through tough times.
Read the extended version of this article on Redspire's
blog.