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SOCIAL: THRIVING AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

22 November 2024

Supporting employee wellbeing, inclusion and diversity

We want all our staff, whether office or site based, to feel supported, empowered and cared for. As such, we have introduced several wellbeing initiatives recently to encourage good mental, physical and financial health amongst our employees.

Wellbeing in focus

At site, ‘quiet rooms’ have been created for staff to use, whether for mental health purposes as a space for quiet reflection or for an individual’s own personal faith. We have also created a staff wellbeing garden at Wissington, with plans to replicate at our other sites.

We support several initiatives throughout the year from mental health awareness week to charity awareness days and offer training for staff to become Mental Health First Aiders. We encourage an open attitude to discussing mental health challenges in the workplace, with the message that ‘it’s okay to not be okay’ spread through the business at all levels, from senior management onwards.

To help support physical health, we have fitness facilities in our factories and encourage walking meetings or lunchtime walks around the local area. Numerous running clubs are also in place, with colleagues supporting each other to reach their fitness goals.

In addition, CPR training is being rolled out firstly at our Newark site, with training sessions planned across our other locations, so that all staff can feel confident and comfortable providing the life-saving intervention if a situation should occur on site or outside of working hours.

We offer financial support and advice through an independent advisor which employees can utilise when needed to help manage their finances more effectively.

We believe encouraging all our employees to prioritise their wellbeing is vital to the future of our workforce. We’re also there to support employees when they’re not feeling great and have support services and employee assistant programmes when more support is required.

An inclusive workforce

Four years ago, we set up an Inclusion and Diversity Group made up of colleagues from across all areas of our business, who support our People Team in achieving our inclusion and diversity vision to create a workplace environment where everyone can thrive within a culture of inclusion, empowerment and respect. The group supports initiatives such as National Inclusion Week and International Women’s Day each year, as well as holding a series of ‘spotlight inclusion’ events on topics such as neurodiversity, menopause, mental health and wellbeing to name but a few.

Alongside this, we have a Menopause Support Group, for colleagues and their friends and family affected by peri-menopausal and menopausal symptoms.

Watch our inclusion and diversity video here which was produced to raise awareness and understanding of some of the barriers individuals face in their day-to-day work.