Wellbeing at work: how we’re protecting our staff

Why is health and wellbeing in the workplace important?

We can all agree that 2020 was unprecedented and as a result, we’ve all had to adapt to new ways of working. As we worked from home, in quarantine, in isolation away from our friends, family, and loved ones, it was time to encourage our employees to take some time for themselves, their families, or even their favorite worthy cause or charity. The CIPD report on health and wellbeing in the workplace in 2020 found that presenteeism – working while unwell or while on personal leave – was on the rise. With all our employees adapting to working from home for the last year due to lockdown, we wanted to do our part to support our employees and ensure this wasn’t putting additional pressure on our teams during these unchartered times. As an organization that employs over 330 people across Europe, Australasia, and the Americas, it’s our responsibility to educate and empower our staff to talk openly and honestly about stress and mental health in the workplace. That’s the only way we’re going to affect the cultural change that will help improve people’s lives.

What we’re doing to improve health and wellbeing in our workforce

Before, during, and long after this pandemic, dotdigital is well aware of the role it plays in looking after the health and wellbeing of its staff.

Wellbeing days

We love to encourage our staff to volunteer and support causes close to their hearts. But we also recognize that restrictions during times of lockdown, this has not always been possible. As a result, employees can now use those volunteering days and instead focus on themselves and their families as ‘Wellbeing days’. The purpose of these days is simple: to afford our people the time to support the family, friends, and worthy causes close to their hearts.

Mental health and wellbeing hub

As part of our mission to educate and empower our staff, we have an internal hub of resources around mental health and wellbeing. Here, our people have essential information at their fingertips, such as charities and organizations which can help during times of crisis and uncertainty. This is also where we host a variety of guides to help managers and colleagues identify the signs of stress, and how to manage stress in others.

Mental health awareness training

Working closely with the talented and experienced team at “Mental Health at Work” this month we delivered workshops to every Manager and Team Lead. These educational and incredibly useful sessions will help us support all of our employees and colleagues. Our Leadership Team of Directors also attending these workshops was a key element of this commitment, ensuring at every level of management is educated and support and understands what is mental health.

Community and clubs

Even during these times of separation, our staff are able to get together – in real life or virtually depending on local restrictions – and do the things they love with like-minded people.  We’ve seen common interest groups creating engaging and entertaining communications and sharing in interests such as; Gardening, Wine, Books and Films. Clubs like yoga and running encourage the physical as well as mental health of our staff, while our dotcommunity and dotLGBT are there to support each other all year round.

Stress awareness month 2021

We want to encourage others – organizations and people – to actively talk about stress and mental health. The more we talk openly and honestly about mental health, the more likely we are to affect real change. At dotdigital, we believe that as an international organization, we have a role to play in helping our people to live their lives to the fullest. If we can start conversations that instigate cultural change and remove any stigma attached to stress and mental health, we will. We hope that seeing what we’re doing empowers you to start the important conversations that need to be had.