At JN Bentley we are committed to creating a fun workplace, where people have a voice, feel safe, reach their potential, prosper and where rewards are shared. We know that when we care about our people and they care about each other, they are happy.
Wellbeing has been a major focus for the business – like many others – over the past 12 months. Throughout 2021 we have placed added focus on mental health, sharing resources with colleagues and promoting the types of support available both internally through things like our Employee Assistance Programme and outside the business too.
Building a wellbeing network
Having a network of support can have a huge impact on people’s mental health. As part of our wellbeing approach in 2021, we have grown our cohort of Wellbeing Champions – both on site and in our offices – and developed a library of resources and support materials for colleagues and line managers, accessible through our intranet. These include a series of Wellbeing Toolbox Talks that have been rolled out to site teams.
Colleagues share their stories
We supported various national wellbeing campaigns throughout the year, including Stress Awareness Month, Mental Health Awareness Week and Movember. As part of these campaigns, colleagues shared their personal stories, telling of their experiences around mental health challenges, including anxiety and depression, managing grief and how to cope and thoughts of suicide. We also shared employee stories of physical illness including cancer, personal injuries and long standing illness such as diabetes and the impact that these have had on their overall wellbeing.
Images (above): Colleagues support Movember campaign
We’re really grateful to those colleagues who shared their stories – these have helped to encourage open conversations around mental health and wellbeing across the business and we hope will give more people the confidence to speak up and reach out for support.
Mental Health First Aiders
During 2021, we trained Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs) across the business and launched an internal MHFA crisis line, a positive addition to our existing wellbeing benefits package. Available to all employees 24/7, the confidential crisis line allows colleagues to access immediate mental health support either through our trained MHFAs or counselling services available through our Employee Assistance Programme.
Supporting charities and fundraising
The lingering Covid-19 restrictions didn’t stop our colleagues from fundraising to support some great causes throughout the year. With plenty of bake sales, coffee mornings, team events, quizzes and challenges organised, our teams raised over £24,000 for charities including The Samaritans and Movember. Our Company Matching scheme also supported employee efforts, contributing over £3,300 to charitable causes.
Images (above): Colleagues taking part in fundraising activities – from charity football matches to muddy 5km runs and marathons.
Company-wide activities also brought our teams together during the year. This included a competitive walking challenge – part of our national walking month campaign – which saw teams walk over 33,000 miles.
These events not only allowed us to support some great causes but helped to bring teams back together for some well spirited collaborative competition after a challenging 18 months. Thank you to all those that took part!
Looking to 2022
We’re really proud of the resilience and positivity our colleagues have shown over the last 12 months and are grateful to those that have shared their personal stories in support of our wellbeing campaigns throughout 2021.
Looking to 2022, we will continue to build on our health and wellbeing programme, with a focus on mental health and aiming to further reduce the stigma, encourage positive wellbeing conversations and make sure we are providing the right support for our colleagues.
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