In 2019/2020 there were 828,000 workers suffering from work related stress, depression or anxiety and in 17.9 million working days were lost as a result of this. With this in mind, as a company we created a ‘Wellbeing Team’ to provide support to any staff that feel they are experiencing stress, depression or anxiety in the workplace, and to do our best to combat this.
Over the past two years, some of the things IFP’s Wellbeing Team have done, include:
- Lunchtime Walks
NHS advice for reducing stress is to be more active, in order to burn off nervous energy and make feelings of stress become less intense. Therefore, we have been going on walks on a dinner to get staff away from their desks, out of the office and be more active. - Wellbeing Playlist
Music can be a big mood enhancer for some people, so once a month, every staff member suggests a song based around a theme and we create a playlist from this, for anyone to listen to when they need a boost. - Valentine’s Day Tasks
We created a mini task for each staff member to ‘spread the love’ such as giving a compliment or making a team member a cup of tea, to spread some cheer around the office.
- 25 Days of Kindness
In the build up to Christmas, we had 25 days of activities to get involved with in such as telling your best joke to someone and decorating your desk for Christmas. - Zoom Games Night & Quiz Nights
Throughout Lockdown, we hosted several events via Zoom to bring staff together even when isolating and combat any feelings of loneliness.
With lockdown and restrictions easing, we now have more staff back in the office, and the wellbeing team has been able to implement face to face ways to reduce stress, anxiety and depression. These include:
- ‘Treat Tuesdays’
It is a well-known fact in our office, that Tuesday is the new Monday. Therefore, we decided to brighten the day by having pizza and music in the staff room at dinner time once a month to make Tuesday the new Friday instead! - ‘Healthy Eating Thursdays’
Another tip to help deal with stress is to have a balanced and healthy diet to help your body manage the physiological changes caused by stress. To help with this, we are encouraging healthy eating by providing the ingredients and recipes for a healthy lunchtime meal once a month. - Games Night
Now that we can all spend time together again, we are turning our Zoom games night into a face-to-face games night in the office! This means that staff can spend time together, without it all being about work, and have a chance to relax a bit more. - Mental Health First Aid Kit
2 Staff members recently completed their Mental Health First Aid Course, and from this, they have decided to create a mental health first aid kit. This includes posters and flyers from local and national charities that aim to help with mental health, as well as useful contacts and tips to help you manage stress yourself.
For other ways to manage your wellbeing, check out our article by Client Services Executive, Anita Gardham, by clicking here.
By Lauren Thompson, Technical Administrator
Source: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress.pdf
