Employee Wellbeing with The Skills Network
Details: Written by Kate Hutchinson
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Here at The Skills Network, people are our superpower!
Next up in our ever popular ‘Introducing…’ series is Nicole Patterson. Nicole is instrumental in championing employee health and wellbeing within the business. Now in its fifth year, World Wellbeing Week is all about embracing wellbeing as a personal and professional priority. It’s an opportunity to look inward and check in with yourself. Have you been taking care of your mental and physical self lately? These are the kind of conversations we should be having with ourselves and with each other, not only during World Wellbeing Week but every day.
Take it away Nicole…..
My role as HR Business Partner....
I’ve been with TSN for about 15 months now. As an HR Business Partner, a large part of my role is helping to deliver the HR strategy and working alongside managers to provide advice and guidance on various aspects of the employee life cycle. No day is ever the same for me, and although there are many challenging aspects that come with working in HR, overall it’s a rewarding role. I enjoy the variety it brings, and I am constantly learning on the job and gaining new skills and knowledge.
World Wellbeing Week and our Initiatives at The Skills Network
This week we are celebrating World Wellbeing Week, a week all about promoting and raising awareness of the importance of wellbeing in our lives.
This is a week for us to reflect on our own wellbeing, to understand what wellbeing means to us and to take stock of our own current state of wellbeing. When we do this, we can identify areas where we might need to focus on.
Wellbeing is such a personal thing so it’s about identifying what works for you as an individual. There are so many resources online to help identify ways to improve your own wellbeing.
I like the five factors outlined by the NHS that play a key role in having a positive impact on our wellbeing:
- Connect with other people
- Be physically active
- Learn new skills
- Give to others and practice kindness
- Practice mindfulness
Another part of my role at The Skills Network involves helping to develop our wellbeing agenda. As part of this, we have created the Wellbeing & Inclusion Group.
We are an informal and small but very dedicated group of colleagues who are passionate about improving wellbeing, both on an individual level and in the workplace. Participation is voluntary and mainly worked around day-to-day jobs, so I can’t explain how much I appreciate the time that colleagues give to the group and delivering our campaigns.
The reason the group was formed was to try and create a sense of ownership over wellbeing across the wider business. Ideally, we would have representatives from as many areas across the business as possible to become actively involved in promoting wellbeing at The Skills Network and in their respective areas.
Our mission is…….
- To help improve wellbeing in the workplace
- To promote opportunities and create awareness of important wellbeing topics
- Organise fun initiatives and events
- Signpost to resources and encourage managers to promote wellbeing in their teams
We try to run a mixture of awareness campaigns that appeal to a wide audience. Some of our campaigns are more information and resource-based, whereas others are more interactive and engaging.
Most recently, we ran a Step Challenge which was really well received. As a collective we walked over 7,778,762 steps in a two-week period and colleagues who participated said it motivated them to get out and move more, which is such a huge benefit to our mental and physical health!
Our hope is to grow not only in numbers but to become more established as a formal group as we work towards enhancing our wellbeing strategy at The Skills Network. We welcome newcomers anytime, so all colleagues need to do is reach out to the Wellbeing & Inclusion email- wellbeing&inclusion@theskillsnetwork.com.
What Wellbeing at Work means to me
We spend so much of our lives at work and with the many stressors we face today, it’s more vital than ever that we protect ourselves and ensure we are adopting self-care practices that we know will help improve our wellbeing.
It’s important to me that we are providing colleagues with support and resources that will empower them to take their wellbeing into their own hands.
·We have a number of policies and procedures that support staff wellbeing such as flexible working, company leave, health and safety, amongst others.
Our wellbeing page on the Company Intranet is a dedicated place where staff can access resources to support their wellbeing and we are always adding new content.
A lot of our content comes from charities, such as Mind or Mental Health At Work who have amazing resources available to access for free.
Alongside this, we offer an Employee Assistance Programme with access to 24/7 counselling support, online workshops, reading material, podcasts and more. Most recently, we have introduced Able Futures programme which is delivered through Access to Work Scheme.
I learned about this programme through one of my previous roles and saw how beneficial the service was to colleagues. The programme offers 9 months of 121 support with a dedicated mental health professional.
Rather than a counselling approach, it is designed to provide practical solutions for dealing with issues that are impacting individuals at work. Ultimately, it’s about empowering individuals to be able to cope through difficult times.
We will continue to work hard at enhancing our wellbeing offering to colleagues at TSN.
Wellbeing is not a one size fits all and I want to ensure that we are building up our toolkit of resources so that colleagues feel supported no matter what they might need.
Big thanks to Nicole, keep being awesome!
The Skills Network offer a range of CPDs, short courses and accredited qualifications that can help you or your business improve its own health and wellbeing strategy.
Better yet, some of our courses are funded by the Adult Education Budget , meaning you or your employees can study at no cost (that means free!)
Some courses include: