The Progeny Wellbeing Index is a round-up of our wellbeing activity over the past 12 months, looking at what we’ve been doing across the company to support our team members to optimise their health and wellbeing at work.
Thrive!
In October 2021, we held our first ever week-long wellbeing festival, Thrive! An idea born from the company’s group of Wellbeing Champions and aimed at supporting team members’ physical, mental, social, emotional and financial wellbeing, the week offered a range of both face-to-face and virtual activities, sessions and resources.
Our Leeds head office hosted on-site activities including therapy dog sessions, a smoothie bike distance challenge and acupressure massages. Virtual sessions included a sleep workshop with a GP, desk yoga and ‘lunch and learn’ with a nutritionist, as well as various fitness classes.
Feedback gathered following the festival showed 85% said it had positively impacted their wellbeing and 98% would like to see a similar event hosted again at Progeny.
Menopause sessions, support and policy
A recent survey published on World Menopause Day by Benenden Health revealed the shocking statistic that almost a quarter of women are leaving their jobs because of the menopause. Making our workplace a menopause-friendly environment is therefore one of our top priorities and we have started our journey here by launching our Menopause Support Policy. This aims to recognise the impact of the menopause at work and outline the support available to team members, working towards our commitment to normalise these discussions.
We also held awareness raising sessions on the menopause with Talking Menopause and Concilio Health, helping to educate our team members on the huge range of symptoms, examples of reasonable adjustments, the external support services available and the importance of recognising the menopause as a long-term health condition.
Progeny Revive!
A full day dedicated to integrating new starters into the business and educating them on all things Progeny, Progeny Revive was recently introduced as part of our reinvigorated induction and onboarding programme. During the day, we spotlight mental health and hold related activities to bust some of the myths that still exist around this important topic.
Wellbeing day
In recognition of the challenges the pandemic has created, all team members were awarded a paid wellbeing day this year to encourage time spent focusing on themselves. We asked people to share with us how they spent their wellbeing days and some examples included having a spa day with a friend, exercising, and taking some much-needed rest and relaxation time!
Mindful Employer and We are Wellbeing
As part of our commitment to better mental health at work, earlier in the year we signed the Mindful Employer Charter; a set of voluntary aspirations for employers who are positive about mental health. We fully embrace the Charter’s six values, which include providing non-judgemental and proactive support to staff experiencing mental ill health and supporting line managers in managing mental health in the workplace. We’re proud to have taken another step on our journey to becoming a mindful employer.
We also partnered with We are Wellbeing to provide a greater range of resources to our team members, including a wellbeing insights video series on topics including resilience, mindfulness, financial wellbeing and posture care.
As well as being the right thing to do from a moral perspective, taking care of our team’s mental health makes great sense from a business perspective. According to 2020 research from Deloitte, for every £1 spent by employers on mental health interventions they get £5 back in reduced absence, presenteeism and staff turnover.
Time to Talk
Time to Talk day in February provided the perfect opportunity to bring people together at a time when this wasn’t possible physically. By encouraging everyone to take a quick half an hour in their day to chat virtually to some of their colleagues from across our various locations, we helped support both mental and social wellbeing, as well as building stronger working relationships across the team.
International Week of Happiness at Work
Our Wellbeing Champions took to LinkedIn to post about the work-related activity that had boosted their emotional wellbeing. From meeting up with clients and colleagues, to enjoying the beauty in nature, or grabbing a smoothie over lunch, we used the power of social media to encourage everyone to take a moment to recognise how easily happiness can be found in the everyday things that we do.
Chief People Officer, Sam Moxham, comments:
I’m immensely proud of all the work we’ve done to support health and wellbeing this year. We often say that Progeny is built on its people and by putting them front and centre, we ensure that we have a strong foundation from which our business can continue to grow and thrive, as well as to attract and retain the best talent in an increasingly competitive employment market.
There is an increasing recognition that employers need to look after the whole person and I’m passionate about Progeny being recognised as an employer of choice from both a professional and wellbeing perspective.”
