Wellbeing at Behaviour Change

A good work/life balance has always been key to how we work, but with a growing team, it is ever more important, and is why I was asked to take on the role of Wellbeing Lead a couple of years ago. As part of my role, I was keen to ensure that we continued to foster a culture where we can be open and honest about our wellbeing and mental health. So with the support of our founders, David and Rob, I have embedded some things we were already doing and implemented some new things, all with an eye to supporting one another and allowing us to be open and vulnerable as we navigate our lives both inside and outside of work.

5 things we do to support our team’s wellbeing:

Team lunches

The pandemic taught us there can be pros and cons to purely office or home-based working systems and that flexibility is helpful. As such we work in a hybrid manner with a mix of office and home days, but once a week we have an everyone in the office day. These “everyone in” days ensure we get important face-to-face time, but we also use them to grab food and take a lunch break together. With our office in the centre of Soho there is no shortage of eateries to choose from and then we come back to the office and sit at our sofa area and eat while putting the world to rights.

Wellbeing coffees

When I took on the role of wellbeing lead I wanted to make sure there was time set aside with everyone in the team to have an informal catch-up. So once a month I grab coffee (sometimes in person, sometimes virtually) with each team member and we chat about whatever is on our minds. From workload to how to deal with difficult clients (those conversations are few and far between), or unrelated to work such as parenting and the joys of home ownership, the sessions are an opportunity to prompt an open conversation and identify ways we might be able to support one another. Often just a listening ear is all that is needed, but sometimes we go away and put together a plan on how to deal with whatever has been discussed. In the summer when the weather is good the wellbeing coffees are replaced with Gelato and a stroll.

Monthly team drinks

Our previously mentioned “everyone in” days are also used as the day we have monthly drinks together. We head out to one of the local Soho establishments, or we stay in the office and bring the drinks in. Once a quarter we also hold a “BeSci learning” session with drinks where someone in the team will present a new piece of research, a new behavioural science concept, or anything interesting/innovative they have seen in the world of behavioural science, and we then have drinks and discuss — a Drink and Learn as opposed to a Lunch and Learn!

Le Grand Weekend

Introduced a couple of years ago,the Le Grand Weekend allows everyone to extend 2 weekends a year by half a day (so finish at lunch on a Friday or start at lunch on a Monday) which can be great if you have plans for the weekend, or if you just need a little bit of an extra rest. These are in addition to standard annual leave (which we encourage everyone to take to relax and recharge). There’s also an additional day off to celebrate your birthday (because let’s be honest, who wants to work on their birthday). We also recognise big life events can be stressful too, so we give an extra day’s leave when you move house or get married.

Employee assistance programme

We also have access to employee assistance programme. The programme is confidential and is designed to help you deal with personal and professional problems that could be affecting your home life or work life, health or general wellbeing. I have used the programme myself, and so know how reassuring it can be to have a professional at the end of the line to talk to when you need.
 

By implementing these opportunities to connect and giving people time to live and deal with life outside of work, we are finding the team are more comfortable with being open and honest about the challenges they may be facing. While it is working for us, we’re always looking for ways we can help to enhance our approach to wellbeing. What do you do in your company to support your team’s wellbeing? What works well? What doesn’t work so well?

Do you think employers should put more energy into creating supportive cultures? We would love to hear your thoughts.