A New Year The health and wellbeing of our employees has always been a priority, and now more than ever it is essential for us to further provide help, support, education and signposting for employees to enable them to adopt a healthier lifestyle, in terms of their mental, physical and financial wellbeing. Our Health and Wellbeing statement We are committed not only to improving performance in health and wellbeing but we are also committed to health promotion by encouraging the adoption of healthier lifestyles for our people. This commitment is underpinned by the philosophy of self-help and individual responsibility within a corporate framework, promoting and supporting good practice to comply with legislation, addressing key workplace risks to health and encouraging a healthy lifestyle culture. Health and wellbeing strategy activity Following the launch of our health and wellbeing strategy in 2017, we continue to review our offering to employees and have made changes in response to COVID-19 to ensure our activities focus on the current and emerging health and wellbeing concerns around mental, physical and financial wellbeing. In addition we continued to gather feedback from our employees to inform and shape the health and wellbeing activity and as such last year rolled out the following: Trained an initial group of in-house accredited Mental Health First Aiders within HR / SHE teams. Established site and office Health and Wellbeing Hubs. Working From Home Guide produced. Launched ‘Managing our own stress and mental health’ webinar provided by Willis Towers Watson helping employees to recognise and manage their own stress and anxiety. Refreshed the Health & Wellbeing page on Our Place to enable us to navigate employees to this as one location for all information. Regular Health and wellbeing flyers communicating support to all employees. Signed up to the Building Mental Health Charter: a voluntary initiative to help organisations in the construction sector demonstrate their commitment to raising awareness of mental health issues, promoting understanding, lowering stigma and supporting their employees. Issued the ‘Together we are stronger’ Health and Wellbeing Support Guide to all employees. 2021: Thinking about the year ahead This year we intend to focus on the below in progress and planned activity: Complete roll out of Mates in Mind ‘Manage the conversation’ training for Line Managers via virtual training. Establish supported network of in-house accredited Mental Health First Aiders across operations (phase 2). Enabling Flexible/Agile Working and Home Working to reflect the changing times and ways of working as well as employee feedback. Launch virtual 2021 Health and Wellbeing Calendar on Our Place (posters/H&WB awareness scribble pad for sites). Continue to proactively refer to employee feedback from employee surveys, Engagement Survey, Workforce Forum and health and wellbeing section of PDR to shape activity and support. Offer support for cancer carers via Macmillan Cancer Care. Sign up to Dying to Work Charter: setting out an agreed way in which our terminally ill employees will be supported, protected and guided throughout their employment, following a terminal diagnosis.
Together we stay stronger
Each month we will be promoting a variety of initiatives, awareness days and benefits which can support these monthly topics and themes. You can access all of this information and much more via the health and wellbeing page on Our Place.
In addition, you can look for further information through our monthly Employee Communication emails and on your local site Health and Wellbeing hubs. We will provide information, guidance, support and learning to promote and support positive mental, physical and financial health and wellbeing through activity such as the 2021 Health & Wellbeing Awareness Calendar / Communications and a variety of internal and externally run Health & Wellbeing related webinars. January health and wellbeing webinars and workshops We have joined with our Health & Wellbeing partner Vitality to offer a range of workshops and webinars to help support positive physical and mental wellbeing. Register for you chosen sessions by clicking on the dates below:
Win a £50 Amazon Voucher
Attend 3 or more of the Vitality workshops from 20 January to 30 April and you will be entered into a prize draw to win one of 4 x £50 Amazon vouchers. Join the Vitality Workshops introduction live teams meeting on Wednesday 13 January – 10.30am Join Vitality expert Jane Dyer for a 30 minute virtual presentation on the wellness events coming soon and your chance to win Amazon vouchers. This is a 30 minute live presentation including a Q&A session. Vitality Boost energy webinar: Wednesday 20 January – 14.30pm There are strategies you can learn to boost your mental and physical energy levels throughout your work week. In this refreshing workshop, you will see some practical insights to take you from worn out to vibrant. Vitality Healthy home working webinar: Tuesday 26 January – 10.30am Regardless of your current fitness level, age, gender or past experiences, we are determined to provide you with the knowledge and expertise to improve your physical health and lead a more balanced and sustainable lifestyle. This workshop will show you how to get maximum benefit from your exercise, all in the comfort of your own home. Vitality Posture Principles webinar: Wednesday 10 February – 10.00am Vitality Food for the mind webinar: Tuesday 9 March – 10.30am Vitality What the body needs webinar: Thursday 11 March – 11.30am Vitality Greatest HIITS workouts: Tuesday 20 April – 12.30 Also look out for registration details for: NEW Willis Towers Watson Thinking strategies workshop: February Willis Towers Watson Manage your own mental health and stress workshop: February, March & April NEW Introduction to meditation workshop: March NEW Chair Yoga: April In addition, remember our Learning and Development Team also run a wide range of weekly webinars. Visit MyLearning to book your place or look out for the weekly communication from your HRC. For information, tools and links on many areas of health and wellbeing please click here to visit our My Barratt Benefits website
Vitality January wellbeing calendar During January our health and wellbeing partner Vitality Health will also be running a series of sessions:
MINDFUL MONDAY: Mindfulness practices can help us increase our ability to regulate emotions, as well as decrease stress, anxiety and depression. HIIT: Join one of our Vitality Coaches and qualified personal trainers for a 30 minute blast of high intensity exercise interspersed with low intensity recovery periods. HEALTH @ WELLBEING @ HOME: Register and submit your questions regarding mental health and wellbeing, nutrition and diet or physical activity and exercise and our amazing coaches will be delighted to answer them for you. There are so many conflicting ideas around all of these topics, so let our coaches guide you through all the information. Friday 22 January: The BIG Interview: Gregor Townsend, Scotland Rugby Head Coach joins the panel to discuss achieving goals as a team. PINK STANLEY: Our Vitality Coaches will be joined by special guests for a range of fun, interactive and educational sessions for kids aged between 8 and 13 years old. Kids will be encouraged to participate in energising exercise, listen to fascinating stories, be taught about cooking and nutrition and learn about feelings and emotions through our emoji of the day feature. Click here to view the full calendar of events and to register for your preferred session. Financial wellbeing Retirement planning In 2020, we launched our partnership with Close Brothers, who offer financial support for both our retirees and those employees who may be starting to think about their retirement. We are planning further dates in 2021 to provide this valuable support to employees via live financial wellbeing webinars. The feedback we received from our employees was fantastic, below are some of the comments received: “Excellent presentation, difficult to improve on the content.” “No comment on how to improve, really useful and informative.” “Extremely comprehensive presentation, lots of food for thought and some helpful pointers. Many thanks.” The live webinars are between 1 to 1.5 hours long, click here to see the link for the Close Brothers Barratt booking site where further information and booking dates will be available soon. 1p Savings Challenge Why not try the 1p Savings Challenge, the idea's pretty straightforward. Each day you save what you saved the day before, plus a penny more. So you start by saving 1p, then 2p, then 3p a day right the way up to £3.66 by the end of December. If you start on 1 January, then by the end of the year you'll have saved over £650.00 but you can of course start part way through the year. Download the free savings chart here.
Together we stay stronger
Big clean switch Did you know you can also save money and reduce carbon by switching to a 100% renewable energy provider through our new partnership with the Big Clean Switch.
Physical wellbeing Dry January A record number of people this year are planning to forego the booze in Dry January. Over 6.5 million plan to participate compared to 3.9 million last year. The benefits of going alcohol free can show in many ways research shows: Your skin gets brighter. Your sleep improves. Your blood pressure and cholesterol lowers. And your wallet will also be fuller. Why not try it yourself and join the millions of others this January with alcoholchange.org.uk. Download the free Try Dry app to double your chance of a totally alcohol-free month and long-term benefits. Improve your fitness in 2021 We’ve teamed up with Matt Roberts Evolution to bring you four workouts which we’ll share throughout January, to help increase your mobility and improve your fitness. Following our week 1 video which focused on mobility and activation, week 2 focuses on compound movements. This short 7 minute instructional video will show you how to complete a 45 minute workout which aims to work the biggest muscles of the body. Take some time to get involved in the workout this week, and remember you should try to complete each workout at least 3 times a week to help see a difference. Join the workouts via Vimeo: vimeo.com/showcase/getactivein2021 Mental wellbeing Click here to view advice on how to look after your mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Why not support Samaritans Brew on Monday 18 January, helping to bring people together for a cuppa, chat and to banish the winter blues. This could be arranging a Teams chat or virtual coffee with family, friends or colleagues. WhyBarratt My not support Benefits We would like to take this opportunity to remind our employees of the My Barratt Benefits offering. We continually look at how we can improve the benefits we offer employees to ensure they are relevant and beneficial whilst helping us become the employer of choice.
What’s coming in February? In conjunction with Time to Talk Day we look at the importance of talking about our Mental Health and the positive effects this can have on improving it. Help and Support
We know that sometimes it can be difficult to manage the pressures of life or you may just want to speak to someone to get advice or support – whatever the need there is professional, confidential support and help available to you. Click here to access a wide range of professional support services you can access. For information, tools and links on many areas of health and wellbeing please click here to visit our My Barratt Benefits website