News

Keeping Staff Welfare a Top Priority

2020 was a difficult year for everyone. With significant changes to the way we live and work, there are several ways that this has affected businesses and individuals.

MVIS and Bartco UK have always prioritised the mental health of their team. However, during the pandemic, we have gone above and beyond in helping our team make it through such an unusual year by offering a support in a variety of ways.

Earlier in 2020 we covered how MVIS and Bartco UK’s Commercial & Operations Director, Anne Ashman, ensured that staff were supplied with Work from Home Care Packages, along with the wide range of policies and procedures she has put in place this year to help keep our staff safe and to help our organisation better adjust to the new working conditions.

However, as this situation continues, our measures for support must adapt to the long-term conditions we find ourselves in. At this point, we understand that short term measures are not enough, and we must look at ways we can support our team over the long term.

One of the long terms aspects to have suffered especially as a result of working from home is the ability for our team to chat as a group freely about concerns or troubles they may be having whilst on breaks or in an office conversation.  

This level of conversation plays a vital part in our employee’s mental and social wellbeing and whilst we do have daily briefings with the whole team, the briefings have a large work focus, which, is obvious to note, not the most appropriate environment to be discussing personal matters.

Even our departmental conversations, which are usually a smaller audience and potentially a chance to discuss worries can be limiting as well, with staff only receiving one or two perspectives on a problem, whereas in the office they would have the benefit of our whole team’s life experience to help them with their issue.

Leaving such an eventful and traumatic year behind us, it is more important than ever that our team feel supported. As a result, we have identified this potential for long term social isolation amongst our staff and have put in place a solid solution to help combat this.

By employing Peninsula’s services, we have a well-rounded approach to our team’s wellbeing. However, an additional service we have sought out at the end of 2020 is the Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Peninsula’s EAP services help our team overcome their toughest life challenges and deliver their best every day. It includes 24/7 telephone advice, face-to-face counselling and a suite of online and mobile tools to help staff stay happy and healthy.

According to the Peninsula website, an EAP can “reduce mental health related absence levels by as much as 45% and improve productivity by as much as 8%.” But more importantly, “it helps protect your staff.”

Already we have had reports of our team finding this helpful.

One member of staff commented, “Having just bought and moved to my first home a few weeks ago, I have a lot of things on my mind. The EAP has been a big support, especially recently through a highly stressful period. They have given me sound, professional legal advice that has helped me make important decisions in a way that best suits me and my future, as I take this very big first step towards my independence.”

She continues, “Over the years, my colleagues at MVIS and Bartco UK have been one of my key points of support in life. However, this year, it has been harder to discuss personal matters, as the distance between us limits such conversation that would have been straightforward if we weren’t working form home. Video calling with a non-work problem is very different to a casual conversation in the office, and whilst the EAP is no replacement for the camaraderie we built in the office, it ensures that we are getting the very best advice at all times, which may even make it better in some ways!”