At publishing organisation Emerald, going into January means entering a busy period, with fresh targets and expectations.
Melissa Fojt, social responsibility manager at Emerald, says: “During January and February, the people team has a real drive and focus on the mental health side [and there are] a lot of workshops and a lot of talks around wellbeing and health.”
In October 2018, the organisation began a ‘Let’s talk about…’ campaign, which will continue into 2019. This initiative shares case studies from employees to promote a positive and open culture around mental health.
As part of Emerald’s approach to boosting wellbeing overall, it is launching an ‘Act’ initiative, provided by engagement specialist Team Jump in January 2019.
Under the categories of environment, travel, health and wellbeing and community, Emerald’s 430 employees will be able to earn points based on different activities. These will lead to team and individual prizes for the highest achievers, in addition to raffle prizes to ensure that involvement and engagement are rewarded as much as possible.
Employees will gain points for joining workshops and events around mental and physical wellbeing, as well as conducting walking meetings and attending fitness classes, to help build healthy habits.
“We really want [change] to get embedded in people’s behaviours,” explains Fojt. “[It is also about] just showing the employee that we actually believe in what we say, it’s not just a tick-box exercise.”
The launch of this gamified initiative promoting positive, healthy behaviour forms part of Emerald’s holistic approach to employee wellbeing, which also includes free gym membership, fruit boxes in the workplace, volunteering days, flexible working and breakout spaces.
Fojt explains: “Our whole wellbeing ethos is that it’s not just about mental health, it’s about looking after yourself. We’ve been running for 51 years, and the whole mentality of looking after employees stems right from the founder and it has continued through. We really invest in our employees.”