Construction, property services and residential development company Wates Group is offering its 4,000 employees training in building personal resilience to boost mental health and wellbeing.
The business-wide programme, named ‘Bouncing Back’, will begin in June and aims to provide staff with strategies to help to build a resilience toolkit of approaches to help them manage pressures and stress at both work and home.
The programme, delivered by Wates Group’s mental health partner Everymind at Work, is a part of a wider wellbeing plan which intends to cut the number of stress-related absences, ensure that the group’s workplaces have a positive impact on staff wellbeing, and support employees attaining a work-life balance.
The training includes a mixture of in-person or virtual workshops, online learning resources and a follow-up check-in six weeks later with every participant. Wates Group said the training will allow colleagues to recognise their own stress triggers and cope with stress more effectively, develop a positive mindset to avoid being overwhelmed by issues when they arise, and to better manage their emotions.
Kelly Osborne, head of health and wellbeing at Wates Group, said: “The pressures of managing Covid-19 have increased the stress levels and the pressure on our mental health is immense. But even before Covid-19 struck, mental health in our industry was a major concern. Male construction workers are nearly three times more likely than others to take their own life, with one suicide every day. This has been an incredibly tough year for so many of our colleagues, and we want to support everyone, so they feel better equipped to manage setbacks and stress in their lives confidently and effectively, and thereby help protect their mental health.”