Firm puts Wellbeing Warriors at heart of operation
From the creation of a wellbeing garden to regular health talks and virtual engagement activities aimed at remote workers Bedfont Scientific have put together an impressive range of initiatives to support the wellbeing of the organisation’s staff. Key to the strategy is its Wellbeing Warriors. Francesca Day from the team at the Kent Mental Wellbeing Awards contacted Wellbeing Warrior Ryan Lewis to find out more about the initiative.
The promotion of health sits at the heart of what Bedfont Scientific Ltd. does. Since 1976 the company has specialised in the design and manufacture of breath analysis medical devices. Now the company’s Wellbeing Team which consists of four members Ryan Lewis, Claire Dadswell, Deborah Butcher and Chris Bond – known as Wellbeing Warriors – are building a network of initiatives to support and promote wellbeing among their co-workers.
At the company’s headquarters the wellbeing garden pictured above has been created to provide staff with a beautiful outdoor space and give them a place to relax and reflect during the work day. It looks like the perfect spot to enjoy one of the healthy breakfasts or lunches that Bedfont Scientific make available to their employees to ensure that they have access to nutritious food options to kick-start the day.
The Wellbeing Team schedules regular health talks for staff based on feedback and suggestions from quarterly wellbeing surveys, recognition of designated awareness days or weeks such as men’s health week, international women’s health week or mental health awareness week and utilising the expertise of local organisations.
During our discussion Ryan shared details of some of the sessions that have taken place covering topics including: ‘How hormones affect physical and mental health’ with Dr Rebecca Prince (with separate sessions offered for women and men); the importance of nutrition; menopause in the workplace; breast cancer awareness; a session delivered by Jason Firmager from MenTalk Health about the psychology of men’s mental health and Denver King from local charity Dadspace (this session was available to all men not just dads).
The Wellbeing Team takes a collaborative approach to the planning and implementation of its initiatives to encourage staff buy in and increase participation. They utilise feedback from quarterly wellbeing surveys, connections with local companies made at networking events and designated awareness days or weeks e.g. mental health awareness week. They have also sought to ensure that their Wellbeing Warriors (three of whom are trained mental health first aiders) represent different departments within the company i.e. one from the office department, one from marketing and one from technical with an overall Wellbeing Manager.
In recent years Bedfont Scientific like many other companies have transitioned to having more employees working remotely which Ryan explained “posed a challenge in maintaining a sense of community and connection among employees”.
The Wellbeing Team have sought to overcome this by implementing virtual engagement activities such as coffee mornings and virtual wellbeing sessions. This is such a great idea to support remote workers so that they don’t feel isolated and cut off from their colleagues when they may not interact with them on a daily basis like they would if they were in an office environment.
The workplace Wellbeing Warriors at Bedfont Scientific have also introduced flexible work arrangements and time off initiatives to promote better work-life balance with leniency for staff who need time off when they are struggling with their mental health so that they don’t have to use annual leave or sick leave. There are also early finishes for national events such as the Euros football tournament.
The Kent Mental Wellbeing awards is an annual event designed to showcase the people, organisations and initiatives that help us cope with life. The event’s three themes are: kindness and compassion; wellbeing; mental health.
Whether it is in school, business, community or family, so many of us have been lucky to have people and organisations with ideas, tips and tactics to help us cope. It is time to celebrate those mental health and well-being champions in our community and share this best practice.
The awards will be staged in October by the mental health charity Mind in Bexley and East Kent in collaboration with a range of wellbeing and mental health organisations.
Nominations can be linked to a simple act of kindness that lifted the spirits, a business that has improved staff wellbeing, through to a targeted initiative delivered by a charity or statutory organisation to support a mental health issue.
The event is sponsored by Kent County Council, Kent Community Foundation, ADM Computing, GrainLNG – National Grid, Medway Council, Optyma Security, Ble Global, Wave Community Bank, Cactus Graphics and CommunityAid.
Submit nominations at www.kentmentalwellbeingawards.org.uk For awards news follow @KentMWAwards on Facebook and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.