how to play texas hold 'em Academy for Small Businesses

Virtual events hosted by Bupa and external experts on workplace health topics.

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The Academy gives you leading health and wellbeing insights that will help support you in growing your business. Watch virtual events where our panel of experts discuss health and wellbeing issues – specifically for small businesses.

Events cover a range of key issues such as introducing a workplace mental health plan, reducing absence and building resilience as a small business owner to help your business thrive.

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Hello and welcome to the Bupa how to play texas hold 'em Academy for Small Businesses.

I'm your host Holly Tucker.

In the first part of today's session, I'll be discussing how small businesses can boost productivity by putting health and wellbeing at the heart of their business.

And in the second part of the session, I'll be speaking to two members of the people team at small business, what3words on the way leaders can improve engagement and wellbeing.

I'm delighted though to welcome our first guests, Laura Williams, Head of Partnership's Legal Team at WorkNest.

WorkNest provides employers with expert HR, employment law and health and safety services.

Laura's also a qualified solicitor and has 15 years of experience in the legal sector supporting SMEs.

And Dr.

John Burke, Medical Director at Bupa.

John is Medical Director in Bupa UK Insurance Healthcare Management.

A qualified GP, he has over 10 years of leadership experience in health insurance.

Welcome Laura.

Welcome John.

So tell me John, why is it so important for employers to support their team's health and wellbeing?

Why is health and wellbeing so important Well Holly, I think supporting employees' health and wellbeing is down to encouraging a positive working environment.

You know, reducing work-based stress.

Nowadays people spend a lot of their working times at work.

And so wellbeing is so important because it can have a direct impact on one's business.

And small businesses are always seeking rapid growth and with that comes the challenges of you know, expansion, recruitment, hitting targets.

And then, that can all be fine at sort of an exciting time.

But one could maybe forget the welfare of one's employees and colleagues.

So as you said earlier on, employees power the business and so they are vital to growth.

So having happy and appreciated employees would be great.

That they feel appreciated at work, they take fewer sick days, one can then have a lower rate of burnout and less turnover of staff because you know, it takes time and investment to have, you know, great colleagues working together.

At Bupa, we found that 60% of SMEs found that having a health and wellbeing benefits package boosted productivity.

And 22% of them rated it as been absolutely critical for their businesses.

Oh, that's amazing.

Legal responsibilities I mean I know first hand actually the faster you go, the more toll it takes out on those you are employing.

And, Laura, tell me about the legal responsibilities that small businesses have around communicating these benefits.

So employers have a duty of care towards their staff to look after, to protect their health and safety.

And that can include their wellbeing as well.

So not only if you've got to assess any potential risks but also what solutions you're putting in place to help manage that, whether it's occupational health, other wellbeing strategies you might have in place.

And it's important to remember that in the UK, legally you have to provide a member of staff with the particulars of employment on day one of their employment.

So written statement of those terms, including any benefits you're going to support.

So in addition to having the contract in place, part of your induction process can be a helpful time to set up the expectations for the role, introduce 'em to the culture of your business, but also to explain any wellbeing support you have on offer for them.

What we find is that really helps with that initial employee engagement, helps start the relationship on the right foot, and also that can help improve productivity over time as well.

So it's sort of starting from a good point at the outset of the employment relationship.

Everyone knows where they stand, don't they?

Risks Right from the off and as you said that creates that bond from day one.

John, I'm wondering what are the risks of not placing health and wellbeing at the core of your business?

I think Holly, that poor employee wellbeing can be a really huge business risk.

So having high pressure and high intensity environments can damage employees as they sort of strive to work hard for the business.

The other side of that can result in absenteeism if things go wrong, presenteeism as it's called, and decrease productivity.

So it can then be difficult to replace and costly to replace employees.

And what comes to mind as well is, you know, there's this topic of burnout, where people, especially after the pandemic, they feel they've been under a lot of stress, or for example, you know, female colleagues, if they haven't done the right amount of support around going through the menopause for example, then all of those risks can really directly impact on an employee and on their wellbeing.

So small businesses, in my view, need to consider and then perhaps implement a wellbeing plan and then that would help them to power the business angle from strength to strength over time.

And Laura, from your experience, what would you say are the biggest drivers of absence?

Biggest drivers of absence Well one of the most common reasons for absence we see with the businesses and SMEs in particular that we support is mental health illness.

That could be due to personal reasons or external factors, but most commonly we do see work-related stress being stated on sick notes that we see for staff absences.

That can manifest itself in physical symptoms such as back pain, migraines we see commonly.

There's an underlying condition that may impact their mental health as well.

And that can all have an impact on employee attendance at work.

In addition to that, there might be an a longer underlying health condition which may cause more frequent absences.

And if that's not discussed with the member of staff, concerned and supported, then we see an increase in absence of the back of that.

And another common reason for absence is absence for childcare reasons.

So dependents leave as we term it, and it's really important to remember to record that separately so it won't go on someone's sickness absence record, it is recorded separately 'cause there is a statutory right to dependents leave should someone need to take it.

And these are all sensitive areas, aren't they?

They are.

It's so important that we feel like we can communicate with each other and that's why that bond is imperative isn't it?

That people are open and honest with what's going on.

I'm wondering John, for small businesses, absence can be extremely disruptive, Reducing the impact of absence can't it?

And costly.

What steps can small businesses take to reduce the impact of absence?

It's really important Holly, to address high levels of absence and to find out why that might be happening.

So 80% of SMEs recently stated that musculoskeletal problems such as bones and joint issues, plus mental health conditions were the most important health and wellbeing concerns for their organisations.

Musculoskeletal problems can happen, for example, at the neck or the back and they can really actually cause people to be absent from work.

So they can be linked with anxiety and depression.

And therefore what employers should do is carry out the risk assessments, you know, at the workplace, make sure there are no hazards.

To do those workstation assessments, whether it's at a formal workplace or in the home setting.

And then encourage employees also to take regular breaks during the day.

Hybrid working has actually led to a slight rise in musculoskeletal problems 'cause some people still lack the proper equipment to work at home.

And there are some other things that people can do, Holly, is reduce workplace stress, discouraging staff from perhaps overworking or frequently staying late and encouraging line managers to keep in touch with their teams regularly, making sure that the workloads are manageable.

Around motivation, what comes to mind is increasing sort of, you know, the energy and the engagement levels of teams and people, individuals, reducing email time and promoting regular breaks, and allowing people to task focus on one thing at a time.

Being flexible is also good.

I think in the modern workplace, flexible working hours that can help to reduce absence and increase wellbeing feelings.

Key on top of all of those things, I think also, is just listening.

So if people feel that they're heard, as a staff feel they're being heard, then and that being involved in decision making, that can help with wellbeing and showing that the company cares.

Absolutely.

We've got a policy now that if we use our WhatsApps in the team after a certain time at night, it's actually frowned upon rather than encouraged.

And I think these are some of the things that we can do to help people switch off.

Laura, tell me, what advice would you give to employers on how best to manage someone How to manage repeated absence due to illness with repeated absence due to illness?

'Cause it can be quite a sensitive area, can't it?

Yeah, it can.

We know from a number of studies is that where an employees feel supported in work, they're more likely to return to work or have less frequent absences.

Obviously sometimes it's inevitable, but as you say, it's important to have that the communication piece really.

And from the outset, if you have a sickness policy in place, or at least, at the very least as part of your verbal introduction to the business, make a member of staff aware of what's required of them if they are having to report in sick.

You know, is a text okay?

Do they need to speak to a particular person?

Do they need to call by a particular time?

And an individual can self-certify themselves for up to seven days, following which you would want to see a medical certificate.

And if we all, in addition to your sickness policy, it's also a good idea to have an absence management policy.

And they run sort of, they can run concurrently, but the absence management element of it is you set trigger points for review.

So whether it's the number of days of absence or the frequency of that, it's just a prompt for an employee to sit down, have that conversation.

If you're not automatically having, you don't feel comfortable having a return to work conversation every time someone comes back, which is a good practise in itself, but that trigger point will just prompt that conversation and it's helpful for a number of reasons.

If there's no reasonable explanation for the number of absences, then enables that employees take that next step of perhaps putting a written warning in place to say, really your attendance does need to improve.

If not, we can take appropriate action.

So the employee's clear on that.

But it might be a case of actually there may be an underlying health condition that the employer wasn't previously aware of.

And the reason that's important is as soon as we become aware of that, there is a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments and it's something we'd want to do anyway to support and hopefully again help that employee engagement piece.

But again, if we can put measures in place to help support them over time, that in theory, that will then help reduce number of absences as well.

And we have a more engaged individual.

And again, that leads on to productivity as well.

That's a fantastic idea.

The importance of having a conversation with employees I didn't actually know that.

And it gives the employer the reason to sit down and actually the employee knows that we're going to sit down.

So it's again, you both sit down at a table knowing that this was going to happen rather than it being a shock or something that you don't want to talk about.

It's fantastic.

Well, we've recently seen how important having that conversation is.

A business came to us for advice.

And at that point they had someone who had had, over time, increasingly frequent, short periods of absence.

They hadn't quite been very clear about the reason for the absence.

It hadn't, the question hadn't been asked, to specific reasons, bit of a rumour, you know, in terms of conversations with colleagues that it might have been due to preexisting mental health issue.

I think the business were a bit nervous about how to have that discussion with them to ask the question.

What then happened is that turned into a longer term period of absence.

And again, through I think of quite frustration if I'm honest in terms of the fact that individual wasn't in contribution towards work, but also perhaps a bit of a lack of knowledge of knowing how to deal with it.

They were just sort of leaving them be really and getting the fit notes when they were at work, where can they sign them off.

Fit notes start coming, stopped coming, sorry.

And it was sort of a week later, sort of relatively short period of time later, heard nothing more.

And that what the business did said, "Right, well, we'll just employment's over then, they're clearly not coming back.

" What then happened is, and the reason they called us, is they had a telephone call from ACAS saying there's a potential claim there.

And the claims were for disability discrimination and also unfair dismissal.

The individual had been with them for just a couple of years, so long enough for them to be able to bring an unfair dismissal claim.

And through lack of process, because they hadn't been done anything with it.

And also because the employed, the tribunals are very quick to impose knowledge on an employer of a disability.

So a disability for employment law purposes doesn't necessarily mean you have to have a, you know, blue badge, be register disabled, but as if it's a longstanding health condition, so something we have suffered from or would likely suffer from for 12 months or more, and it has an impact on your day-to-day activities, that will classify as a disability, which then puts an obligation on employer to make reasonable adjustments and also provides protection for the employee against any detriment.

And in this case it was their dismissal.

So I think through the employer being a bit nervous about how to deal with it, again, not having that communication, the employee felt quite detached and just went straight to to bringing a claim 'cause they weren't happy with how they were treated.

To be honest with you, a large part of that could have been prevented had they have, well, known how to deal with it, perhaps sought advice sooner as well.

So these are the unfortunate situations that an employer can land themselves in if things aren't managed properly.

Setting things up properly, keeping that communication going.

Why is early intervention crucial Yeah.

Rather than burying your head in the sand and absolutely.

So John, why is early intervention crucial to supporting health and wellbeing in the workplace?

Well, Holly, when employees go on absence leave due to illness or injury, that has a follow on effect on the business and on other colleagues.

So businesses should really, I think, equip leaders to cope with those challenges, keep in touch with their teams on a daily basis and consider providing mental health support and first aid training, for example, for mental health so that they know what to look out for and see the signs early.

In today's modern work environment as well, I think it's important to have an open culture.

That people should really feel comfortable about speaking out about problems and that my own view is that, you know, prevention is better than cure.

Lots of doctors would say that, of course.

So making the workplace adjustments, phase returns to work, occupational health services being on, available as well is very, very helpful.

And in my experience, you know, people who can stay at work, they are generally maintained better, they're more healthy, they're more active, and they're more stimulated just by virtue of being in an occupation.

Fascinating.

Laura, what are just some of the basic procedures Basic features and policies and policies that businesses should have in place when it comes to staff absence?

So basic starting point is to have your sickness absence policy.

So that will set out your process for reporting absence, what's required, entitlements to sick pay, whether it's just statute sick pay or whether you provide an enhanced version of occupational or company sick pay.

How as a business you will deal with reasonable adjustments.

So that's quite helpful for managers to be able to refer to as a resource for knowing what we do, how to manage it and for the employee to be aware as well.

And also with regard to any processes for obtaining medical reports, should one be required to be able to support the employee in the workplace.

We mentioned it earlier, but having the absence management policy can be helpful with your trigger points and how that's then managed to manage expectations there.

Helpful to have a time off for dependents policy, how that's dealt with and if any pay, it's not legally, legal obligation to pay for that time off.

But some businesses choose to do so as again, as an incentive to support staff.

A flexible working policy, certainly post COVID, we are certainly getting increased requests for support businesses to prepare those and also family related leave.

So maternity, paternity, parental leave as well.

Having that clear policy in place of what support's available and how that's managed.

And important to note, it's really important to keep these policies up to date so they're not just sat on a shelf gathering dusters.

In some cases they are.

The employment law and HR world's constantly moving and changing with new legislation.

And importantly remember that they're kept up to date so it's not just something put in place and have on the back shelf for- Yes.

For a decade.

The law is constantly moving so we always recommend an annual review.

No dust should gather on those documents at all.

(Laura laughs) John, what are some services small businesses can use Services small businesses can use or promote or promote that will help support their teams?

I'm glad to say Holly, there are a number of free services that business owners can avail of and can promote.

So Bupa has partnered with the JAAQ, which is Just Ask A Question, and that's a mental health social media platform.

It's a safe space where people can ask experts, world-leading doctors questions, to do with their lived experience and on mental health of topics.

And it's also, it's free, as I mentioned.

There's also Bupa's mental health hub covering topics such as anxiety, stress, addiction, and depression.

There's a huge amount of information on that and online as well with Bupa.

Bupa also offers a women's health hub, lots of information there ranging on topics from menopause to periods and endometriosis.

And not forgetting men, and we also have lots of information on topics such as prostate health, fertility, mental health, of course, all on the Bupa website.

I think it's good also that employers promote charities such as mind and organisations such as citizens advice and thinking of the legal or the near legal area, ACAS to help with employees understanding of, you know, where they are in the workplace and what to do next.

Moving on to paid-for services, an employees assistance programme is good to have.

It provides legal advice, as Laura was mentioning earlier on, but also it just offers support for people around personal problems, work-related pressures.

It can help to reduce absenteeism and employees are less likely, if there's an EAP programme in place to call in sick.

And if teams are available for Bupa services more broadly, then they can access direct access as we call it.

And that service, the Bupa insurance office has trained advisors.

So if somebody has symptoms of cancer, mental health, muscle, bone or joint problems, then they can phone in.

We also offer Silver Cloud, which is coaching and online courses to help build resilience and wellbeing.

And Growth Plus includes access to the 24/7 anytime healthline, family mental healthline and also menopause supports, Holly.

Incredible.

So many ways of supporting everybody.

New patterns of working Laura, tell me new patterns of working and we've just spoken about that, haven't we?

Since COVID, mean that businesses need to look beyond the office when it comes to wellbeing.

How can SMEs support the wellbeing of remote workers?

So I think methods of engagement are really key here and it starts with the induction process.

So whether it's someone who's new to your business, it might be someone's moving into a new role or a new working arrangement where they're moving to work from a hybrid or remote working basis.

Providing point of contact so if they're having any practical challenge or even emotional challenges as well with the distance.

We say, you know, physical distance can also mean they feel more distant from the business as well.

So making sure that engagement and line of communication is kept open and importantly don't forget about them.

So if we're arranging, you know, an onsite event or a fun event, staff event, think about ways you can actually incorporate or involve people who are working remotely as well.

And if people have come to you wanted to work remotely, it might be a case if you have, if you do have an event or an important meeting, have the conversation with them.

Would they be prepared to travel in for that or do we want to require to do so in fact and can we support with travel and accommodation for them to enable 'em to do so and have that physical and human point of contact?

Embedding health and wellbeing into company culture I think that's so important, isn't it?

That human level.

I know for myself it's been more frequently we've brought everyone together because people are more spread apart and I think I like what you said, more distance there is the more distance they feel.

How can businesses embed health and wellbeing into their company culture then?

So being clear about your values and goals and communicate with your employees about that.

What do they think the value should be?

Important not to pay them lip service.

So if we say we're gonna do something and we're going to, you know, hear suggestions, then do it.

You know, I think staff see you do that.

Show your truth of the word.

Again, it helps with that engagement piece and really embedding your culture and getting your staff team on board with that and that regular line of communication, it doesn't have to be, you know, all singing, all dancing, it can be a simple monthly roundup email to everyone to let 'em know what's going on and any comments from anybody.

And also important with communication, it's a two-way thing.

So, listening to your employees.

So we've seen many businesses use successfully ask me anything sessions where staff can come and ask, you know, questions, however big or small or indeed put thoughts and ideas into the parts and we'll have that the shoe box or the suggestions box- Yes, yes.

If anyone wants to do it anonymously.

It's all simple stuff but it's all really effective and I think being fair with rewards and remuneration as well.

So obviously, from a legal point of view, that helps to avoid any claims of discrimination, but also it ties in with a deeper company values as well.

And what's a really good idea is to make someone in your business responsible for culture.

And as that changes, so from when you're the very first startup, as you grow and in terms of driving forward as well, having that person who's accountable can help promote that within the business that.

It's that continuity isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Thank you Laura.

Thank you John.

(bright music) Top takeaways We are nearly at the end of our first session, but before we move on, let's look at the top takeaways from our experts.

To start with, poor employee wellbeing can be a huge business risk and it can lead to an increase in absenteeism and presenteeism and decrease productivity.

Employees power your business and are vital to growth.

When your employees' wellbeing is thriving, your organisation benefits.

And finally, offering health and wellbeing benefits boosts productivity and reduces work-related stress and promotes a positive working environment for everyone.

So thank you to Laura and to John for the thought-provoking conversation.

Next up, we'll be moving onto the second part of this session.

Before we do that, I'd like to ask you a quick poll, What three words We are now moving to our second part of today's session where we'll be speaking to two members of the people team at small business what3words on how they promote health and wellbeing and keep their employees engaged.

I'm delighted to welcome our guests, Sophie Pohling, People Advisor, and Alys Martin, Head of People.

Welcome Alys, welcome Sophie, lovely to have you here.

Could you start by introducing yourself and the business?

Yeah, no problem.

So we are what3words and we provide a unique solution to a global problem.

So a lot of places, traditional addresses don't really exist and that's obviously a big problem for deliveries or emergency services.

What we have done is divide the world up into three metre by three metre squared.

So each one of those squares has got a three word address.

That's 57 trillion of them- My goodness.

Across the world.

And for example, our office address is filled.

count.

soap.

And Holly and Co, if you're interested, is also called party.

admits.

jungle.

So jungle print.

Oh, how exciting is that?

I love it, I love it.

Health wellbeing initiatives Starting with you Sophie, what are some of the different health and wellbeing initiatives that you've invested in?

So we actually have a real suite of benefits at what3words.

We try and encompass them as much as possible into the global workforce and try and make sure that we have an offering in every office where possible.

We really are proud of our top-of-the-range Bupa cover, which we offer for medical.

We make sure that it's the no excess and medical history disregarded so that people feel A, that they're very able to use it and also comfortable using it as well.

We also have the dental cover which has had a really good take up.

And for added support and reassurance, we also offer the ability for people to add their family on for those reasons as well.

And then just for the flexibility, sometimes it's difficult people to get appointments or they have childcare duties.

We've also got the digital GP service for anyone who has Bupa, which is great.

And then aside from that we've got things like our life assurance through AIG and then we also have something that we've been really proud of offering quite recently, which is our two wellness days.

So they're kind of take whenever you want basis.

You know, sometimes you sign wake up and don't feel yourself and one of our values is, "All in.

" And with that reason in mind, we'd like people to feel like they can take a wellness day with no questions asked and just get back to being where they need to be to get back to work and be a hundred percent again.

And I think building that stigma around people being able to take those without feeling like worried or not like they're trusted I think is really important as well.

And then obviously, no one can ignore the current cost of living crisis, so we're really proud to also have our Bippit app, which is our financial wellbeing provider, which offers the chance for employees to speak to a financial coach or set particular financial goals, lifestyle stats, et cetera.

And that's had a really good take up because they also can come into the office and deliver quarterly webinars as well.

So it means that you really do capture a good audience and people can kind of dip in and out as to what their interests might be with a particular webinar.

Obviously, nurseries are very expensive now as well.

So the way we look at that is we offer a workplace nursery scheme which helps people through a salary sacrifice benefit.

And we've had such a good take up recently, we've noticed more and more people turning to this because if you're a higher rate taxpayer, the savings are fantastic for those parents and it just means they've got that peace of mind that they have one less thing to worry about.

And then finally, I love food, so I always get very excited by our company lunch, which we offer as a popup.

So you know, if you think about food brings people together, we've got that real sense of community at what3words and we have sort of a popup come in and everyone has lunch at the same time and kind of all sits together and chats.

And we try and replicate this in our other offices too.

So for example, the Mongolia team have their social lunch as well and it just means you're kind of still connected as an office even though you're not technically all together in the same room.

And yeah, we're just really like to sort of make sure people are well fed because you know, fuel is is how you get your energy.

Yeah, absolutely.

What an empathetic company.

It's incredible to hear.

Sophie, have you seen any benefits Benefits to investing in wellbeing to investing in health and wellbeing?

You've given me that list of incredible things that your employees have, but have you seen the benefits firsthand?

Yes, I think the main thing is just taking away that stigma of mental health and making it not a, something that you have to hide behind, but something that's openly shared.

And one of our values is "Make new mistakes.

" And it just shows that people don't have to be perfect.

You can sometimes be raw and you know, just a human being and just feel like you can obviously, you know, share that with your team or your manager.

One of the things we have is the Take 3 listening team, which is our mental health and wellbeing initiative, internally.

And we actually have people who have been nominated but they've sort of nominated themselves to be part of that Take 3 listening team just to kind of offer a sort of a nice friendly ear as opposed to professional advice.

And then they can sign people, sign post people to Bupa if they need to or something like that.

So we're really proud of that because it means that people then feel comfortable and supported as opposed to kind of hiding behind not feeling well, but unable to say.

And then in addition, kind of managers are empowered to check in with their employees as well.

So just asking the simple question, you know, "How are you?

" and pausing and reflecting, but also kind of initially building that trust and that support in the first place as a manager I think is so important with their direct reports because then it creates that safe space for those open conversations and it means that then A, the manager knows that they can be open with the employee, but equally they can also, you know, be open with them as well.

And then we also find that our time off policies are kind of, they suit everyone because there's something that you can benefit from if you need regardless of what you are feeling.

So I think we're really proud to have such a breadth of those so that people feel that they are supported by HR and their managers.

And then lastly, something that we've really found a popular thing to do is our six weekly remote working.

So everyone, when they joins, gets six weeks of remote working where they can use it so they don't have to come into the office for that week, but it could be that they decide to maybe go to one of our other offices and work from there for the week or perhaps they might decide to tack it onto a holiday in Greece and work from there.

So it just means that they've got that flexibility if they do just want a bit of a break from, you know, the nine to five in the UK, they can have the option to do something else.

And that's on top of their holidays?

Indeed, yes.

Gosh.

They, I personally am going to be going away for a whole month in May and coming back in June, so- So forward thinking.

Alys, what advice would you give to other small businesses Advice for small businesses looking to invest in their health and wellbeing?

I think I'd say take it seriously to start with, obviously wellbeing is such a big deal.

Think about what it will do for your existing people.

You know, if you have a lot of working parents for example, have a think about things like nursery benefits or you know, your maternity and paternity pay.

And also think about what that does for talent attraction and retention as well.

I think my biggest piece of advice would be to have a look at your working culture first of all.

Anything on top is really a trinket.

So you know, your gym memberships and yoga classes are great, but not if people have no flexibility, if they'll never make those because you make them work over the odds.

It really is about the culture you create to start with that really feeds the wellbeing of the company.

And it's not just a tick box, is it?

Absolutely not.

No.

Yeah, that can happen.

And why do you think it's so important to invest in health and wellbeing?

I mean, your employees drive your business, ultimately at the end of the day.

And if they are suffering from work-related stress because you're working them too hard and they can't take a break, your business will ultimately suffer.

And it's not just about, you know, productivity and the bottom line, although obviously happy, healthy employees affect productivity and that's brilliant, but it really is about your duty of care as well as an employer to ensure that, you know, your people are healthy and safe and well.

And I think if they truly feel it and that it's genuine, then it- It comes back in spades.

Absolutely.

It's so great and it, you just get such a better sense of environment in those companies where everyone's pulling together.

Absolutely.

Sophie, how do you support your remote workers?

Because obviously this is now growing How do you support remote workers as a way of working, what do you do?

So I think COVID kind of opened our eyes for a lot of businesses, but the good thing is we're in tech.

So we already had Zoom, we had Slack, we have all these resources that people already are very good on for, you know, talking to each other internally.

And I think with the remote working, we already knew how those hybrid structures worked before all this.

The good thing is that 'cause we've got a global workforce, we all kind of come together through things so you never feel as if you are too far away from each other.

And we have regular town halls every Tuesday, which the company updates, which everyone does in too.

And I think that's a great way of staying connected.

Yeah, completely.

I love, I love that it's called, what is it called, a town?

Town hall.

Yeah.

And we all all have little chairs and you know, occasionally it's replaced by a company breakfast where we might have croissants and fruit and that's replicated throughout the other offices as well.

And yeah, just to get that sense of community.

I've always found if you call your meetings interesting names, that people attend them.

Oh, so people want to go to them.

Yeah, they do, they do.

Promoting health and wellbeing Alys, how do you promote health and wellbeing and keep your employees engaged?

How do they know what you are offering or maybe updating?

So I mean, I think for us it's such a regular part of conversation and dialogue in the office anyway.

We obviously can sign posts to our extensive list of benefits, but it's really about sort of keeping that alive for people.

So we mention them in our town halls, fortunately companies like Youlife that we use, gamify absolutely everything.

So they have a step leader board.

Sophie does brilliantly at it every week, but we really do make it part of the conversation.

I think equally as well, we encourage managers to be open about their own health.

You know, if they take a wellness day, we encourage them to take that very openly so we know it's just part of the culture and it's all absolutely fine.

Yeah, and they're acting in a way that people can observe and then yeah, the stigma has left, hasn't it?

A hundred percent.

Also, how have you embedded health Embedding wellbeing into company culture and wellbeing into your company culture?

I think for us, we try and make it a real active part of everyday conversation, part of the dialogue.

One of our values for example is "Help and be helped.

" And so we try and really create that atmosphere of trust for people so that they can understand that, you know, it is an environment where we do care about their wellbeing.

For example, if managers take one of their wellbeing days, you know, we make that very public and open it as much as they would like it to be, just so that people know that it's absolutely fine and everyone at all levels can access our benefits.

And lead by example.

Of course.

Yeah.

Have you seen correlation, Sophie, in workplace wellbeing and productivity?

Correlation between wellbeing and productivity You know, has this all laddered up to seeing people being actually more productive?

Yeah, I think if you can get a healthy, happy workforce, you know, in turn, that they're going to be more productive because they want to come into work, they want to succeed, they want to go about their daily tasks.

And I think that's built from things such as creating that supportive open culture in the first place and just being able to be your own humanised person.

You know, make new mistakes, but you know, it doesn't matter if you need to try again because it's not going to be reprimanded.

It's just like, look, why don't we just see another solution, see how it works out.

So I think with all of our policies in place, there are things to help people should they need to get back on track, but I think it starts from creating that space initially and making the environment comfortable and a happy place to want to come into each day.

Well, I'm sure people are happy.

And finally, what would your one piece of advice, Alys, be to a small business owner One piece of advice that's looking to improve their health and wellbeing in the workplace?

I think my advice would really be start from scratch.

Have a look at your working practises, the way you treat people, the flexibility you could offer them.

Go right back to how those structures and those policies are all set up.

There are so many gimmicks on the marketplace, there really are.

Whether it's a new app for something or yoga you can do with goats, it, the opportunities are endless, but what really matters is how you can work with people on a daily basis.

You can be flexible, it would be great, but you know, you really don't have to spend a lot of money to give people a much better sense of wellbeing at work.

And it's all about the foundations, isn't it?

A hundred percent.

These strong foundations such as Bupa, which is a brand name that you really recognise and you trust and it really gives people a sense of stability.

You know, maybe less is more to begin with.

Oh, a hundred percent.

And I think for a benefit like Bupa, which is so well recognised, it gives an incredible sense of reassurance and comfort, particularly at times that might be more difficult anyway.

And I think the engagement that you get as an employer from providing that kind of safety net for your employees is huge.

We'll leave the goats and yoga then.

There then.

Thank you Alys.

Thank you Sophie.

We're now at the end of our session.

Thank you to Sophie and to Alys for joining us today and sharing their own experiences of promoting health and wellbeing initiatives in a small business.

We hope you found it useful.

See you next time.

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