This Monday 16th January, consumer PR agency JBH will launch their Workplace Wellbeing Campaign, designed to protect employees mental health in 2023.
The campaign launches in response to research released last year, which found that over half of PR pros have suffered from severe stress or anxiety in the last 12 months. Moreover, nine in 10 respondents said they were unhappy with the changes that employers had put in place, to improve wellbeing in the workplace.
Jane Hunt, CEO of JBH and Rachael Rothwell, People and Culture Manager were so shocked by these statistics that they decided to reinvigorate JBH’s own mental health and wellbeing support, with the aim of protecting the mental health and wellbeing of the team.
The JBH Workplace Wellbeing Campaign is launching on Monday 16th January, by giving the team the day off to refresh, rejuvenate and relax on what is reportedly the most miserable day of the year – Blue Monday. The campaign will run throughout 2023, with various wellbeing events scheduled for the team to participate in, whether they’re office-based or remote.
Rachael Rothwell JBH’s People and Culture Manager explains:
“When looking at the issue of wellbeing in the workplace, it is important to take a strategic and mindful approach. It was vital for us to get the basics right first, ahead of the latest workplace wellbeing trends.
“Our Workplace Wellbeing Campaign needed to embody JBH values, be open and inclusive, include employees in discussions, and initiatives should serve both the business and the employee – that’s when you know you have the right balance”.
The key ways that JBH will protect and support their employees’ mental health and wellbeing:
Clear Career Progression Frameworks: Transparent salary banding and clear training and progression plans. Our people know what is expected of them and what they need to do in order to progress.
Putting Our People Before Profit: Identifying client accounts that were causing the team undue stress and worry, and removing them from the JBH roster. Last year we retired our largest account for the above reasons.
JBH Social and Wellbeing Team: Empowering the team to select the activities that mean the most to them, building and enhancing JBH’s culture from the inside out.
Work/Life Balance: Adopting the 4.5 day working week, to ensure that the team has more time to rest and enjoy themselves over the weekend, but being mindful of cramming five days’ work into four.
Cost of Living Payment: Adapting our financial support package to match the ever-changing world that we live in.
Jane Hunt CEO of JBH adds:
“When I read the results of the survey, I was so shocked by the statistics, I knew we wanted to do something about it.
“We recognise that this is an industry-wide issue, but first we needed to look inwards at how we were protecting the mental health and wellbeing of our teams and in short, it wasn’t where I wanted it to be.
“However, I didn’t want to create fluffy policies that look good on a job advert. I want our actions to really mean something to the team and truly improve the experience of working in PR. JBH is far from perfect, but I am really proud of what we have implemented so far”.
