Barclays have used a dynamic working initiative and mental health campaign to help formulate a succinct wellness programme for staff.
The ‘This is Me’ campaign focuses on mental health and disability, while the dynamic working initiative combines flexible working and citizenship to help support staff to create a fluid work-life balance. Both programmes have heavily influenced the creation of a new wellness campaign, which has built up momentum over the past six to eight months.
The wellness campaign will centre around preventative health, reducing stress and creating healthier lifestyles in the workplace, encouraging schemes such as office based gyms. Mark McLane, global head of diversity and inclusion at Barclays, said: “It’s really opening up the whole dialogue around mental health and wellness, taking away the stigma.”
As part of the campaign, employees have been taking part in a Fitbit challenge. Staff were able to purchase the wearable activity trackers at a discount, then form teams so they could compete against colleagues to hit targets such as number of steps.
Barclays’ dynamic working initiative launched in June 2015. Building an inclusive culture, dynamic working encourages flexible working patterns such as part time working, volunteering hours, hot desking, career breaks and sabbaticals.
McLane said: “We’re calling it dynamic working because it’s also citizenship. It’s about colleagues coming together and going into the community maybe during one day of the month and working in our communities. It’s about being role models and leaders in schools.
“It’s about understanding what carers’ needs are as well as understanding what parents’ needs are as it is about understanding the needs of our colleagues who don’t have children. It’s about recognising the needs of our colleagues and how best do we support those needs so that both the colleague and Barclays are successful in their careers.”
Barclays have also introduced various training measures to support dynamic working. This includes running workshops throughout the year, online line manager training, providing case studies and having a dynamic working specific intranet. Senior leaders within the organisation also post videos to demonstrate dynamic working in action. “It’s a very positive culture change,” McLane said.
