Executive search firm Charlton Morris has launched a new mental health support package for its 62 employees, including workshops and counselling sessions.
The organisation has partnered with qualified mental health practitioner Jaimie Shires in order to create a suite of mental health support benefits; these aim to help employees with their mental wellbeing and mitigate the pressures that arise from working in the competitive recruitment sector.
The package includes quarterly half-day workshops for all employees, designed to improve understanding and awareness of mental health issues; the topics are based on corresponding quarterly employee surveys, to ensure the content is useful and resonates with staff.
Shires will further host on-site drop-in sessions to facilitate informal mental health conversations and will provide additional support and needs assessments from Monday to Friday between 9.00am and 6.00pm. On Shires’ recommendation, Charlton Morris will also pay for up to 12 individual counselling sessions for staff, if required.
The organisation also plans to train all managers in mental health first aid; this will be completed by the end of 2019.
The mental health package, which launched in April 2019, was communicated to employees via a talk delivered by Shires.
All support measures will be available for the 50 employees based at Charlton Morris’ head office in Leeds, while staff based at the organisation’s operating sites in Denmark and America will have access to the non-location specific elements, such as the phone support.
The mental health package forms part of Charlton Morris’ wider health and wellbeing strategy, which has been recognised by Great Place to Work’s Excellence in Wellbeing programme in 2018. This includes monthly on-site massages, a 'healthy allowance' that is added to employees’ salary to pay for gym memberships, and extended 90-minute lunch breaks up to four times a week, to encourage employees to visit the gym at lunch time.
Andy Shatwell, managing director at Charlton Morris, said: “I am incredibly excited and proud to roll out this initiative. With the pressures that come alongside a job like recruitment, I believe it is our responsibility to do all we can to preserve the mental wellbeing of our employees.”
