As we approach the holiday season, wellbeing and self-care often fall by the wayside. With tight deadlines to meet, friends and relatives to visit and numerous gifts to buy, it feels like we have a never-ending to-do list!
At Oakland, we value our team and understand some people may feel overwhelmed or need extra support during the festive period and throughout the long winter months.
Social connection is more important than ever at this time of year and we encourage our team to take a proactive approach to their wellbeing. The five pillars of our wellbeing strategy include connection, getting active, being mindful, learning and giving, based on the five ways to wellbeing model adopted by the NHS and Mind.
There are numerous ways for employees to boost their wellbeing at Oakland, whether it is coming together for a social event, making use of discounted gym memberships, being mindful of their mental health and accessing our employee assistance programme (EAP), enhancing their learning via our Oakland Academy or giving to others through fundraising events, such as our Giving Tree and Christmas jumper day.
We have lots of events planned over winter and signed up again for Techtimeout Tuesday in early December. We’re embracing the ’power of an hour’ by hosting a Chatty Café, asking people to sign our wellbeing pledge board and sharing photos of our various activites throughout the day with one another.
Our annual wreath-making social is another wonderful opportunity for the team to connect, with the added bonus of creating a festive masterpiece to take home.
We will be rounding off the year as usual with our Oakmas festive bonanza, a time when everyone comes together to reflect and celebrate our accomplishments, plus the opportunity to win a much-coveted Oaklander Award. As usual, we will be ensuring this event is inclusive and welcoming. We know many of our team do not drink, so there will be lots of options on offer and many activities will take place within our office with quiet spaces for those who need them.
In January, we will be hosting our annual wellbeing week to give our team another opportunity for a much-needed boost. We will be hosting wellbeing activities throughout the week, hearing from expert speakers, sharing valuable resources and kicking starting the year on a positive note.
Jane Dennis is head of wellbeing at Oakland
