Fujitsu to pilot emotional resilience programme

Fujitsu-Offices-2014

EXCLUSIVE: Fujitsu is to pilot an emotional resilience programme for its 10,000 employees in the UK and Ireland.

The technology organisation’s aim is to help support its employees’ mental health, after it identified core issues using benefits data, including absence information, sampling from health screening and data from its private medical insurance scheme 

The launch of the pilot scheme, in 2015, will come after Fujitsu reviewed its approach to wellbeing in November 2013.

David Brackwell, head of wellbeing and inclusion at Fujitsu UK and Ireland, said: “We looked at data from our occupational health, absence and our private medical insurance scheme. All these sources of data highlighted issues which were really presenting challenges for our employees.

Emotional wellbeing and mental health was consistent throughout. We wanted to build on our partnership with [charity] Mind last year and the work we did with a clinical psychologist. This resilience programme pilot will help us do just that.”

The programme will be based on a survey, which asks a number of questions to determine where people are in terms of their emotional wellbeing. 

Following this, it will implement a range of interventions targeted to employees’ needs.

For example, the organisation will provide targeted information and resources for senior managers, as well as for its broader workforce. 

Brackwell added: “The partnership with Mind led to the creation of an independent and cohesive approach.

“It will be a range of things, which might be as simple as promoting the employee assistance programme as a resource, making people aware of what other resources are out there and doing some training as well.

“We felt we needed to build resilience in the broader population so that employees are better equipped to look after themselves, to recognise symptoms earlier and to manage this.”