There is no doubt that as we come out of the pandemic, there is a renewed focus on wellbeing. To underline the importance we place on this, we’ve appointed a dedicated Health and Wellbeing Co-Ordinator, Xanthe Grace, who will be overseeing our initiatives in this area.
As we return to normal, every employer should be focusing on the wellbeing of their teams. Fostering employee wellbeing is good for people and good for business. It can prevent stress and create a positive work environment where individuals and businesses thrive. We would like to thank our health and wellbeing sponsor, Lester Aldridge, for their support in enabling this activity.
Within this, we recently launched Got Your 6 (GU6), a mental health initiative which aims to provide support amongst business leaders. Many business leaders will have faced stressful times, particularly during the pandemic, and GU6 is about looking after the boss as well as the teams within businesses. It has created a new opportunity for two-way dialogue about how we, as people, are feeling, whatever our role or responsibility in our organisations. If our leaders are in good shape, it bodes better for our wider economy.
In GU6, we are building a network of business leader ‘champions.’ These champions, who have undergone Mental Health First Aid training with our partner organisations Dorset Mind and Ouch, are available to provide confidential support for business leaders, both members and non-members. We are very keen on building our bank of champions to strengthen the support we can offer. We will also be organising events over the forthcoming months so please keep an eye on the Dorset Chamber website events page for further details. If you’d like to become a GU6 champion, please get in touch.
Driven by our Chief Executive Ian Girling, we’ve also been leading a ground-breaking campaign calling for better education for both men and women on the impact of the menopause on women in the workplace. Eight in ten women of menopausal age are in work and 90% of them experience symptoms range from mild to severe. As the first Chamber in the UK to begin to address this issue, still widely seen as a taboo in society, our first event gained great media attention (including coverage by the BBC) and was attended by guests such as Labour Shadow Business Minister Seema Malhotra, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce Shevaun Haviland and BCP Council Leader Drew Mellor. Watch this space for further activity.
At Dorset Chamber we are proud to be supporting initiatives that promote both mental and physical health and wellbeing of in the workplace, and if you’d like to get involved or find out more, please contact Xanthe Grace on Xanthe.grace@dorsetchamber.co.uk
www.dorsetchamber.co.uk/wellbeing-resources