#EventWell17 is the event industry’s first official national wellbeing week launching on the 18th of September and running until Friday the 22nd September 2017. It’s vitally important that the events industry as a whole comes together with a proactive approach towards workplace wellbeing that equips the industry with the knowledge and skills to stay healthy and happy.
To show our support, over the next ten weeks we will be running a series of blogs about mental and physical health to inspire and encourage you to join the initiative.
Blog 5 by Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of Trinity Event Solutions discusses their approach to wellbeing in the workplace:
I believe that there are many elements that can impact on the wellbeing of an agency and its staff. Whilst I acknowledge that a degree of pressure can be beneficial to performance, prolonged exposure to excessive pressure can lead to physical and psychological health problems. Managing stress should start with communication. Clear guidelines and procedures need to be in place so that staff feel that they can be open about their stress and know where to come for help. The management team have to be able to pick up on a passing comment, and respond to it before it turns into something more serious.
We have a section about managing stress in our staff handbook, and we have an employee assistance programme available 24 hours a day 365 days a year for our team to talk to someone on the phone or arrange a face to face meeting. The programme provides all sorts of advice, both personal and work related, because it all equally impacts on a person and their health and happiness. Physical health is important too; we have company membership of a local gym and we encourage the team to take a break and get out of the office.
I also think that the culture of an agency is imperative; how it sits in and reacts to the world around it. Giving something back is important and research shows that giving time or raising money for charity has a huge boost to a person’s feelings of wellbeing. We have a really robust Social Responsibility Policy, which I believe greatly impacts on team motivation, our office culture and the team’s wellbeing and mental health. Our policy is built around our mantra: “It’s not what you give – it’s how you live”. We have a Social Responsibility Committee who is active in guiding the agency and creating projects. One example is our Trinity Tripe Challenge – an annual challenge for each member of staff to visit 20 venues in a weekend either in the UK or overseas. Each venue is asked to donate a prize and those prizes are then auctioned off to help four different charities chosen by the team. The Challenge is two fold –team is able to improve their knowledge of the venues and infrastructure of a certain area, and it focuses us to raise a huge sum of money. Our auction site is live through the month of October, so if you’d like to bid on one of the amazing prizes and help us to raise £20,000, please go to: www.trinityauctions.co.uk.
This is your chance to help us raise £20,000, and don’t forget that this will help you to feel great too! It’s a win –win so please get bidding!