WORKPLACE WELLBEING AT WINNS

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN PLANNING AND BUDGETING

As an organisation, WINNS is acutely aware of the moral and financial benefits of doing all it can to support the wellbeing of all its staff.

HEAD OFFICE STAFF

Each week there is a staff activity that sequentially builds towards the Quarterly Staff Training Day.  These activities are completed independently and collated in their entirety.  This allows for everyone’s opinion to be given, especially those who lack confidence in sharing their views in an open forum.  This process also allows for knowledge to be incrementally gained and for connections to be identified prior to the day so that a lot of the thinking and learning has already been done.

To date, this method has allowed all Head Office Staff and Management Teams to actively be involved in;

• WINNS 3 Year Business Plan
• Company GOSPA
• Company Target Setting
• WINNS Mission, Vission and Tagline
• WINNS Core Values

Currently Head Office have set themselves the Quarterly target of increasing our online presence.  Everyone is doing their part and in doing so, a sense of Team and camaraderie is being fostered.

FIELD OPERATIVES

Through our monthly staff newsletter, which is emailed directly to all our staff, and interviews between Mangers and personnel out in the field, our operatives are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions on what the Company should, stop, start and keep doing.  They are also asked to advise whether the Company’s core values represent their lived experience and to offer an example of when they have directly witnessed a core value in operation.  These insights are invaluable and all are acted upon.

TEAM BUILDING

HEAD OFFICE

The Company arranges all expenses paid events throughout the year, such as wine tasting, murder mysteries, birthday and anniversary celebrations as well as the obligatory Christmas party.

FIELD OPERATIVES

WINNS celebrates when field operatives receive a 10 year milestone with the Company and celebrate a milestone Birthday or occasion.  Their picture is also included in the monthly staff email.

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

HEAD OFFICE 

Head Office staff are provided with cakes for their Monday Whole Staff Meeting as well as fish and chips and pizzas throughout the year.  They have access to free hot and cold drinks.

All staff training days come with food and drink as do monthly Board Meetings where breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks are provided.

FIELD OPERATIVES

The Board recognises that Field Operatives do not fare so well in the ‘food’ stakes compared with Head Office and have therefore put in place a program for celebrations across the year where Account Managers will ensure that they no longer miss out, such as our ice-cream day.

TIME

HEAD OFFICE

Head office staff receive Christmas eve off fully paid. 

FIELD OPERATIVES

Unfortunately, due to shift patterns, etc. time is not something that the Company can offer field operatives.  However, what it has done is introduced an electronic time attendance system that allows for all shifts worked, including cover of absent colleagues to ensure that every possible minute of holiday accrued is accounted for and granted.

RECOGNITION

SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

Senior Management Team received an all expenses paid weekend to Spain in 2019, but sadly COVID has interrupted this reward and recognition for the additional time and hours spent in the dereliction of their roles.

FIELD OPERATIVES

Chillys water bottle in recognition of the praise they have received from clients, Account Managers and the Board.

WELFARE CHECKS

HEAD OFFICE

WINNS has an open door policy and a relaxed attitude towards which actively creates a supportive culture of diversity and inclusion, all adding to staff wellbeing.  Annual appraisals also provide a formal platform for concerns to be raised about wellbeing and addressed.

FIELD OPERATIVES

1. WINNS has a monthly newsletter for staff.  This newsletter includes quizzes and competitions and also seeks to elicit the views of field operatives in order to encourage their participation into what the company should start doing, keep doing and stop doing.  WINNS appreciates that those ‘at the coal face’ often have the best ideas and are always keen to encourage their contribution.
2. Account Managers are tasked with interviewing a member of staff once a month in order to give them an opportunity to express their views and have an influence on their experience of working for WINNS.  In addition, members of Head Office and the Board visit field operatives on site to gain an insight into whether the Company’s core values are reflective of their experience.
3. The Company makes every effort to employ Managers who will consider the wellbeing of their field operatives as of paramount importance.  There are systems and checks within Head Office processes to monitor the degree to which this is being adhered to and HR processes to support.
4. WINNS ensure that every site is visited at a minimum once a month during shift times and welfare levels recorded and monitored.

The Company takes action as soon as it is made aware that the wellbeing of staff is being threatened.

True to form, all WINNS employees were asked for their input.  Here are a selection of their responses, warts and all:

What our staff recognise that we currently do to support employee well-being

• We have a call centre that is operational 24/7 to provide support
• We hold regular weekly meetings with all teams 
• The Back Office team provide 9-5 support
• When someone is on SSP we hold welfare meetings to see if anything we can do will ease their return to work and just to generally see how they are
• We include links in the Monthly staff email for mental health help 
• On the website there is a mental health document 
• We have sourced a company that provides independent advice for all staff
• Our Account Managers can be contacted 24/7 and are available for meetings with staff if they need it 
• We have a whole group Monday meeting which provides a forum for sharing concerns
• The owners provide all expenses paid events
• The Board of Directors are approachable and compassionate
• There is an open door policy
• There is always a Director available to provide support
• We have nice offices
• The company adopts a flexible approach to holiday requests whenever operations permit
• The Senior Management team are ready with compliments and positive feedback
• WINNS provides job security
• We have a Mental Health and Well-being policy on our website, and this is also mentioned in our monthly newsletter.
• WINNS provides a nice working environment with lots of team activities and social events.
• We have policies and procedures in place to deal with mental wellbeing
• We encourage staff to work towards personal goals in their personal quarterly targets
• We encourage breaks away from the screen 
• Reward and recognise great work

What our employees feel we could do more to support the well-being of our staff? 

• Offer support services, eg mental health, debt support (there are many) could possibly sort a package (external)
• Encourage taking a walk on lunch breaks maybe
• Send out 6 monthly wellbeing forms?  If anyone has anything they're struggling with we can hold a meeting with them or guide them with help in case they do not read the monthly email, or even have an option to have a chat with someone online with it being anonymous if that would be possible?
• Arrange a wellbeing workshop
• Ask frontline staff to complete an anonymous survey
• Fitness challenges - get our endorphins going!
• Head Office  - Break out in an impromptu dance!  Sitting at a desk for an eight hour shift can take its toll on our physical and mental well being -  a two minute dance party encourages staff to get up from their computer, let loose and get the blood flowing, to experience a healthy mental release!
• Flexible work hours for improved work/life balance
• Designate a wellbeing officer that goes to sites purely to gauge the wellbeing of staff

What our employees feel we currently do that has a negative impact on the well-being of our staff? 

• Managers not trained or showing an interest in the staffs well being
• Having an alternative contact than their Contracts Managers
• Changing the Contract Manager at sites, with Contracts changing and the swap around with sites, some people may have only felt comfortable speaking with their old Contracts Manager.  Potentially something to think about.
• Staff working long hours?  for example Security works 12 hour days, I know it is a choice but we should check in with the staff to ensure they are handling the workload mentally well
• Working hours
• nothing

The Board takes the view that you shouldn’t ask if you are going to get upset with the answers.  It is not always about what you think but the perceptions of your staff.  Therefore, following this exercise, WINNS will be:

• Reviewing Managers training on staff welfare and the actions they can take to ensure their wellbeing.
• Changes - when they have a change in hours/manager/site etc are we being clear and making the transition as smooth as possible for our staff in order for them to feel at ease?