In September 2019, as part of our annual Learning at Work initiative, we ran a series of wellbeing workshops across our international locations. This intensive burst of activity introduced employees to a range of wellbeing topics and taster sessions under the new framework. In November 2019 we connected globally on ‘Month of Movement’ an initiative to encourage our employees to get active during this period, as well as raising funds for charity. This included another ambitious charity cycle by our colleagues in Asia and more localised activities in other regions such as the introduction of lunchtime power walks.
January 2020 saw the launch of our global wellbeing plans and introduced mental health as our key theme for this year. To help remove the stigma of mental health and to kick-start conversations and initiatives about this very important topic across our organisation, ‘Time to Talk’ events took place across the globe. Simultaneously, we also launched a wellbeing section within Edrington Academy, our online learning resource, which has a range of interesting wellbeing content and learning structured around Mind, Body, Lifestyle.
In spring 2020 we launched our new global employee assistance programme (EAP) for all employees and their immediate families. The EAP provides free confidential, independent and professional counselling and information across a broad range of issues 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. Another new mental health initiative saw the broadening out of a mindfulness initiative started by colleagues in Edrington Americas. Twice a week, employees globally have the opportunity to join ’15 Minutes of Mindfulness’ and participate in a short guided meditation.
As a result of the successful launch of our Wellbeing Framework, our employee survey confirmed that 78% of all employees have an awareness and a positive perception of the framework and the activities in place.