A Time to Talk
By: Celine Crawford
Tags: Therapy, Company Culture, Employees, Mental Health, Wellbeing

New Year’s resolutions. Time to move. Time to renovate. Time to diet. What about time to talk? A study by eBay found those aged 25 to 34 spend the most on self-improvement during January — a whopping £1066.20 on making themselves feel new. Within that total £111.30 was spent on fitness equipment, and £72.70 on gym memberships. But what about the mental gym?

Today is Time to Talk day. Charity group Time To Change, in a bid to improve behaviour and attitudes towards mental health, is highlighting the power of everyday conversations to fight stigma and stereotypes. Although educating people about mental health has started to become part of the agenda in recent years, it rarely features on the priority list of a company.

At Smarkets one of our core values is openness. As part of that transparency we have always urged our employees to ‘bring their whole selves’ to work. Unlike other places I have worked where there is a clear delineation between your work self and your private self, it is refreshing to be able to present yourself as you are. And who we are includes our challenges as well as our strengths.

To support this value, we have been offering a counselling policy to employees for the last three years. The initiative was actually created by employees themselves when Smarkets was a 30-person company. Today, with 120 people across three countries, it is great to see that our workforce feels more comfortable signing up for it and that the stigma about even deciding to talk to someone is being addressed.

Tête-à-tête

By choosing to opt in, employees get financial support to engage in therapy on a completely anonymous basis. We also regularly host internal group sessions coined: tête-à-tête. These sessions are for employees to share with each other how they are feeling about work, their personal lives, or anything else they would like to talk about. In these sessions, the traditional bonds between colleagues are often transcended, and they can become a key part of each other’s support systems, almost like family.

The meetups are informal and held on an opt-in basis. Some weeks groups were so large we needed to split into smaller ones. At other times it is a true ‘tête-à-tête’ with only two people! We’re also lucky to have a meditation room that allows our employees to read, take a nap, disconnect, and take part in meditation sessions. Our office manager is always looking for ideas to innovate on ways we can offer mental support and wellbeing.

As a young entrepreneurial business, we are in a unique position to set an example and make health in the workplace an integral part of our culture. In the end, it is no surprise that improving employee mental health also leads to better business outcomes. But if you are still not convinced, then simply look at mental health from a profitability standpoint. Statistically, ill mental health is the leading cause of absenteeism in the UK with 1 in 6 workers suffering from conditions like depression and anxiety. This costs £1,035 per employee. So take the pledge today, grab a cup of tea and biscuits, and get talking. In the meantime, I will leave you with one of my favourite poems by Robert Frost: A Time to Talk.