Mind – Time to Change Employer Pledge

Emma Taylor, Phoenix Training and Development Manager, takes a look at the what the Mind Time to Change Employer Pledge is and why it was so important that Phoenix committed to it.

“The Mind, Time to Change Employer Pledge is a commitment to changing the way we all think and act about mental health in the workplace and I’m delighted that we have signed this pledge.

One of our company values is ‘We embrace diversity and inclusion’. To be fully inclusive we need to make sure we create a work environment where all individuals are treated fairly, respectfully and are given equal access to opportunities and resources. Given that 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem, we wanted to make sure our employee’s feel as supported with any mental health problems as they would with any physical health problems.

One of the main reasons for people not discussing mental health problems with their manager is the fear it will ‘hold them back’. We want to make sure all employees know they can talk openly about their mental health, without it having a negative impact on their career with us.

We have a plan for the next 12 months to encourage people to talk more about mental health and to promote good mental wellbeing. I was delighted when 24 members of staff came forward to be Internal Champions to help with this and to provide support to their colleagues.

We started things off earlier this month by providing ‘Making Sense of Mental Health’ training for all employees, and we’ll be running monthly, informal ‘tea and toast’ chats to give people the opportunity to share their experiences. We’ll also be reviewing our internal policies to ensure there is parity between mental and physical health problems and we’ll create a Wellbeing Strategy as part of our long term commitment to supporting employee’s health and wellbeing.

This is the start of our journey, a journey I am proud to be part of that will help to remove the stigma and discrimination that is often associated with mental health.”