The campaign launches in response to research released last year, which found that over half of PR pros have suffered from severe stress or anxiety in the last 12 months.
Moreover, nine in 10 respondents said they were unhappy with the changes that employers had put in place to improve well-being in the workplace.
Jane Hunt, CEO of JBH and Rachael Rothwell, People and Culture manager, were so shocked by these statistics that they decided to reinvigorate JBH’s mental health and well-being support, intending to protect the mental health and well-being of the team.
The JBH Workplace Well-being Campaign is launching on Monday, 16th January, giving the team the day off to refresh, rejuvenate and relax on what is reportedly the most miserable day of the year, Blue Monday.
The campaign will run throughout 2023, with various well-being events scheduled for the team to participate in, whether office-based or remote.
Rachael Rothwell, JBH’s People and Culture manager, explains: “When looking at the issue of well-being in the workplace, it is important to take a strategic and mindful approach. We needed to get the basics right, ahead of the latest workplace well-being trends.”
“Our Workplace Well-being Campaign needed to embody JBH values, be open and inclusive, include employees in discussions, and initiatives should serve both the business and the employee – that’s when you know you have the right balance”.
The key ways that JBH will protect and support their employees’ mental health and well-being.
Clear career progression frameworks
Transparent salary banding and clear training and progression plans. Our people know what is expected of them and what they need to do to progress.
Putting our people before profit
Identifying client accounts that were causing the team undue stress and worry and removing them from the JBH roster. Last year we retired our largest account for the above reasons.
Empowering the team to select the activities that mean the most to them, building and enhancing JBH’s culture from the inside out.
Work and life balance
Adopting the 4.5-day working week to ensure that the team has more time to rest and enjoy themselves over the weekend, but being mindful of cramming five days’ work into four.
Cost of living payment
Adapting our financial support package to match the ever-changing world that we live in.
Jane Hunt, CEO of JBH, adds: “When I read the survey results, I was so shocked by the statistics, I knew we wanted to do something about it.”
“We recognise that this is an industry-wide issue, but first, we needed to look inwards at how we were protecting our teams’ mental health and well-being; in short, it wasn’t where I wanted it to be.”
“However, I didn’t want to create fluffy policies that look good on a job advert. I want our actions to mean something to the team and improve the experience of working in PR. JBH is far from perfect, but I am proud of what we have implemented”.
