Employee wellbeing typically focuses on the mental health factors that can impact employees, but it can also encompass physical health. Employers must take steps to ensure the wellbeing of their employees, not only to meet their legal obligations, but to facilitate the best environment for employees to perform at their best on a day-to-day basis.

At Lanes, we recognise the significance of wellbeing and have implemented it as a core element of our operational and strategic framework. With our People Strategy, we commit to ensuring that every member of our team works in an environment that promotes and supports their overall wellbeing. In the following guide, we explain the importance of employee wellbeing initiatives, the potential mitigating factors, and how Lanes puts employees first.

Understanding Wellbeing

From an employer's perspective, wellbeing is the state in which individuals can perform effectively in their work and personal lives, thriving in all aspects and contributing positively to their environment. Employees across all sectors of work face various challenges that can significantly impact their wellbeing.

For instance:

• Physical health: challenges such as chronic pain or fatigue can arise, especially in physically demanding roles like those on the front lines of drainage work. Ensuring proper workplace ergonomics and safety protocols can help to alleviate this risks, making sure employees understand how to take care of themselves and have the time to do so.
• Mental health: stress and conditions such as anxiety and depression may be exacerbated by high-pressure environments typical in office settings. Employers can manage these pressures by facilitating access to mental health services and not overworking employees.
• Emotional health: the emotional toll of balancing demanding workloads with personal life can impact overall satisfaction and performance. Sometimes these emotional burdens are out of our reach, but offering room for growth and new opportunities in work can help, and is part of our responsibility.
• Social health: the quality of social interactions and relationships at work plays a significant role in employee satisfaction and engagement. Fostering a supportive and inclusive workplace culture is therefore pivotal.

Some of these factors are more prominent in certain roles; for example, we make sure to provide our drainage engineers with safety equipment, while our office admin and customer service team might benefit more from mental health management advice. However, we also train our office workers on the importance of taking regular breaks away from their desks, and offer the same mental health support to our front-line workers. We make sure we are educated on these risks for the safety and effectiveness of our workforce.

As an employer, Lanes is legally and ethically obligated to ensure the health and safety of our employees. Our duties include conducting thorough risk assessments, providing training to manage work-related stresses, ensuring reasonable workloads, and facilitating effective communication channels across all levels of the organisation.

Because we work in a physical and sometimes intense industry, we know we have a big responsibility to provide the highest safety standards for our workers. We are committed to integrating wellbeing into every aspect of our operations. This commitment is reflected in our strategic objectives that prioritise the health and happiness of our employees. We have implemented various initiatives and systems designed to support our employees comprehensively, ensuring that Lanes Group not only meets but exceeds the standards for a healthy and positive workplace. Below, we go into how we tackle wellbeing in more detail.

Strategic Objectives Aligned with Wellbeing

Lanes' commitment to wellbeing is embedded within our strategic objectives, which guide our approach to creating a nurturing and supportive work environment. Here is how we align our goals with the wellbeing of our employees:

• Creating a positive environment: we strive to foster a culture where the wellbeing of our people is integral in everything we do. This commitment means building a work environment that not only meets safety standards but also promotes a sense of security and positivity, making our employees feel that they are part of a caring community.
• Healthy lifestyles: encouraging and supporting our employees to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles are pivotal aspects of our wellbeing strategy. We provide resources and initiatives that help our employees embrace a healthier way of living, whether through physical activities, nutritional advice or mental health resources.
• Universal responsibility: we promote the idea that wellbeing is everyone’s responsibility within the company. This approach empowers all employees to participate actively in not just their own health, but also in supporting their colleagues. It fosters a collaborative environment where everyone contributes to collective wellbeing.
• Inclusive support: we are committed to supporting individuals with manageable health problems or disabilities, ensuring they have the necessary resources to continue or return to work. Our policies are designed to accommodate diverse needs and provide support systems that help all employees thrive, regardless of their health conditions.

Through these strategic objectives, we enhance the working life of our employees and encourage our workforce to be healthier, more engaged, and better equipped to meet the challenges of their roles.

Practical Steps to Promote Wellbeing

Lanes is proactive in implementing practical steps to enhance the wellbeing of our employees. These initiatives are designed to support, educate and empower our team across all levels of the organisation:

• Proactive wellbeing initiatives: we take an active approach to wellbeing, developing strategies and programmes that address the specific needs of our employees. This includes conducting regular wellbeing surveys and check-ins to understand and respond to the evolving needs of our workforce.
• Mental health support: recognising the importance of mental health, we have embedded and grown our Mental First Aiders network within the company. These trained individuals are equipped to support colleagues in distress, ensuring that help is available when needed. Additionally, we deliver mental health training to all employees, enabling them to have supportive conversations and effectively manage crises.
• Communication and culture: we are dedicated to improving communication about health and wellbeing throughout the company. This effort includes fostering a culture of open discussion around stress and mental health issues, making it easier for employees to speak up and seek help without stigma.
• Partnerships and resources: Lanes collaborates with identified partners and leverages resources, such as the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, to provide comprehensive support. This support spans emotional, physical and financial wellbeing, ensuring our employees and their families have access to the assistance they need.
• Early intervention and occupational health: we provide early intervention for employees experiencing health issues, and our occupational health services play a critical role in helping individuals remain at work or return to work as soon as possible after illness.

Key Measures of Success for Our Employee Wellbeing Strategy

In many ways, wellbeing is subjective - each individual has different reactions to stressors and requires different solutions. However, there are metrics that we can monitor to gauge the success of our employee wellbeing initiatives and whether we need to adapt our approach. With our People Strategy, we focus on the following:

• Mental First Aiders to employees ratio: we strive to maintain a strong ratio of Mental First Aiders to employees, ensuring that adequate support is readily accessible throughout our organisation. This ratio helps us gauge our capacity to address mental health needs promptly and effectively.
• Participation in wellbeing events: the uptake and involvement in wellbeing events and initiatives serve as a direct measure of engagement and the perceived value of these programmes among our employees. High participation rates indicate a strong alignment between employee needs and the support provided.
• Policy effectiveness: we regularly review the effectiveness of our wellbeing policies by monitoring metrics such as the annual reduction of sickness absence rates. This measurement tells us how well our health and wellbeing strategies are helping to reduce illness and enhance employee health.
• Voluntary employee turnover rate: lower voluntary turnover rates can be an indicator of a positive working environment where employees feel supported and valued. This measure helps us understand the broader impact of our wellbeing strategies on employee satisfaction and retention.

These metrics are vital for Lanes Group, as they provide tangible evidence of how our wellbeing initiatives contribute to a healthier, more engaged and more productive workforce.

Work With Lanes

As we move forward, we remain dedicated to enhancing our workplace environment, ensuring it promotes a healthy and fulfilling work life for every member of our team. We understand that the path to effective wellbeing is a collaborative journey, and we encourage all our employees to actively participate and share their insights, which are invaluable in shaping our future initiatives.

We invite you to join us in this ongoing effort, to not only benefit personally but also contribute to a thriving community at Lanes Group. Your feedback, participation and enthusiasm are essential as we continue to refine our strategies and ensure that our workplace remains a leader in employee wellbeing.

Learn more about working with us, or browse our job listings today for a range of frontline and office-based roles which offer various benefits including competitive salaries, flexible hours and an employer that cares about your wellbeing.

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