Colleague self-care is always at the front of our minds at Asda, but the coronavirus pandemic has really amplified its importance in what is a difficult time for all.
Everyone at Asda has worked brilliantly together throughout the pandemic and World Wellbeing Week gives us a great opportunity to think about our own wellbeing, as well as how we can help friends and colleagues with theirs.
There are six strands to wellbeing – emotional, physical, social, community, financial and career – and there are so many factors that can have an impact on each of these. Early on in the pandemic we created a wellbeing site, which is filled with ideas for how colleagues can help others as well as themselves.
Our emotional wellbeing, or mental health, is really important and we have lots of resources such as an assistance programme, providing 24/7 mental health support and mindfulness sessions. We have also shared information on the stress bucket exercise. This taps into individual activities which help lighten stress, such as exercise or rest. We have also launched mental health training in depots as well as some stores.
Financial wellbeing is about feeling in control of your money and budgeting your spending. We have helped by offering Neybar to colleagues, providing access to all sorts of useful tools and budget trackers, while Colleague Assistance Programme is free and available 24/7 for those who may need a little extra support.
We help career wellbeing through the Home Offices Academy which gives those at our head office structured learning to follow, while our Retail Academies are centres of learning for store colleagues’ leadership development, delivering modules day in and day out to help them progress from Section Leaders to General Store Managers and improve their capabilities to be the very best leaders they can be.
Social wellbeing focuses on being connected to the ones we care about, while physical wellbeing makes a big difference to how we feel, both physically and mentally. A recent survey commissioned by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) found that stress, anxiety, tiredness and boredom are the main reasons many of us may be struggling to eat healthily at the moment, with 27% of us eating less healthily than usual during lockdown. As well as this, 32% of us have been sitting down a lot more and 29% of Brits are less active than usual.
We have been encouraging colleagues to follow the lead of our Community Champions and get involved with supporting their local community, which keeps you connected and is a great way to support your own and other’s wellbeing.
Our wellbeing is more important than ever at the moment and it’s really important that we make it a priority.
