this talk: is about corporate wellbeing - with Savannah Seymour
The cost to UK businesses of depleted mental health of employees is estimated between £33bn - £42bn per year (source) – an eye-watering reality of the human experience and universal issue which transcends industry, age, identity, gender or race. The tail end of the millennial generation are entering into senior positions at their places of work whilst the older Gen Z population are just joining the labour market – both lending themselves to the force of change we are seeing as corporate wellbeing is becoming a competitive drive by companies to recruit and keep the best talent.
I was 24 when I started my first job at a London-based city law firm. I had previously worked at a US firm – a corporate setting which had not yet awoken to the mental health issues young lawyers were falling victim to – with round-the-clock agile working practices, competing court deadlines and sky-high billable targets, fee earners were struggling to juggle these mounting pressures in a bid to keep their hard-fought high-paying gig. Straight out of law school, my mental health was in recovery from months of putting my grades before myself; averaging 12-hour days of case-cramming without a single day off in 6 months, I graduated with a 2.1 and severe depression. I had started this job with a long-held underlying belief that this is what success was: discipline at any cost. What I had yet to learn is that my firm’s competitive edge was their ability to support and empower their employees to seek the help they needed – a culture which bled from the top down.
Shortly after joining, in light of mental health awareness month, the firm put on multiple events a week in May which was comprised of external guest speakers about nutrition and mental health, critically acclaimed writers and advocates, and most poignantly, a panel of internal speakers from around the firm speaking of their highly personal experiences (of surviving suicide attempts, overcoming eating disorders and battling nervous breakdowns to name a few). Most powerfully of all, these panellists were made up of senior management, from heads of business services departments, to partners and senior associates – all leading by example as they candidly exposed their vulnerabilities in a completely packed corporate board room with no seat spared. The impact of this left a hopeful, thought-provoking imprint on every attendee, leading myself and multiple colleagues to share our own experiences with one another and reflect upon the sheer bravery we had witnessed that day. As demonstrated, corporate wellbeing can and should go beyond providing mental health programs and benefits – we are seeing an important and evolving shift in corporate culture as employers are providing a safe space for their employees to showcase their ability to be powerful, successful and unapologetically human. I have witnessed first hand the overwhelmingly positive impact this open culture has had on myself and colleagues by promoting the importance of owning one’s mental health journey.
Written by Savannah Seymour - eData Project Co-ordinator.