Navigating helpful mental health resources with Access Bookings
Award-winning TV, film and media booking accommodation and travel booking specialists Access Bookings faced serious challenges resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. As so many TV and film productions came to a halt, productivity plummeted, they lost a lot of their projected workload and projects, and they were forced to make many difficult decisions around furlough, restructures, and redundancies. The rapid transition from a fully face-to-face working environment to completely remote was another major challenge, and times were really tough for the whole organisation.
The team at Access Bookings already had in place Wellness Action Plans, a mental health workplace champion, fifty mental health first aid trained staff to ensure presence in all teams, a calendar of events supporting mental health throughout the year e.g. fundraising walks for Mind, but they needed to strip things back to make their mental health support the most effective and efficient it could be, due to limited resources and no face to face contact.
That’s where Kate Wood, Project and Engagement Manager for MHPP, was able to advise them of their different options. This led to their signing the Mental Health at Work Commitment. They identified it was managers who needed the most support, so Kate ran training sessions around conflict management and management styles (6 different sessions at 6 different times to ensure everyone who needed the training received it), which, alongside the Wellness Action Plans, has given managers confidence to have open conversations with their teams.
Crucially, they have brought in a mental health policy; menopause policy; and a domestic abuse policy. These have provided managers with support and resources to ensure they can look after their team as best as possible. By taking things back to basics and implementing changes with consistency, the impact on HR has been reduced. As a whole, things have really improved across the organisation, leading to an uplift to Gold in their recent Investors In People accreditation, previously Silver, with the focus on wellbeing of staff highlighted as a main area to highlight in gaining this award.
Rhia Oliver, HR & Welfare Advisor, said “consistency has been key”- it’s not just about having a one-off event day to raise awareness around mental health, instead it’s been about “embedding daily change in the culture”.