We were beyond thrilled to be told we are finalists in the Health and Wellbeing award at the New Forest Brilliance in Business Awards 2021.
It means so much because we take staff wellbeing seriously and looking after the people who work for us has always been a priority. We don’t just talk the talk; we actively invest in staff and their happiness. Here are some of the things we’ve put in place to support our people…
We actively support those struggling with mental health – our core values centre around care, empathy, compassion, trust, respect and understanding. Our culture and ethos both revolve around the fact that we care for everyone, not just our clients. This culture then radiates though our work with families and children.
We believe if we can’t care for our own then how can we understand the needs of the families in our care. This is evident through our induction and continued practices. Our culture encourages staff to discuss issues they are having at home so we can support them in any way we can and line managers check in regularly with staff. We also work with a psychological coach who can also be accessed by staff if they are struggling or need extra support.
Staff rewards – we recently organised our 20 years celebration event which was created to mark our second century in business but to also reward staff for their contributions. We had a talk on managing your own wellbeing and self-care and during the day staff had access to activities to support their wellbeing including meditation, Pilates, yoga, massage and hypnotherapy.
Annual staff recognition awards – these awards are given to staff who have demonstrated our core values and some who have faced hardship and difficulties and overcome them to continue to deliver excellent customer care.
We operate a flexible working from home programme—we have all been working from home since the start of the pandemic and we have seen the benefits to both staff and the business. Going forward we will be offering blended working from home arrangements for our head office team. Many of our staff work from home as a permanent arrangement as this enables them to balance work with other responsibilities, such as a relative that they care for or to be flexible around their children.
Freedom is more than a business; it is a family and we treat all our staff as though they are part of one big family. We are proud of what we have built and Freedom wouldn’t be the business it is today without our amazing staff so it’s important we look after them.
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