Feature
F
or the last 19 years, the
Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development has
carried out nationwide research
into the health and wellbeing of
people in the workplace. The most
recent edition of the survey, carried
out in November 2018, surveyed
more than 1,000 HR professionals
representing around 3.2 million
UK employees. The results of the
survey are intriguing and reflect
some of the insidious trends that
we’ve witnessed within the events
industry. While absences are at
an all-time low, 83 per cent of
respondents said that employees
work while unwell and that 63
per cent work while off sick or on
holiday. Thirty-seven per cent of
those surveyed had seen an increase
in stress-related absences.
When it came to long-term
absences, the two top causes were
mental ill health and stress, while
the top three causes of work-
related stress were volume of work,
management styles, and working
relationships with colleagues.
While this survey covered
many industries, its findings are
undeniably applicable to the events
industry, which is why wellness
and company culture have become
increasingly important elements of
an event prof’s working life.
To find out more about how
companies in the industry are
tackling workplace issues, we asked
a range of businesses what internal
changes and initiatives they have
implemented.
26 — September
The pursuit
of happiness
From training mental health first aiders to healthy living
incentives, here are some of the wellbeing schemes events
businesses are adopting
Work/life balance
Classes, events and teambuilding
Ali Blows, head of commercial events
and business development at the
National Theatre: “We’re always
looking for ways to increase the
positive wellbeing of our team and
one thing that has gone down well
is introducing weekly yoga classes.
Running events can be quite full-on
so it’s really great to be able to go
along to a free yoga session, switch
off, zen out and enjoy a moment of
calm in a busy week.”
Among various wellbeing
initiatives, in June the Paris office of
Comexposium had 150 people sign up
for the ‘Challenge contre la Faim’ a
sports day, teambuilding activity, and
opportunity to raise money to fight
worldwide hunger.
Liz Young, head of events at
Historic Royal Palaces: “We make
an effort to be flexible across the
teams in order to support everyone
in busy periods. Our managers take
care to allocate events evenly, and
this applies to weekend events too.
While we all work normal office
hours, we make sure that we allow
the team time to rest after an
evening event; for example, taking
time off in lieu.”
Lee Ali, MD of Expo Stars:
“Working in exhibitions can be
physically and mentally exhausting,
so it’s crucial you look after the
wellbeing of your staff. Keep them
well fed and hydrated and schedule
regular breaks. Make sure your
team onsite doesn’t have to worry
about what’s going on in the office
– this can add to the stress and
prevent them from being present
with attendees.”
Emma Cartmell, CEO of CHS
Group: “As we’ve grown as a
company, we’ve had to introduce a
more structured approach to our
new starters which now includes
our ‘tailor-made home-workers
health and well-being strategy’.
Our shared culture is important to
us and we recognise that flexible
working offers great benefits, but
the contradiction of this, is that
home working can, on occasion, be
isolating.”