At Mako, we pride ourselves on our culture of putting employees and their wellbeing first. This focus on people is at the core of the Mako strategy and our vision is to create an environment where all employees feel valued and supported.
Recognising and understanding what contributes to maintaining wellbeing at work is essential to improving our employees’ productivity, engagement and happiness. Our passion for wellbeing is prioritised across the business and is especially embraced by our leadership team and HR.
We aim to actively encourage a healthy work-life balance by giving our employees the support, resources and environment they need to perform at their true potential. In addition to our benefits package, we aim to create a culture of care by offering a flexible working environment and weekly yoga and personal training sessions in our gym. Our UK Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), also offers free, confidential and 24/7 health and wellbeing support for all of our employees.
In November2019, we launched our Live Well Campaign alongside our Wellbeing month, to raise awareness of the importance of health and wellness at work and to highlight the support we have in place for our employees. Throughout the month we ran a variety of interactive workshops and engaging sessions on physical, nutritional, mental and financial wellness at work.
Some of the highlights of the month included competitive smoothie bike challenges, laughter yoga classes and calming meditation sessions. We also worked with some amazing companies such as Luminate and Feel Good Co, to deliver workshops on important topics such as anxiety, stress management, cognitive resilience, nutrition, and more – all to help employees integrate healthier lifestyle habits into their routines.
Throughout 2020, COVID-19 has led to significant changes in working styles amongst teams, bringing more uncertainty and new challenges for many of us. Mako is committed to supporting both manager and employee wellbeing, and we have continued to keep the Livewell momentum going by running a variety of online webinars and interactive sessions.
With the majority of our employees working remotely during this time, the sessions have focussed on the importance of communication and promoting a supportive environment for ourselves and our teams. During the first lockdown we ran powerful sessions on how to handle stress, anxiety and self-care in these difficult times. Additionally, our family self-care webinar, run by Work Wellbeing, gave employees with children some practical tools and tips on how best to manage remote working whilst juggling home schooling.
Since then, we have run mental health training to give our managers the tools and guidance they need to create a safe space for their teams. We have continued to work with the amazing companies introduced in our Wellbeing month to run motivation, nutrition and wellbeing webinars. We have also continued to run our weekly personal training and yoga sessions online for all employees.
We are continuously looking at incorporating new events and initiatives into our Livewell Campaign. With three lockdowns in the UK, and the new norm being working from our living rooms, we are all definitely missing the day to day kitchen interactions, hanging around the pool and snooker tables, and after work drinks. We have recently begun hosting weekly online coffee mornings via VC to recapture some of the social elements of our culture. We have also hosted a number of webinars including ‘Maximising Motivation’ by Feel Good Co, which was a great way to energise and engage employees during the final weeks of lockdown!
Overall, we believe the best way to support the wellbeing of our employees is by creating an environment and culture where employees are supported to be the best version of themselves.