Mental health and wellness

This Mental Health Awareness Week we’re reflecting on how much time we spend in our industry thinking about our clients and designing wonderful experiences for their guests. It’s important work – in fact, it IS the work – but there’s another consideration that often gets lost: thinking about our colleagues and designing wonderful experiences for them, every day, in the workplace and in their lives.

A recent study (Headspace 2024, ‘Workplace State of Mind’) found 77% of employees reporting work stress as having had a negative impact on their health, with 71% saying it had also caused problems in their relationships outside of work. Back in 2022, Gallup were claiming fewer than one in four employees believed their organization really cared about them.

As an industry, anecdotally at least, we know we have been terrible at this. Stress, burn-out, addiction, failed relationships: at some point in our careers, if it hasn’t happened to us, it has happened to someone close to us. The first step towards addressing it, is admitting it.

There are no easy answers. At TFI Lodestar we don’t claim any special insight or magic strategy for employee wellness. We’re trying to create a supportive environment where team members feel comfortable discussing their mental health concerns without fear of judgment. We have a St John Ambulance-trained mental health First Aider available 24/7. We’ve developed an employee Wellness Action Plan, built from incredibly helpful resources available from the Mental Health charity Mind.

Is that enough? The truth is, it’s never enough.

Clients pay the bills, feed and clothe us, pay our rents and mortgages. It’s important that we think about them every day. But without our employees, we are nothing. This Mental Health Awareness Week let’s remember to ask ourselves whether we’re doing everything we can to keep our colleagues safe and well. In fact, let’s think about it every week.