A business that has the wellbeing of its staff in mind

A desire to drive innovation and competitive edge through organisational culture has resulted in a strong focus on health and wellbeing at Vodafone Ireland, which is now very much at the heart of the company's operations. "Its roots go back to our culture," says HR director Rachel Mooney.

“We have tried to move away from the traditional employer-employee relationship to a community. We talk about the environment we have here instead of the workplace. What we’ve been doing is laying the building blocks of a community.”

The aim is to maximise collaboration and consultation and a sense of shared objectives between people in all areas and at all levels of the business. Even the office layout supports this.

Gone are traditional sectioned-off departments, meeting rooms, corridors and pathways. They have been replaced with an open plan design and working environment where no one has an office – not even the chief executive – and people can sit where they like whenever they like – if no one else is sitting there, of course.

“This helps greatly with accessibility, which is also very important to us,” says Mooney. “All of the business leaders are very accessible. We have our company ‘all hands’ meeting each quarter and we do this in people’s own work space, not in some special meeting area.”

However, the innovation goes much further than physical layout or interaction between people. “It’s very important that we take care of both the physical and mental wellbeing of our employees – that’s part of being a community.”

Range of activities

Vodafone’s approach to staff health and wellbeing encompasses a range of sporting, cultural, artistic and other activities which are aimed at offering employees the opportunity to participate in activities they would enjoy and find helpful and fulfilling in one way or another.

These range from what might be described as the usual sporting activities, such as football, to more challenging pursuits like the recent Vodafone sponsored Dublin City Triathlon which saw no fewer than 120 Vodafone Ireland employees take part.

To further develop wellbeing within Vodafone, last year a group of seven “wellbeing ambassadors” from across the business were appointed.

One of them, Carol Wallace, notes: "We needed input from employees on what they wanted us to focus on so we did a survey and interestingly, over 70 per cent of respondents wanted to learn and understand more about improving mental fitness or agility. As a result of this we created a programme called Thinkwell."

The Thinkwell programme was designed to nurture a culture that empowers employees to feel and live well through practical advice, tools and techniques and knowledge-sharing on all things related to mental fitness. These include areas such as how to manage energy levels, nutrition, living in the now and strategies and techniques one can put in place so that people can be at their optimum, whether it be in work or personal life.

“There can be a taboo around talking about mental wellness in most organisations,” Mooney points out, “but not in Vodafone. I think that is because of the culture and sense of community we have built here. Trust levels are high.”

This focus on mental fitness has its physical expression in the Vodafone Wellness Centre, which is another departure from corporate norms and is more akin to a health spa than part of the headquarters of a major communications organisation.

Away from the office

The Wellness Centre has been designed deliberately to give the impression of being away from the office, right down to the almost complete absence of the colour red. It includes a reception area, a state-of-the- art gym, therapy and treatment rooms, and the Thinkwell room.

In the Wellness Centre, staff can avail of one-to-one personal training, gym classes, sports massages, reflexology, to name but a few.

The Thinkwell room is designed to encourage relaxation and informality. With beanbags instead of chairs, it is finished in pastel tones. It has a very large LED monitor on one wall and a changing vinyl screen currently depicting a waterfall on another.

"It's a place where you can come to relax and refocus", says Mary Connolly, also an ambassador. "Everything that goes on in the Thinkwell room relates to mental fitness and agility. We also run mindfulness meditation courses, yoga and use the space for workshops on topics relating to mental fitness"

The Wellness Centre was formally launched during the summer with the assistance of musician Niall Breslin – known as Bressie – who spoke about his own personal battle with mental health issues. "It was very interesting to hear him talk about how he personally deals with these challenges and finds practical solutions in his day- to-day high-performing environment," says Mooney.

There is also a direct link to the performance of the business. “Having a healthy workforce helps drive our performance and results as a business,” she adds.

Overall goal

This means that there is an overall goal associated with Vodafone’s wellbeing programmes. “Unusually enough, we have agreed a goal at leadership level on the expected usage of the facilities and services,” Mooney says, “but there is no programme or activity that anyone has to engage in – we encourage people and let them know what is available; if it’s not for them that’s okay as well.

“We hope the vast majority of our employees engage in at least one activity which will help them with their physical or mental well-being.

“Our customers are operating in a rapidly changing environment and our employees work in a high pressure highly competitive world when it comes to meeting their needs. We want to support them and ensure that they are able to perform at their best in doing that.”