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How We Support Our Employees' Mental Health

Mental Health First Aider

Hyper Recruitment Solutions is a company that takes mental health seriously. We are pleased to announce that Dan Dawson, our Associate Recruitment Director, recently passed his mental health first aid training - this means that we now have a qualified Mental Health First Aider among us.

In his own words, here's why Dan feels so strongly about the important of workplace mental health support:

Mental health first aider Dan Dawson

"Having been through one of the toughest years in living memory, we at HRS felt it vital to be able to spot the challenges that people will face with their mental health. As we prepared to return to the office after working from home for so long, we knew that our staff would need support, and adding a Mental Health First Aider to the team ensures that there's someone there to support our people when they need it the most.

"HRS is a very supportive business; we value all of our staff, and we want to be there for them when they face challenging times. For me personally, the training has opened my eyes to some very serious challenges that people face today - I'm glad to be on hand when someone is struggling, and I hope that the whole team will benefit from knowing that I am here to help."

Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

The mental wellbeing of the HRS team has always been a priority for us, but the events of the past year or so have made this kind of support more crucial than ever.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a widespread mental health crisis. Leading mental health charity Mind went so far as to call it a 'second pandemic', reporting a huge increase in calls to their helpline. People from all walks of life have found themselves struggling to cope, for a variety of reasons:

  • Job loss and financial worries

  • Being unable to see friends and family

  • Health anxiety about COVID-19

  • Deaths of loved ones

  • Various hobbies and activities being off-limits during lockdown

  • Disrupted work-life balance due to working from home

  • A feeling of instability due to frequent rule changes, loss of routine, etc.

What we've been doing to help our employees

During this very challenging period, we at HRS have been working hard to look after our employees. Our aim throughout the coronavirus pandemic has been to enable everyone to continue with their normal routines while also making allowances for self-care and mental health crisis management where necessary.

Like many companies, HRS made the switch to remote working last year, and most of our employees are still working from home now. We recognised straight away the importance of keeping the team connected and ensuring that nobody felt isolated; this is why we've been hosting frequent virtual meetups like our end-of-quarter celebration last month.

There was also our February Mile Challenge - HRS employees spent the month of February running, walking and cycling in an effort to clock up as many miles as possible and raise money for three fantastic charities (including Mind). We managed to cover 2,824 miles between us, and the total raised for our chosen charities was £7,692. Not only did this challenge help us to stay active during the latest lockdown, it also encouraged us to come together as a team and make a spirited group effort in spite of the fact that we weren't able to meet up in person.

We are constantly exploring new ways to keep our people engaged and happy in the workplace - in addition to the special events mentioned above, we have trialled a number of other initiatives during the coronavirus crisis, including:

  • App for confidential mental health support and advice

  • HRS running club

  • HRS book club

  • HRS netball club (coming soon)

  • Yoga sessions

All of these things have helped the HRS team to maintain good mental health during these unprecedented times.

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