Most of us can remember the first time someone made us feel welcome at a new job. An invite to lunch, an offer of a coffee, someone taking the time to show you the ropes. Small gestures, but they told you something important: you are a part of this.
That feeling is the heart of this year's national Mental Health Awareness Week theme, ‘Belonging Matters’, and it resonated with us strongly.
‘There for Each Other’ is one of Inde’s core values. In our mahi that’s about sharing our time and knowledge, sharing the workload, and owning it together when something goes wrong. In practice, it looks a lot like that first welcome. It’s being seen, included and able to contribute. It’s someone noticing you’ve had a tough day and checking in. It’s a teammate dropping what they’re doing to walk you through a tricky problem, without making you feel silly for asking.
This October, we used Mental Health Awareness Week as an opportunity to pause, reconnect and think about what belonging looks like in our workplace.
Sharing food and firing up the BBQs across our offices gave our team an opportunity to step away from the screen, enjoy some kai and connect in person.
We also appreciated three of our very brave team members who shared their own journey with belonging and wellbeing at our team training session. Their insights and experiences were a reminder that everyone has a different story and all deserve to be seen, valued and included.
Opt in challenges made things real across the week as we thought about ways we could connect with someone we hadn’t spoken to for a while, took a walk for a 1:1 meeting, found fun ways to connect with others online via quizzes or wordles and even started team meetings with finding out more about each other to encourage building connection.
Photos: Inde team BBQ this MHAW
At Inde, we think it’s hugely important to enable our people to do their best work. That starts with creating an environment where people feel comfortable asking questions, admitting when they’re stuck or speaking up when they’re having a rough week.
It’s about knowing the people you work alongside have your back, and that you can contribute, learn and grow without feeling you have to figure everything out on your own.
Our recent partnership with ignite as our Employee Assistance Programme provider is a practical way we are supporting and investing in our people’s wellbeing. ignite’s proactive approach to holistic wellbeing was a fit with Inde’s values and provides the team and their families with a range of practitioners, activities, professional supports and resources. ignite’s online, self service portal makes it easy, confidential and accessible to access wellbeing services.
It doesn’t replace looking out for each other. It adds to it. Sometimes, being there for someone means helping them find the right person to talk to. With ignite onboarding now underway, we’re pleased to be making another avenue of support available to our people, whenever they need it.
Mental Health Awareness Week is one week of the year. Belonging is something we continue to build and foster throughout the other 51.
We’re proud of the way our team connected during the week, and of the everyday culture those moments reflect. When we make time to connect, look out for each other and create space for everyone to belong, we build a stronger team. And that’s something worth investing in, all year round.