Manchester-based travel management company, Clarity, has signed up to the Mindful Employer Charter, an initiative aimed at increasing awareness of mental health in the workplace and supporting businesses in recruiting and retaining staff.
Clarity’s group director of HR Jane Harrington (pictured) describes the initiative as “an incredibly important move”.
“Mental health awareness has increased dramatically in the past years, which is a fantastic step forward. We want to both support and educate our employees on mental health to foster an open, honest and inclusive work environment,” she adds.
Clarity join a wide range of employers from all over the UK who are involved in the initiative, including Santander UK, Yorkshire Water and Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc.
Businesses and organisations signed up to the Charter benefit from easier access to information, practical support, training, networks and assistance from other employers.
“Business travel is a fast paced and challenging environment. Often our people are under pressure to deliver consistently high levels of service and deal with challenging scenarios,” says Clarity’s CEO, Pat Mcdonagh. “We recognise this and have made it a business priority for all of executive board and senior management team to undertake Mental Health Awareness for Managers training. We’re looking to role this out wider across the business over the coming months, which is a big investment, but one we believe is essential to our employees and in keeping with our values as a business.”
Alongside the Mindful Employer Charter, Clarity has also appointed specially trained Mental Health First Aiders, located at key branches across their 13-site estate.
Harrington explains: “We have a dedicated physical first aider on each site, so we felt it was only right to begin training mental health first aiders to give staff the same level of access for mental health issues as physical.”
The agency recently won four awards at the Business Travel People Awards.
MINDFUL EMPLOYER® is a UK-wide initiative run by Workways, part of Devon Partnership NHS Trust. More information at www.mindfulemployer.net
