Emotional wellbeing in the workplace

At BGL, we recognise that mental health is just as important as physical health and offer a range of support for our people from mental health first-aiders to dedicated helplines. Here Change Delivery Manager Kevin Fish talks about why he views this support as invaluable to maintaining a happy and healthy team:

For most of you who know me, personally, you’d never have thought I’d be writing this article…

I’m not the most in tune with my emotions, something my wife would definitely attest to. I can count on one hand the number of times in the last five to 10 years I’ve been overly-affected by my emotions — real emotions not just getting-choked-up-at-Sheldon’s-speech-in-the-final-episode-of-Big-Bang- emotions!

1. When I got married. Waiting at the altar for my wife to walk down the aisle (she was late btw), and imagining us getting married in front of all of our friends and family.
2. The birth of my son. I remember trying to deliver the news to my father-in-law but not being able to properly form sentences through the tears of joy.
3. The death of my second son mid-pregnancy. Having to phone my dad, who was waiting at home for us on New Year’s Eve, and tell him what had happened.

Sorry to end on a bit of a downer there, but it’s important for context. Outside of these life-altering events, you don’t often see a lot of emotion from me.

Photo by Ignacio Campo on Unsplash

And in my work life

I’m that annoyingly overly-positive guy — pretty much regardless of the situation. The guy who regularly uses phrases like ‘living the dream’.

For a big portion of this year, I’ve been on a significantly challenging project, more so than any in my working life. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to be challenged - it’s built into our core values here at BGL Tech — but this project was different.

Due to the time-sensitive nature, I needed to drop other parts of my role. Parts of my role that were important to me. Parts of the role that really drive me.

But hey, you still heard me say: “Living the dream!”. The key difference being now it was laced with sarcasm and more of it day by day.

I was unhappy. But I wasn’t aware of it.

How did I realise?

Well, things started to go back to normal. I got the time back doing what really drives me — coaching people and teams in efficient change delivery, spending my time progressing my personal development to move into a coaching role.

Recently I’ve been preparing a workshop based on some ideas taken from a recent agile conference, I spend half the night thinking about how I’m going to run the session.

How I can inspire the group? How do I shape the session to get others passionate about continuous improvement? I imagined how I would feel at the end of the session — excited, happy, rewarded.

I can’t sleep. It’s 2am. I wasn’t thinking about this because I couldn’t sleep, I wasn’t sleeping because I was thinking about this.

The passion was back! And then it hit me. WOW, I really wasn’t happy before now…

I’m a very data-driven guy looking to move into a coaching role. Part of my personal development is to spend more time considering the emotional aspects of things. I think it’s this that led to this moment.

So why am I telling you this?

My problems clearly pale into comparison to a lot of people out there. It doesn’t mean that it’s still not important to face into them though.

I’m quite fortunate that here at BGL Tech there’s loads of support available:

1. We have a free employee assistance scheme, a number you can call for help and advice
2. We have trained wellbeing first aiders who are there to talk confidentially whenever you need it
3. One of my colleagues Sarah Bembridge runs various mindfulness groups each week focusing on subjects such as dealing with anxiety, being in the present and having peace of mind.

Sarah told me why she started these groups:

“I started these sessions as having used these myself with my children I saw a lot of benefit. I saw an opportunity to build on BGL Tech’s other wellbeing services by running similar sessions in the workplace.

“The groups are really well attended, we have lots of regulars both from within BGL Tech and from other areas of BGL. There’s a noticeable difference in how people enter the room and how they leave. The session tackles not only the issues we face at work but in our home lives as well.”

And I’m sure there’s also much, much more on offer across the business.

As a Change Delivery Manager I’m re-assured that mental health is treated the same way as physical health. If you had a toothache you wouldn’t hesitate to go to the dentist. Should I, or a member of my team, ever be in a situation where things become a struggle, it’s comforting to know these services are available at my place of work.

For me, the fix was quite easy. I needed to get back in touch with what really, really motivated me in the workplace - what floated my boat. But, and here’s the important part, I needed to realise there was something wrong first. I needed to take time out to reflect on how I was feeling.

My advice to you, be open with yourself. Understand what keeps you sane and evaluate this on a regular basis. Talk to you manager, your team mates, a friend or family. Talk to someone!

To show its commitment to mental health awareness, BGL Tech hosted tea parties across the business for It’s Time to Talk Day 2019 — a national initiative encouraging people to make a conversation about mental health and tackle stigma.

In conclusion

Part of me is scared to put this post out there. For most people reading this, especially from work, this is a side of me that they would not have seen before. A side I rarely share.

I’ve done so because I feel it’s important. You should be happy at work because we spend so much of our lives there.

Whilst I got back to a happy state without really realising there was anything wrong, what I have learnt is that in the same situation I need to be aware of the impact it will have on me, remember what I’m passionate about and use that as my anchor.