B&M Waste’s Body & Mind Wellbeing Employee Scheme Sees Positive Results

Carbon Neutral waste management business, B&M Waste Services, launched their B&M Wellbeing scheme in 2017 and since then has seen dramatic improvements in terms of staff health, wellbeing and both customer and staff retention levels.

As a family run business who have always prioritised the wellbeing of their staff, formalising this in terms of a scheme available to all staff, has been a perfect fit with this culture.

Offering a plethora of opportunities for staff to find out more, be involved and work together to further promote a happy and healthy team includes:

• Training of all line managers in recognising the signs of stress or mental health problems, and what to do. With an open door policy so all staff have someone to talk to.
• Monthly B&M Wellbeing Bulletins providing bite size chunks of information relating to wellbeing topics including mental health, exercise, healthy hearts, addiction, mindfulness, nutrition, hydration and signposting accredited bodies
• Breakout areas at all depots to encourage time away from workstations
• Free fruit at work for all staff
• Annual health checks are available to all employees
• Free eye tests and support with the purchase of work-related optical wear
• Discounted gym memberships
• Ongoing use of the ‘Wellbeing Room’ for activities including but not limited to; yoga, mindfulness meditation, fitness, music, dance, slimming groups, massage
• Resilience training for all employees including the opportunity to take part in an 8 week mindfulness course

The measure of the wellbeing of the company being assessed and charted each month as part of the HSE Board Report linked to absence levels, staff turnover & employee survey.

Adding to their already impressive staff and customer retention levels, the first team to take part in the 8 week mindfulness course (which all interested staff will have completed by March 2019) saw some pretty impressive results:

• An overall 15% improvement in resilience scores pre and post course

Tangible changes…

• “I’m not worrying as much about house work, etc. I’m spending that extra time with the kids”
• “I’ve committed to exercising and can now (almost!) run 5k – best thing though, I’m enjoying it!”
• “I have removed two social media apps from my phone and have not missed them at all”

None quantifiable but still very real…

• “I feel like I care less about what others think of me”
• “My To Do List is now in perspective”
• “I feel more open-minded. More considerate of other people’s feelings”
• “I have definitely recovered time in the evening due to spending less time procrastinating about all the things I need to, and just doing them!”

Mick Ashall, Director for B&M Waste Services commented; “It’s fantastic to formalise the already fantastically caring culture we have into a scheme which allows our teams to openly suggest and participate in activities to improve their wellbeing. In today’s fast paced, technically driven culture it’s good to help staff remember how much our Cave Man ancestry plays in our day-to-day reactions and anxieties and to help staff build up their individual resilience to the everyday pressures of life.

B&M Waste hope other companies, particularly in the waste industry, follow suit, given the clear benefits of offering a scheme such as B&M Wellbeing.