Here at Eton Bridge Partners we have a very unique and special culture; as a firm we recognise that it’s important to add real value to others through our work, and to not just act as the traditional, transactional conduit between employer and candidate – that’s only part of the picture here. We’re also working hard internally on diversity, mental health and wellbeing.

As we have grown in headcount and our business has grown in reputation, we have recognised the risk this presents to our team. While we have always worked hard to give our people the tools and support they need to manage and protect their wellbeing, in January 2020 we partnered with Point3, a specialist wellbeing consultancy, to turbocharge this activity and, in their words, help our people to ‘stress less and smile more’ – to support our overall wellbeing so that we can be happier, healthier and thrive day to day.

We chose to work with Point3 because they understood what Eton Bridge had already done in this space, and where we are trying to go. So many specialists in this space are focused on mental health first aid training or crisis prevention/ resolution, but we really wanted a bespoke offering. Point3 could see how truly integral wellbeing and authenticity is to our culture and client approach, and so they worked with us to create a 12 week programme that would build on this, to make the most of our strengths. They also have first-hand experience of working in a fast paced, corporate environment – and the struggles it can bring to our work and life balance.

Why 12 weeks? It is widely thought that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, however, as Nicky at Point3 explains: ‘scientific studies indicate that while it takes a minimum of 21 days to create a habit, it takes on average roughly 12 weeks to turn that habit into a lifestyle.’

We started the programme with a bespoke four hour workshop for the entire company, that focused on educating us to help motivate and energise us to take personal responsibility for maintaining and protecting our wellbeing on a daily basis. The workshop introduced the principles of wellbeing, encouraged self-reflection and shared a number of hacks to enable us to incorporate movement and mindfulness into our busy lives. Point3 then followed up with virtual workshops 4 and 8 weeks into the programme, supporting us as a business, encouraging and recognising our successes and building our knowledge.

We now have a cross business team of wellbeing ambassadors, who have arranged everything from regular mindfulness sessions and weekly office (now virtual!) yoga lessons, to a wellbeing intranet portal, healthier recipes, spontaneous group squats, and mapping walking routes near our offices to facilitate our newfound love of walking meetings – known as ‘walkie talkies’!

Clearly, the world around us changed dramatically just 7 weeks into the programme, and feedback from our team shows that this programme has really helped many of them to cope – and thrive – in the challenging lockdown period:

• Just over 75% of our business thought Eton Bridge supported their wellbeing before the programme, however, the post programme results show that this has shifted to 90%. Over half of the team say we now do this ‘brilliantly’ compared to 20% before the programme.
• 82% thought the wellbeing programme offered them useful tools and techniques.
• 73% of the EBP team think that their wellbeing has been positively impacted by the programme.

All fantastic results!

We have been focused on wellbeing – and its positive impact on performance – for a number of years, and it has been great to see comments from our team that they ‘have really enjoyed seeing the positive changes in our business’, and that they have welcomed the ‘open and honest discussions’ about the pressures of our industry and the impact it can have on our people.

Undoubtedly, this programme would have helped us be even better without the challenge of a worldwide pandemic, as it came at the perfect time for us as we prepare to build and grow both domestically and internationally. We are also certain that it has helped our people feel more connected to their teams and brought everyone together on a more personal level, giving people the awareness, the tools, and the language needed to help them cope and thrive during the lockdown period.

If you are interested in Point3 and the work they do, visit their website for more details on their Mental Health and Wellbeing Training in the workplace.