Our workplace choir helps to keep staff’s mental health in tune!

We’ve launched our workplace choir initiative as part of our efforts to promote health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Our workplace choir meets one evening a week and is coached under the watchful eye of Ashley Mellor, from the Staffordshire Choirs Association.

Now we’re urging more businesses to follow in our footsteps, and highlight the importance of employee wellbeing in the run up to Mental Health Awareness Week next week.

Our Managing director Victoria Sylvester believes that businesses can save money and boost productivity by introducing wellbeing initiatives and training designated staff to spot the early signs that a member of staff may be struggling.

She said: “There is more and more research coming out to show the impact of employee wellbeing on company performance.

“Stats from the Health and Safety Executive show that more than 11.7 million working days are lost every year due to stress related illness, and a recent CIPD/Simply Health report into health and wellbeing at work found that more than 55 per cent of respondents had reported an increase in common mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression.”

“As a business owner you have two choices, to bury your head in the sand, hope it will ‘blow over’ and that employees can sort their own issues out in their own time, or you take a pro-active approach with early intervention and putting the right support in place.

“At Acacia Training, we have trained some staff to be mental health first aiders, as well as looking at how health and wellbeing can be promoted in the organisation and offering employee assistance programmes, flexible working and the company choir.

As part of its efforts around health and employee wellbeing, we’re also also running a two-day mental health first aid course at our Stoke-on-Trent headquarters.

The course trains individuals to spot the signs of mental illness, provide early intervention, signpost relevant support and protect themselves while performing the mental health first aid role.