At the beginning of 2021, VINCI Energies UK & RoI partnered with Mind to introduce a more structured approach to supporting employee mental health and wellbeing.

This included:

• signing up to the mental health charity’s Mental Health at Work Commitment and implementing six core standards;
• offering Mind’s mental health training to anyone who leads or influences a team by making the training available on the VINCI Energies Academy learning system;
• maintaining a Wellbeing Calendar of activities that each Business Unit can join, and
• establishing Wellbeing Champions throughout the company.

“When I joined VINCI Energies, I had this overwhelming desire to ring everyone regularly to check in with how they were doing on a personal level,” says Sophie Thornton, Head of HR at VINCI Energies UK & RoI. “But I knew that wasn’t going to be possible and that people needed someone closer to them in the business to talk to. That’s how the idea of the Wellbeing Champions was born.”

A Wellbeing Champion in every Business Unit

Nearly two years later, almost every single Business Unit has at least one Wellbeing Champion, which means there are 40 people throughout the company who are officially looking out for their colleagues, lending an ear and signposting people to further support when needed.

Many of these volunteers have qualified as mental health first aiders, with the rest of the Wellbeing Champion network trained specifically in managing mental health at work.

“Rather than someone in an office at headquarters, the Wellbeing Champions know their colleagues better. It’s only when you get to know someone that you can tell that something is different with that person – for example, if they are missing the usual pleasantries from their emails or if they are more talkative or introverted than normal,” she explains.

“The Wellbeing Champions are also best placed to recognise what is needed in their team’s environment so that the initiatives we introduce are not just coming from top down and have that positive impact that we strive for.”

A friendly face and willing ear

Electrical labourer Keith Shale, who is a Wellbeing Champion at Actemium UK Rail, echoes Sophie’s sentiment. “I think people appreciate being able to speak to someone who is out there in the field with them. You already know them, and they understand the realities of day-to-day life on the job, so you have a bit of a head start. Everyone on my team knows that if they are not feeling great or have a problem, they can come and talk to me and I will listen and try to get them the right help that they need for their issue,” he says.

“I think the problem we have at work is that we have a big persona of ourselves and think we can’t go and talk to somebody but the real truth of it is that we can, and we’ve got to try and that’s how we come forward in life,” he continues.

The power of community

VINCI Energies strives to create a culture where everyone feels free to be who they are and bring their whole self to work and when things are not going well in their work or personal life there is a community around them that will support them to get back on track.

“To have such a culture, it all starts with diversity and inclusivity. Diversity is like being invited to the party, inclusion is when someone welcomes you to sit with them or gets you a drink, and what we really want people to feel is belonging – that is when they feel comfortable to dance at the party like nobody’s watching or in work terms express themselves without fear of retribution,” Sophie explains.   

“It has been proven that people with strong relationships around them enjoy better mental health. So, each and every one of us at VINCI Energies, not only our Wellbeing Champions, can have a positive and meaningful impact on our colleagues just by being an active member of our community of incredible people,” she concludes.

Find out more about VINCI Energies UK & RoI’s commitment to employee wellbeing.