Prioritising mental health during the pandemic

During the pandemic we have taken action to help colleagues look after their wellbeing and mental health whether they were working from home or from one of our stores or distribution centres.

This has included: providing a range of resources and information with partners such as the Retail Trust in the UK and Alterhego in France; delivering mental health training; and Wellness Wednesdays which encouraged colleagues to dedicate time to their wellbeing. Our banners and HR teams ran a variety of webinars and live events for colleagues on topics such as how to cope with home-schooling and improving emotional resilience.

There is no question that the impacts of the pandemic on mental health have been significant. We understand the vital role our line managers play in supporting their teams’ wellbeing and the challenges this last year may have brought. To support them, we rolled out training to all UK line managers to help them to identify colleagues experiencing mental health issues and assist them to access the right support.