March 31, 2020 – Like many companies around the world just now, we at Evoke KYNE are adjusting to the unknown and uncertainty that lies in the weeks and months ahead. As a company dedicated to healthcare communications, supporting our employees’ health and well-being has always been a priority, but the need to focus more on employee care during this current coronavirus outbreak, has now come into sharper focus.

Luckily, we have an established internal wellness team in place made up of a group of dedicated employee ambassadors, many of whom practice yoga, meditation and mindfulness personally, who have embraced the challenge that Covid-19 has presented within the company. Our team has been hosting virtual morning mindfulness sessions, encouraging daily exercise activities and has also collated an assortment of key best practices. We wanted to share these resources more broadly to support other companies and employees during this time, in order to help encourage holistic  employee wellbeing.

What can you do for your team?

• One-on-one virtual connection: Creating time and space to connect with your colleagues 1:1 will foster a sense of connection and openness vital to supporting them to work and live well
• Incorporate small moments of exercise, mindfulness or time in nature into your team’s daily schedule. Ensuring people feel that they can take breaks to move, clear their mind or get outside for a breath of air by offering reminders or prompts will help people to feel energised and supported.
• Unearth and unleash your employee’s wellness expertise – You may have yoga teachers, fitness instructors, psychologists, nutritionists, life coaches or mindfulness teachers hidden within your own organisation who may be willing to run online sessions! Not only does tapping into your own workforce save money and boost attendance, but it also helps colleagues to connect in a different way and contribute to team morale, which at a time like this, is so important. At Evoke KYNE, we have been offering several 10-minute morning mindfulness sessions each week, which are led by our own team members; these offer a moment for stress relief and have helped to set the tone for the day
• Get your senior leadership team on board. With any initiatives or changes you are looking to make, get them involved. Wellness is applicable across the board and senior-level endorsement encourages enthusiasm and engagement with new programmes
• Set up an internal communication channel on platforms such as Teams or Slack. Setting up a dedicated wellness space to share ideas, resources and information will help to reinforce authenticity and sincerity around wellness efforts, and inspire others to get involved
• Create mini challenges to get your team motivated and mindful. This is an opportunity to help your team build new, healthy habits and encourage and support one another through healthy competition
• Set up virtual weekly exercise classes – As all gyms are currently closed and wellness professionals are out of work this is a perfect time to think about how we can support local businesses while helping to incorporate wellness into our at home workplace.

What can you do for you?

• Start with gratitude. A simple practice of gratitude has been shown in several research studies to enhance your overall wellbeing and mindset, even during challenging times
• Pick one item each day from the attached wellness poster. From taking a virtual class, to listening to a podcast or paying a compliment to a colleague, all of these items are simple actions to take and have been shown to enhance your overall wellbeing

Let us know what you think! Do you have any additional ideas you’d like to share, or suggestions for our poster? We’re always looking for new ways to enhance and enrich our employees’ experience when it comes to health and wellbeing!