Since 2010, Canadians and people around the globe have joined in the world’s largest conversation around mental health on Bell Let’s Talk Day, working together to reduce the stigma around mental health issues, inspiring one another to take action, and helping to create a Canada where everyone can access the mental health support they need. In a recent survey conducted by Nielsen Consumer Insights, 83% of Canadians now say they are comfortable speaking with others about mental health, compared to only 42% in 2012. It is clear that, by joining in and taking action, we are all helping to make a real difference.
This year, JLR lent our voice to Bell Let’s Talk Day because it is important to us to help drive progress in mental health. But that’s not all we’re doing. We are committed to supporting the mental health and wellness of our team every day of the year, and we work to support our staff and their mental health by:
Providing Access to Mental Health Resources
We provide all members of our staff with access to a robust Employee Assistance Program which facilitates access to a network of mental health professionals with numerous specialties, modalities, and areas of expertise. This program also affords our staff access to additional resources to provide guidance and support in managing stressors that can contribute to mental health struggles, such as financial concerns, parenting and childcare challenges, and more.
Supporting True Work-life Balance
We have worked hard to foster a culture that encourages positive work-life balance and empowers our employees to disconnect when the work day is over. Beyond being embedded in our culture, we support this goal by providing staff with access to an annual bank of hours that they can use to attend medical or therapeutic appointments without having to worry about their work schedule. We also provide a flexible banked time system that allows our staff to set time aside, and actively encourage staff to use this time to take a break when they need it. This year, in light of COVID-19 and the stresses of the pandemic period, we also extended our annual holiday break to allow all our staff to enjoy two uninterrupted weeks away from work.
Donating to Important Initiatives
JLR regularly sponsors and donates to diverse charitable programs, including those that support mental health research and treatment. For example, we have provided sponsorship and donations to the Virtual Leaders for Mental Health Breakfast in support of the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health for several years.
Taking a Proactive Approach
Throughout the pandemic period, we have taken steps to ensure mental health and wellness are top of mind for our team. For example, we created a month-long program of free lunchtime virtual wellness seminars for our staff during Mental Health Awareness Month. These seminars were tailored to unique issues that staff had identified as areas where they needed support, such as maintaining work-life balance while working from home and making time for self care.
Fostering Connection During COVID-19
We’ve provided our staff with access to improved internal communication tools and other resources to make it easy to connect with colleagues socially in a safe manner during the pandemic. Our teams have used these resources to enjoy virtual happy hours, trivia nights, holiday parties, gift exchanges, contests and competitions, and more.
Creating Opportunities for Positivity and Encouragement
Every Monday we start our day with a motivational moment to set a positive tone for our team. We also use this opportunity to recognize individual staff members or groups with a kudos each week, and to recommend light reading related to wellness topics. This allows us to foster a positive work environment in which we recognize and appreciate what everyone at JLR brings to the table.
Making Wellness a Priority
Our Human Resources team leads an important wellness initiative which involves checking in with every interested member of our team weekly regarding their mental health. This initiative allows us to identify staff who may be in need of added support so that we may connect with them, provide them with a safe space to talk if they like, and direct them to important mental health resources they can access outside of work. We have also recently launched a new calendar of scheduled wellness-focused events which will allow us to focus in on different areas of mental health and wellness each month.
Fostering an Inclusive Workplace
As an equal-opportunity employer that values diversity and inclusivity, we are always looking for opportunities to ensure every single member of our team feels safe, welcome, and valued. We believe that the more folks feel free to show their complete and authentic selves in work and in life, the better our world becomes. We are committed to continue learning and growing as an organization and as individuals, and to continue seeking new opportunities to foster true inclusivity.
JLR is more than a company. We are also a community of colleagues who care and take action to support mental health in our workplace.
About JLR
As a Platinum Club Canadian Best Managed Company, JLR provides high-quality integrated engineering, architecture, planning, and project management services to enterprises in the private and public sectors. With seven offices across Ontario, JLR’s professional services support a wide variety of projects across five key markets, placing them at the cutting edge of both value and service delivery. For information on how JLR can help with your next project, please visit www.jlrichards.ca.
Find @JLRCanada on social media! We are active on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. For up-to-date company announcements, visit our newsroom. JLR is always looking to welcome new talent to our offices across Ontario. Visit www.jlrichards.ca/careers to find out more.
For media inquiries:
marketing@jlrichards.ca