Kitchenware and homeware retailer Lakeland has implemented new wellbeing support to protect its more than 1,300 members of staff.
Through a partnership with retail industry charity the Retail Trust, Lakeland employees can access a range of mental health resources, such as counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy for themselves and younger people in their care, along with discounts and rewards.
The retailer’s workforce can use the trust’s wellbeing hub, which features articles, quizzes, videos and advice, and personalise it to what they want and need. Topics include how to cope with anxiety, loss and bereavement, giving up smoking, managing a team, financial worries, core skills to help at work, CV and interview support, and redundancy. Employees who have less than £4,000 in savings can also apply for financial aid through the trust.
Steve Knights, chief executive officer at Lakeland, said: “Over the past few years, we have developed a series of initiatives to make sure Lakeland is an amazing place for people to not only work but also flourish; from rolling out mental health first aider training, to colleague development programmes, as well as organising numerous events to connect our teams.
“The Retail Trust has been caring for and protecting the lives of people working in retail for nearly 200 years and believe the health of colleagues is the foundation they need to exceed both in work but also their own lives. We are so happy to be able to offer this outstanding service to all our employees and share the Retail Trust’s cause of creating hope, health and happiness in the workplace and beyond.”
Lakeland also offers its employees 29 days of paid holiday, a discretionary bonus scheme to reward achievements, a group personal pension plan, 20% staff discount on all products, an employee assistance programme, service awards such as gift vouchers and additional holidays, and training and development opportunities.