REBA Award Winner: Three UK - Leadership and culture
Size: 5,000 (UK) – including 2,800 from 326 retail stores
Sector: Telecommunications
Initiative: Wellness and ‘Being Three’
WHAT IT DID
It’s not often you hear members of a major company’s executive leadership team discuss vulnerability and mental health issues – but at mobile phone giant, Three UK, this is precisely what they did as part of a coordinated (and now award-winning), strategy to tackle wellness.
Two executives decided to mark Mental Health Awareness Week by sharing their struggles, and alongside four other staff ‘case studies’ they really helped bring home the fact poor mental wellness affects everyone, and from all walks of life. But this was just one of a number of impressive initiatives Three UK did as part of its ‘Wellness and Being Three’ programme to improve wellness and help the business achieve its aim of being the UK’s best loved brand by its people by 2021. Focusing wellness around its three (naturally) pillars of Energise, Connect and Balance, a series of initiatives have been held, on everything from achieving better sleep, encouraging staff to connect with their colleagues and community more, as well as taking a concerted effort to support staff with their mental and emotional wellbeing.
In addition to using Mental Health Week as a hook for discussing mental health, Three UK has created a total of 62 (and counting) ‘Time to Talk’ reps. All of these have had training in mental health first aid, and they now support its ‘Being Me, Being Three’ training course, which helps staff explore what it means to bring their best to work each day (using resilience and mindfulness techniques).
In addition to these more classroom-led events, the company has put its money where its mouth is, by instituting ‘Wellness Wednesdays’ – where it’s been promulgated that no meetings take place between the hours of 12 noon and 2pm each Wednesday. Instead, staff are encouraged to take part in group activities, including special health-related ‘boot camps’, yoga and football.
It has a wellness fund too, where anyone can apply for £50 per person to take part in any team activities that align with the wellness pillars.
Judges were particularly impressed with the technology bent taken to achieve its aims – with digital live sessions held to encourage staff to apply to the wellness fund and articles and videos being shared online during Mental Health Awareness Week. In total, articles posted were viewed 7,935 times, gaining 704 ‘likes’. Its videos were viewed 101 times. Because the programme is designed to closely integrate with its benefits package, there were follow-up successes too – with more than 1,500 downloads of its digital GP app. All-told, the online activity saw applications to its wellness and community funds treble.
WHY IT WON
A brave approach assiduously applied, was just one reason this entry won. There were a number of specific results that also impressed – from employee NPS scores about working at Three increasing from +14 in 2016 to +22 in 2018, to the fact the percentage of staff agreeing Three cares about them rising from 76 per cent in Q4 of 2017 to 79 per cent in Q2 of 2018.
But there was more to it than this. Judges were impressed by the ongoing nature of this initiative. Even though 3,100 staff attended a Being Me, Being Three course in 2017, it still wants more, and the intention is to have one in 20 staff trained as Time to Talk mental health first aiders. Three UK was arguably already in a good place, but now its wellness future seems guaranteed, with the business now 20 points above the sector average for wellness employee NPS scores.
As one judge said: “This entry was backed up with data that demonstrated significant improvement, with some simple but effective and innovative ideas that embed attitudes to employee wellbeing in the work culture.” Judges were particularly pleased to see that wellbeing is now addressed first in each leadership quarterly update meeting.