Hi there, it’s Martha here, writing to you from a very wet and windy UK.
This week, I’ve really noticed the temperature dropping and the days getting shorter. For the first time this month, it feels like autumn has arrived. This brings mixed feelings for me because, on the one hand, it means the end of summer – my favourite season – but it also means that we can expect to see more beautiful scenes of nature.
For a lot of people, the autumn season can be gloomy. So I think it’s the ideal time to focus on wellness and self-care in the workplace. This is something I’ve been doing recently with the Life Size wellness team.
This month, the team and I have touched on many different aspects of wellness. One of them is creating a positive company culture, so I hope this newsletter will give you a sense of the positive company culture we’ve built at Life Size!
Nurturing a positive company culture
Since the moment I joined Life Size, I sensed that there was a positive company culture. But it’s hard to pin down exactly what makes a great company culture through words alone. This month, I was tasked with writing guides explaining our company culture to new Life Sizers, which they can read when they join the team.
One aspect of Life Size that I wrote about was a process we call ‘taking a hike’. In short, ‘taking a hike’ means taking the time to talk to a colleague about a stressful situation when it becomes too overwhelming – without fear of judgment. By taking time to vent and reflect on these negative emotions, we can turn them into something constructive.
This sounds simple, but it is very effective. And that’s why we have given it a name and even incorporated it into our onboarding process. It’s the little things like these that can make a big difference when building a comfortable working environment, which is why it felt important that we systemise it.
Looking outwards
Our approach to wellness doesn’t just have an internal focus – we try to spread positivity in whatever way we can as a company. That’s why we joined the ‘1% for the planet scheme’.
This is a scheme where businesses commit to donating 1% of their profit towards supporting people and the planet through monetary donations and volunteer hours.
Last week, as part of our commitment, I joined our new marketing manager, Paige, in Birmingham to volunteer with Let’s Feed Brum, a leading homeless charity in Birmingham whose mission is to be part of the solution to end homelessness for good.
Together we spent a morning helping out the Let’s Feed Brum team, handing out food, clothes and other supplies to those who need it the most. The morning was a sobering reminder of what life is like for other people living not too far from me, but also of the importance of community for supporting those let down by other areas of society.
It’s great that Life Size gives us the opportunity to spend company time contributing to causes we are passionate about because it boosts our well-being whilst helping our local communities.
If your company is looking for a way to give back to the planet and foster employee well-being, I would highly recommend looking into this scheme.
It’s time for our next annual adventure
Finally, when you read this, the Life Size team will have just returned from the Netherlands for our Annual Adventure. As a remote company with team members living across three different countries, it can be hard to get together. Our Annual Adventure gives us some really valuable time to reconnect and bond as a team.
And this year for the first time, we all be travelled there by rail – no flying!
Our few days on the outskirts of the lovely town of Kampen were really enjoyable and productive, so keep an eye out for updates from our adventures over the next few days.
Before I sign off, I’d love to hear from you about how your workplace approaches the subject of wellness. We’re always looking for new ways to improve our approach, so reply to this email to let me know what processes your company practices.
Wishing you a wonderful autumn season,
Martha
