The past 18 months have truly been like no other – from multiple snap lockdowns and a resurgence of Covid cases to home schooling while juggling working from home. These challenging circumstances have left many feeling isolated and overwhelmed.

While Mental Health Month serves as a timely reminder to ensure we’re all looking after and supporting each other's wellbeing, we want to keep conversations around mental health going into the future. Which is why beyond Mental Health Month we’re continuing to champion wellbeing initiatives to ensure our employees always feel supported, particularly after such tumultuous times.

Total health has long been on our minds

Long before the pandemic, we were laying the groundwork for wellbeing initiatives. The current health situation has only highlighted just how important wellbeing within the workplace truly is. To support our people to be at their best, we launched our Total Health framework to ensure all our employees' health needs were being addressed. Taking a holistic approach, we focused on aspects we deemed necessary to total wellbeing, landing on four key pillars – Physical, Emotional, Financial and Social health.

We implemented activities to help teams connect, such as Virgin Pulse – a fun, physical challenge that allowed for some friendly internal rivalry, the perfect activity while a large majority of our employees worked from home. We also ran virtual roadshows to remind people of the resources available to them as part of their Kellogg employee benefits. This helped create awareness for our people of the support that is out there if ever needed.

Going that one step further

We want our leaders to not only lead team morale and wellbeing but also play a crucial role in role modelling it. They championed the importance of wellbeing and created awareness of available resources like our Benny Button platform. Partnering with Benny Button, a pioneering wellbeing provider, has meant mindfulness materials like stress mastery and mindful action masterclasses are readily available to all our employees, as we look to integrate wellbeing into the flow of work and life. 

Earlier this year, we supported our ANZ Leadership Team with mental health awareness sessions, and more recently they’ve kicked off fortnightly virtual coffee chats with all employees to ensure everyone feels heard and has the opportunity to discuss whatever may be on their mind. We also offer free and confidential sessions with qualified psychologists to not only team members in need but also their family members. Activities and initiatives like these help us equip our employees with the right resources and skills to help them build personal resilience in the workplace, as well as in their personal lives.

At Kellogg, we know that everyone in our team is different, and we do our best to tailor our resources to suit each unique situation. We know it can sometimes be difficult to switch off from the job and be present with those in your life outside of the workplace. For myself, I sometimes struggle with feeling guilty over perhaps not spending enough time with my children or feeling like I’m not doing enough to help facilitate their learning over these past few months – home schooling is hard! I’m sure other parents in similar situations to mine will agree. In light of these caring obligations, we wanted to encourage our team to invest time back in themselves, their family and their wellbeing. We granted additional Being at Your Best Days, which are designed with the intent for employees to refresh and rejuvenate, we wanted to empower our employees to support their own wellbeing and encourage them to take as needed. 

For me personally, I’ve shifted my thinking from focusing on attaining the perfect work-life balance. After all, work is a key part of life. The balance has to be within you. So, at Kellogg, we want to make sure everyone has access to the right tools and the right support to find the balance within themselves. To help with this, earlier this year we launched our Family Konnect initiative, a Work + Family hub in partnership with the Parents at Work organisation. We have also implemented daily Lunch & Sun ‘no meeting zones’ and ‘screen-free’ times to ensure teams are taking a breather and looking after their wellbeing – whether that’s taking time to get fresh air, go for a walk or have lunch with their kids or significant other. 

And as lockdowns continued around the country, this month we surprised our employees with Kellogg Kare packs, each with a personalised message from our Leadership Team, a selection of our latest Kellogg products, mental health & wellbeing content including an invitation to attend a special panel event to recognize World Mental Health Day with some our inspiring Kellogg sporting ambassadors, together with a range of wellbeing items (even some picnic essentials!), to prepare our employees for life out of lockdown.

 Looking ahead

As we come out of lockdowns and look to 2022, I know right across the business, our Kellogg ANZ team are eagerly looking forward to reconnecting after a tough few months. We anticipate a return to the office environment playing a significant role in this, however, exactly what this will look like considering the current health situation is still being worked through. At Kellogg, we recognize that the future of work is hybrid, we also know that there is no one size fits all and that our people want the flexibility to manage their work and personal life. As a company, Kellogg has been built on people working together and the power of our working relationships sit at the heart of our company values. It is this connection and collaboration (either virtual or in-person), that drives our business forward and creates the high-performance culture we are all so proud to be a part of. We want to continue creating and fostering a supportive work culture where our employees can thrive – in turn, this will enable us to continue to create better days for both our team and the wider community we serve.