Announcing our global mental health first aiders initiative

Mental health impacts everyone at some point in their lives – even in the workplace. The Mental Health Foundation has found that 14.7% of people experienced mental health issues at work, and 12.7% of all sick and illness days are mental health related. 

As part of our ongoing commitment to support Walkers’ employees and their wellbeing, we’re rolling out a mental health first aid initiative which will have trained first aiders in every one of our offices by December this year. Each office will have a minimum of two first aiders. 

We’ll be working with leading mental health organisations including Mind, the Mental Health Foundation and the Red Cross, to provide training for our first aiders. They’ll be equipped with the skills to listen, offer guidance and signpost to relevant mental health services. 

Claire Townshend, chief HR officer at Walkers, said: “We’re dedicated to ensuring our colleagues feel supported with their mental health. I’m confident this new mental health first aiders scheme will be a great success, as we continue to support our people and we’re looking forward to seeing it rolled out across our ten offices throughout this year.” 

We’ve been busy marking Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 in other ways to support staff wellbeing. We hosted a fitness challenge based on this year’s theme, ‘Movement: Moving more for our mental health’, as well as a webinar with external speaker Nick Bloy, a senior wellbeing strategist and coach for Walkers colleagues.