JC Social Media’s workplace wellbeing policy

 

We are committed to making sure our team loves what they do. We want them to come into the office with a smile; ready to look after our clients, doing work they love doing. Our workplace wellbeing policy outlines how we ensure this happens:

 

Living Wage employer

We are committed to being a Living Wage Employer and ensuring our wages are always above or equal to the national living wage, as outlined by the Living Wage Foundation.

 

Flexible working hours

Our team members work a choice of 8am-4pm, 9am-5pm or 10am-6pm to cater for different work patterns and travel times. The team can take flexible lunchtimes and we use a ‘#working-hours’ communication channel where they keep the other members updated of their whereabouts.

 

Workload management

We use tools such as Teamwork to manage and review time and organise essential tasks. Within the team we share examples of best practice so that we are continuously improving together.

Team members have ownership over how they manage their work throughout the day so it’s most effective for them and for our clients. We always involve team members in decisions about the way we operate.

 

Communication is key

Regular, open, transparent and positive communication is essential for all aspects of our work. We communicate and work together as a team. We use an online conversation tool called Slack, with channels for different themes, to facilitate discussion, collaboration and information sharing without clogging up your email inbox. A task management tool called Teamwork supports transparent workload management.

We have team meetings, one-to-ones and informal discussions. Our management team have an open-door policy, if there’s something you want to discuss there’s always an ear to listen.

Every account manager is in a team, with a team leader to help and support them, especially in the first few months, with regular one-to-ones. Peers in the team will also offer guidance and ideas during team mind mapping sessions every few weeks.

 

Learning and development

The world of social media is constantly evolving and we, in turn, develop with this. We nurture a culture of ongoing learning and professional development.

We provide new team members with an induction and training from our in-house training team. We have regular three-monthly appraisals for all team members to support ongoing development.

There are ample opportunities to share ideas and best practice. We encourage you to be inquisitive – no question is a silly question – and to continually review and develop our work to achieve the best results possible for our clients. Equally, we are keen that our team members use their initiative – sometimes the best thing is to ‘google it’ first!

With an in-house training team, we are well placed to keep up to date with social media developments and have a standing item on our whole team meeting agenda for updates. We also have monthly mini training sessions delivered by team members and we encourage plenty of on-the-job learning. Team members are also encouraged to attend networking events for professional development.

 

Enjoy your free time

We carefully schedule and manage how time is spent to ensure office hours are not oversubscribed. We don’t reward someone spending their evenings sending emails, we discourage it!

We focus on productivity in the day and enjoying and looking after yourself in the evening.

We enable you to request holidays using your own online dashboard. There is the option to work some bank holidays, if you prefer, and take the leave on another date. We also assign team members an additional day of holiday each year, on their birthday!

 

Team building activities and socials

We have a social secretary and a team-building budget, to allow the team to get to know each other better, be a more cohesive team and learn more about each other’s ways of working. On the first Friday of every month we do a team trip to Digbeth Dining Club.

Every three months we organise an inclusive teambuilding activity; in the past this has included things such as zorb football, escape the room and Ghetto Golf.

 

Healthy office environment

Our office has plenty of natural light and is decorated in energising colours. We have a clean and clear desk policy so that clutter is minimised.

Standing desks are available to work from and walking meetings are encouraged whenever the weather is good!

Team members have the option to wear earphones and listen to their own music. We encourage the listening of concentration and focus music playlists.

We have ergonomic safety chairs for back health, use screen risers, as well as track pads and wireless keyboards to help with safe workstation setup. All team members are encouraged to take regular breaks. More guidance on setting up workstations and good posture here.

Success and solution focused

The whole team at JC approach any problems that arise by thinking of all possible solutions. We have a no-drama approach and always ‘imagine there’s a client in the room’ in everything we do and say, to ensure the utmost professionalism and care. We don’t talk negatively behind anyone’s back.

We celebrate achievements of the team and positive feedback from our clients or team members via Slack, email and our weekly team meeting, where we award a ‘victory of the week’.

 

A supportive culture

We have clear lines of enquiry, so the team know who is their first point of contact for anything. Team leaders have regular catchups with their team members and allow time to support them. We encourage each member to talk to their line manager if they’re experiencing any issues inside or outside of work and feel it is affecting their work.

The team is encouraged to be aware of signs that someone is struggling and support one another by communicating and proactively addressing any issues.

We have a collaborative two-way approach whereby the employer and employee both play their part in looking after the whole team’s wellbeing.

Employer: Actively support good workplace wellbeing as outlined in this policy.

Employee: In return we expect employees to proactively look after their health and wellbeing, take reasonable steps to address issues, talk to their manager if they are struggling and be receptive to suggestions.

 

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Appendix: Tips for looking after your wellbeing at work

What supports your individual wellbeing in the workplace will be a combination of factors and actions unique to you. Here are some suggestions from the JC Social Media team that you may find helpful:

• Look after yourself both physically and mentally – both are equally important for your overall wellbeing.

• Take breaks – split your lunch break into two shorter breaks if this helps, but make sure you take it! If you are having a challenging day, take five and get some fresh air.

• Keep hydrated – drink plenty of fluids. Enjoy tea and coffee, but drink some water too for good hydration. Use a reusable water bottle to avoid unnecessary plastic.

• Eat healthily and regularly – sustain your energy levels and concentration by eating healthy meals and snacks and making sure you eat lunch at lunchtime. Preparing your lunches the night before can be helpful.

• Take time for you – take time in your evenings or at weekends for you to relax and recharge. Pamper yourself!

• Exercise and keep active – build regular physical exercise into your week, whether that’s going to the gym, attending a yoga class or some power walking around the city. Get up from your desk at intervals through the day and move and stretch.

• Spend time with nature – spending time around nature can have a really calming effect for our minds and bodies. Try to regularly get outdoors, whether that’s in your garden, a local park or a hike in the countryside.

• Take screen breaks – every 20 mins change the focus of your gaze momentarily to further away, to relax the focusing muscle inside the eye, helping to reduce eye fatigue.

• Look after your working environment – It’s much easier to think logically with a tidy desk.

• Give mindfulness a try – mindfulness meditation has been shown to help lower stress and anxiety levels and there’s plenty of free apps making it easily accessible.

• Focus on solutions – all work has is challenges, it would be dull without them and challenging ourselves enables us to achieve more. When a problem arises instead focus on the solutions and thinking about what you can learn from the situation.

• Ask if you need help – we are a team!

• Smile – have you ever tried to frown at someone who’s smiling at you? It’s not easy is it! Smile and others will smile too.