Mental health and wellbeing
Looking after ourselves and supporting each other
We believe that supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our colleagues globally is both a responsible approach to business and fundamental to our success as individuals, teams and a Group.
We all experience challenges at work and at home, and we all need support from time to time. The more we can do at Spirax Group to create an open culture around mental health and wellbeing and to support our colleagues on this, the better able we all are to lead happier, healthier lives at home and to fulfil our potential at work. This also makes us better able to support our customers, suppliers, local communities and all those who depend on us as we seek to engineer a more sustainable world.
It’s why we introduced an annual Wellbeing Day as an extra day of paid leave for all colleagues globally and it’s why we are working to make positive mental health and wellbeing central to how we operate.
"We’re aiming to create an open and inclusive wellbeing culture that eliminates stigma, takes proactive steps to create positive wellbeing and reduce mental ill-health, and helps colleagues to prioritise their own wellbeing and mental health whilst supporting each other."
Nimesh Patel
Group Chief Executive Officer
What this means to us
We aim to think about mental health and wellbeing in the broadest possible sense - including environmental, emotional, financial, intellectual, mental, physical, social, spiritual and workplace aspects, for example. The most effective approaches consider both preventative measures and offering support for when challenges do arise.
An inclusive approach is also key. Our colleagues can experience different mental health or wellbeing challenges over time, or experience the same challenges in very different ways depending on their situation or background. Everyone is unique, but there comes a time when we all need support.
Removing stigma and providing support
Through our global colleague networks and webinars, Group Inclusion Commitments, Wellbeing Toolkit, and local events or Mental Health First Aider initiatives, we aim to remove any stigma, bias or discrimination associated with mental health or wellbeing. It means creating a culture where it is “OK not to be OK” and where seeking support is seen as a strength, not as something to feel guilty about.
That also means responding to colleagues who raise personal mental health or wellbeing matters supportively, empathetically, fairly, non-judgmentally, respectfully and with appropriate confidentiality.
We offer support to every colleague through our global Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). It’s available free, confidentially, 24/7 and in their local language, both for everyday matters and for specialist support in times of challenge or crisis. Locally, Mental Health First Aider schemes may also exist (often in partnership with a specialist external organisation, like Mental Health First Aid England in the UK).
Our Wellbeing Academy on SPARK, our Group-wide education platform, also offers resources and training on mental health and wellbeing topics to all colleagues globally.
We will also provide support to colleagues returning to work after time off for mental health or wellbeing reasons – such as with a phased return, adjustments to role or working hours, or other support.
Being proactive
We expect our leaders to role model good practice and proactively make mental health and wellbeing a visible priority in every country we work in. That includes creating a culture of openness on mental health, encouraging uptake of our annual Wellbeing Day and promoting use of the three Volunteering Days every colleague gets each year.
It’s down to all of us to play our part too. We all have a responsibility to contribute to a positive mental health and wellbeing culture at work, to look after our own mental health and wellbeing, and to support those around us.
To help, we support colleagues across their career journeys with paid caregiver leave, pregnancy loss support, safe leave for colleagues experiencing domestic violence or abuse, menopause and menstrual health awareness and more. As part of our Group Inclusion Commitments, these are all core to our approach to inclusion, equity and diversity, and they bring mental health and wellbeing benefits for many of our colleagues or their families.
Connecting and supporting
It also aims to be a forum where colleagues can share ideas on mental health and wellbeing initiatives – feeding back on things we have in place or suggesting what we could do in the future, whether globally or in a local context.
Making it sustainable
Embedding mental health and wellbeing into wider policy and practice is fundamental. As examples, this has included our global Health & Safety Excellence Framework, onboarding activity, leadership development frameworks, approaches to fair pay, and design of new facilities (with features such as reflection spaces, faith rooms and quiet areas).
It’s also a key consideration in how we behave – including having zero tolerance to bullying, discrimination and harassment; working across time zones, or allocating work, for example.
We measure our progress through our global Colleague Engagement Survey and report on success and challenges in our Annual Report. In our 2023 survey, wellbeing index scores increased +4 points on 2021 (to 68% positive overall) including a +6 point jump for colleagues saying they are supported to achieve a balance between their life at work and at home (69% positive). We have more progress to make, and we’re committed to doing so.
Championing mental health
In support of our commitment to mental health and wellbeing, we signed the Leadership Pledge developed by the Global Business Collaboration for Better Workplace Mental Health in 2022. This commits us to:
- Develop and deliver an action plan to support good mental health in our organisation.
- Promote an open culture around mental health, working towards eliminating stigma.
- Take proactive steps to develop our culture and ways of working towards creating positive mental health and reducing mental ill-health.
- Empower all our colleagues to manage and prioritise their own mental health, and to support one another.
- Signpost our colleagues to mental health tools and support they need.
- Regularly measure the impact of our efforts, being open about our progress, to influence and inspire change in our organisation and beyond.
We’ve used these commitments to shape a high-level action plan which you can access below. The plan also sets out our mental health and wellbeing principles. These principles apply across all of our businesses and in every country we work in.