Few and Far is a creative studio that helps charities make our world a better place. We specifically work with charities to increase their impact, tell their inspiring stories and remove stigma because we know their causes have helped us personally and will continue to help others to make our world a better place.
We can’t put our all into helping good causes if we don’t strive to be the best employers and business that we can be – it’s a contradiction.
Ensuring we provide a positive and inclusive working environment, where being able to talk openly about your mental health is welcomed is massively important to us; it allows our staff to be the best they possibly can be at their role, and when their role can fundamentally help a good cause that supports people with their own mental health and wellbeing, it makes for perfect synchronicity.
As a Co-Founder and Creative Director I already wear quite a few caps, but nobody else is going to ensure the workplace I provide and the job roles we create are going to be good for someone’s mental wellbeing either.
That responsibility stops with me.
My role entails ensuring our office environment, company policies and staff perks are right for us and relevant to every single person in the team.
I’m always looking for new benefits and ways in which we can work better as a team to benefit our staff members’ lives outside of work, from providing the correct equipment for home and always being flexible around remote working.
We became a Living Wage Employer early on to ensure that when we did hire staff we were paying them a realistic wage that’s based on the real cost of living.
The perks we continue to establish and add to are perks we believe anyone can benefit from and aren’t just about going out for drinks every night (though I like a beer!) or doing something someone may feel isn’t right for them.
We continue to provide a period of paid shutdown at Christmas so everyone has proper time with their family and downtime away from work to be able to relax and recharge before the new year – a time when a lot of agencies are working right up until Christmas Eve normally.
We’ve also recently signed up to the Mindful Employer+ programme, which enables our staff to have an independent and completely confidential advice line for them to turn to if they ever want to speak to someone about their mental health.
First and foremost that we openly talk about mental health ourselves as founders of a business who employ others. Culture comes from the top and it’s easy to understand why business owners who don’t speak on important matters can quickly create a culture where others don’t speak on those matters either.
They may not even realise they’ve created such a culture either but that can quickly form and it’s difficult then to go back.
So I’m proud that from day one we’ve always strived to have a culture where we’re open about staff wellbeing and when someone needs to take time away from the business they can. We’ve always had a flexible approach to where we work too, we’ve never worked 5 days a week in our own office since we formed in 2018 so why would we expect that from people we employ too?
We’re on the road to becoming a B Corp.
That’s the next huge step for us in ensuring we meet even higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
It’s been a great way for us to document our actual beliefs as a business. Instead of just saying we look after our staff and the environment it’s making us really think about those processes so we’re able to back up what we say.
It’s been a lot of work so far, but we’ve learned a lot too.
We’ve not been made to do this either, becoming a B Corp is something completely voluntary and it makes me really proud that we can take the time out in our business for such a large application because it’s important to us and to our impact on the people we hire and our community.
Mindful Employer is a fantastic initiative that we’re proud to be a part of.
It’s another string in our bow for continued work in ensuring our staff are looked after to the best of our ability and it also continues to showcase that our business and our environment is one that reflects the work and clients we help every day.
If you don’t think it’s for your business, you’re wrong.
Every business should always look for ways in which to learn more about how to improve the mental wellbeing of their staff and ensure the environment you provide for them is the best it possibly can be – because without them, what do you really have?
The Leeds network itself also provides great opportunities for you to meet other like-minded business owners and to hear from the very best on ways to improve your business for your staff. It makes so much sense and we love being a part of it.
A big thank you to Colin for taking the time to chat to us for this blog.
Join the Leeds Mindful Employer Network here.
Don’t miss out on our next free in-person event on the 19th March hosted by our Mindful Employer of the Quarter, AW Hainsworth, “Overcoming Stigma: Mental Health Awareness and Support at AW Hainsworth”. You can book your place here.
Did you know tickets are now available to book for our FREE Leeds Mindful Employer Network Conference 2024, “Creating Mentally Healthy Workplaces” at Leeds Beckett University, Carnegie School of Sports. Demonstrate your commitment to the positive mental health of your workforce by registering your free place here.