Stress can happen at any time, in any job – and corporate finance professionals are certainly no strangers to the pressures of work. However, firms are increasingly turning the spotlight on staff well-being, as Jo Russell reports.
Mental health and well-being is an issue that has an impact on employees both at home and at work – and with heightened awareness, it’s an area in which they are increasingly seeking advice. In tandem, it has become a major focus for employers who recognise, particularly in a post-COVID era, the importance of monitoring and supporting the well-being of staff – whether physically, financially or mentally.
While COVID-19 may have increased awareness of mental health in general, it was not necessarily a gamechanger in terms of approach. Chris Grove is a deal advisory partner at BDO, a member of the firm’s leadership team and chair of the firm’s Unifying Culture Board, an advisory executive that sits alongside the UK leadership team. He points to well-being initiatives that the firm put in place since the establishment of the board in January in 2017.
“Our focus on well-being began well before COVID-19 hit. It put us in a strong position going into lockdown,” he says. Since then, several employee assistance programmes have been set up at BDO, including Digicare, an app that provides access to GP services and grief and mental health support. There are now around 140 trained mental health first aiders across BDO, led from the top by the eight senior members of the Unifying Culture Board. Meanwhile, an arrangement with corporate psychologists Cognacity ensures ongoing training and the ability to provide specific interventions should this be needed.
At EY, a health and well-being programme offers webinars and a well-being week, plus campaigns including Time to Talk Day and International Men’s Day. “Additionally, comprehensive benefits and flexibility help ensure and underpin support,” says Dr Sally Hemming, EY health and well-being lead in the UK. “This includes an employee assistance programme, including unlimited mental health support, financial advice, volunteering days, recognition tools and access to extensive knowledge and information resources.”
It’s a similar story at PwC, where the well-being approach is called ‘Be Well, Work Well’. Alongside the 24/7 employee assistance programme and mental health first aid training, employees can subscribe to Headspace, an app providing access to mindfulness and meditation content.
Value of mentoring |
A good mentor scheme will help build relationships, trust, confidence and an inclusive work culture. The benefits in terms of staff happiness, productivity and retention are widely acknowledged – some 96% of US Fortune 100 companies have mentoring programmes. Mentors can also play a vital role in supporting mental health and well-being, often as part of a network of peer support, buddy systems and staff forums. The qualities required are the same as in a traditional mentor and mentee relationship. Good listening and communication skills and the relevant lived experience are key. Having a senior manager or partner talk openly and share their own experiences enables a mentee to ask questions and be open themselves, without fear of stigma. Helping others to help themselves is the ultimate aim. “We hope that by equipping people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to help themselves and others, we will achieve a well-being culture,” says EY’s Dr Sally Hemming. |
Top down, bottom up
Firms agree on the importance of initiatives being led both from the top down and, more informally, from the bottom up. The most powerful method has proved to be encouraging people to speak out.
“We are constantly banging the drum about the importance of health and well-being, and promoting openness through encouraging disclosure, too,” says EY’s Hemming. “One way is by encouraging people to share their stories. Another is to put our leaders front and centre in talking about the reality of their own well-being.”
Having a member of the senior leadership team share their experience can be hugely powerful, says PwC’s chief inclusion, culture and well-being officer, Victoria Broadhurst. “We recently had a director and senior associate talk about their own experiences with cancer, how they dealt with it and the emotional journey they’ve been on. By opening up, it allows other people to think they can also talk about it.”
Top-down initiatives and formal programmes help provide the environment for more informal employee-led initiatives and conversations to develop at a local level. These can range from casual groups or discussions about stress and anxiety to disability awareness and help for parents and carers.
BDO’s Grove has witnessed this type of discussion develop within the firm’s deals advisory team, where a number of managers have set up bi-weekly sessions. Anyone is welcome to join, meeting in one of the breakout areas to discuss whatever the topic is for that session. “It’s a talking shop with no hierarchy. When I go, I am just one of the cohort. It is very levelling,” he states.
New initiatives tend to be guided by feedback from employees as to where support would be appreciated. One issue previously under the radar, but that is now discussed more openly, is the menopause. KPMG’s menopause policy, launched in 2022, sets out the support available for colleagues before, during and after the menopause.
“We’ve already had more than 160 colleagues use our dedicated menopause support service, alongside some really successful initiatives that include a menopause café series and the launch of dedicated menopause ambassadors – including our very first male ambassador,” says Rob Baxter, head of corporate finance at KPMG.
Hybrid working |
The pandemic ushered in an era of hybrid working that certainly seems here to stay. However, both working from home, away from a structured office environment with regular human contact, and working in an office bring their own distinct challenges. Technology also plays its part, with the temptation to never switch off from work adding to stress levels. The challenge is to offer the right support to meet the differing needs of each employee cohort. Employee engagement at PwC has shown that “those in their early careers are keen on staying at home and will need managers they can engage with, people they can talk to, even if in a different way”, explains PwC’s Victoria Broadhurst. Those now in their early 20s, who spent a lot of their university time studying remotely, can struggle in an office environment. For this group, take-up of mindfulness and meditation through apps such as Headspace has proved popular. |
Other forms of stress
Anonymised data and confidentiality mean it is impossible to tell whether demand for particular support varies across businesses. The picture is also nuanced, given that individuals may select more challenging and stressful roles if this suits their personality. Nevertheless, Grove believes that there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to show there has been an uptick in stress levels. For instance, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s analysis of sickness absence and employee health among 918 organisations showed that 76% of respondents reported having taken time off due to stress in the past year.
As a business line, corporate finance has its own challenges. “With deals and transactions, there are high peaks and low troughs,” says Grove. “Feeling over-extended or under-stimulated at work can be challenging, depending on what else you have going on in your life. Redundancies occurring in the wider deal market can also have an impact on anxiety.”
The conflict in Israel and Gaza has also potentially unsettled staff and raised anxieties. Some employees will have friends and/or family in the region and inevitably have concerns for their safety.
At PwC, discussions with its networks within work made clear the impact the conflict has been having, and providing the right support was important. This meant turning to an external provider to get the right professional support, says Broadhurst. “We knew we didn’t have the necessary expertise. And so our provider, Cognacity, who we use in a number of different ways, brought in psychologists to run listening groups for anyone who wanted to attend.”
What is success?
There is broad consensus that while it may be hard to pinpoint any one particularly successful aspect of well-being programmes, given their complexity and connectivity, whatever steps have been put in place are working. As Broadhurst says: “We have 5,000 people in our Be Well, Work Well chat group and we have seen 1,000 join in the past 12 months. Is that a good or bad thing? I like to say it’s good, as people get the support they need when they need it.”
The fact that there is agreement on much of this area is not coincidence. Organisations such as MindForward Alliance (the renamed City Mental Health Alliance) act as forums for professional services firms to share thoughts and best practice. The most recent discussion, Grove recounts, involved more than 20 representatives from different firms and focused primarily on the impact of the Middle Eastern crisis. “There is a heightened awareness of the blurring of work and home life and, although this sounds grandiose, an awakening to the responsibilities we – as significant employers – have to society.
“But what I have also seen is that nobody has a magic bullet or the answer to all these things. We are all learning from each other.”
Online support from CABA |
Caba, the occupational charity supporting past and present ICAEW members and family dependants, plus ACA students, has a series of guides that can help gain a better understanding of mental health, along with techniques to build resilience and emotional well-being |
