The Keys to a Successful Wellness Programme With Helen Gallagher
Helen is Global Head of HR for Morgan McKinley, a recruitment and talent solutions business. She supports teams across Europe, Canada, India, and 5 Asia PACific offices. Helen and her team have been instrumental in developing a great culture in Morgan McKinley with a solid reputation as a Great Place to Work. Morgan McKinley also holds a platinum status as a Deloitte Best Managed Company and is the only recruitment company in Ireland to have been awarded a silver standard for Diversity and Inclusion from the Irish Centre for Diversity.
Morgan McKinley is a company with 700 employees globally and offices across ten countries. Rolling out global wellbeing initiatives is based on flexibility and the feedback of their employees. Helen tells us they never assume to know what people want, but they instead reach out and find out how their employees feel and what their real needs are.
The wellbeing initiatives rolled out by a global business during the pandemic
A great example is the culture polls they did in October of 2020, which aimed to find out how remote work was affecting the company culture. Four key themes came back from that culture poll, and they were around the area of wellbeing, balance, communication, and fun.
People were not used to working remotely; therefore, they experienced a disruption in their work/life balance. The first update made was to change the default Zoom meeting duration from one hour to 45 minutes. This small change gave people breathing time between meetings. Helen then followed up by asking all employees to block out the same hour at lunchtime in their diaries to avoid getting booked for meetings during lunch.
Engaging people in competitions and activities was another big part of their strategy. ‘Lockdown Legends’ was a very successful peer recognition programme Helen’s team launched in 2020. The programme rolled out in the early stages of lockdown when many of their people found themselves having to work while parenting. The peer recognition initiative rewards the people who kept a positive mindset and inspired their colleagues.
Wellbeing initiatives aren’t a one size fits all model
When working in a global company, wellbeing programmes need to be adapted to suit each location and demographic they address. In terms of wellness, Morgan McKinley have dedicated wellness champions across their business. The People Team leads the strategic work of the programme, but wellness influencers worldwide do the implementation. They are the people that have a genuine interest in the wellbeing initiative, and they’re pretty influential in their office.
To connect with people in different locations, they use a platform called Workvivo. It is an internal engagement platform or an Instagram for business, as Helen describes it.
While many of their employees work on client sites, they can still stay connected to their company by checking Workvivo, joining activities and events.
Working in a client’s office means that the employee needs to respect the client’s culture and values while being a solid ambassador for Morgan McKinley. Wellness programmes rolled out in their central offices may not always coincide with the client’s culture. One example is the early Friday initiative Helen’s team implemented. It would be hard for employees working on-site to take on this initiative; therefore, they needed to find flexible ways of including everyone.
The future of work is all about flexibility and adaptability
Helen says a lot of companies are now developing their agile working strategy. Many people miss the office environment with the structure and balance it provides. At the same time, working from home also has its benefits.
Many businesses might choose a hybrid model, a mix of remote and office time. But this new model brings along new challenges. When half of the people are in the office, and half are at home, communication and planning could be difficult.
“Connecting with people and trying to understand what is important to them is the key to success. If you implement a strategy that you think is the best in the world, but you haven’t asked anyone their opinion, you are setting yourself up for failure, or at the very least, resistance. So, trying to engage with people and connect will be very important.”
Listen to the entire podcast by clicking play above or you can subscribe to The Work Well Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch the full video of our conversation through this link.
Learn more about Helen’s initiatives at Morgan McKinley by accessing morganmckinley.com. You can also connect with Helen Gallagher on LinkedIn.
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About Your Host
Brian Crooke is a wellbeing educator, speaker and adviser, empowering Irish organisations to promote and sustain wellbeing within their workplaces.
He is the founder of The Work Well Institute and the Workplace Wellbeing Ireland community and is Course Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness at Tangent, Trinity College Dublin. He is the host of The Work Well Podcast.
In his spare time, Brian is bringing free resistance training to every county and community in Ireland through his parkHIIT social enterprise.
If you have any suggestions for future topics you'd like to hear on the show, email Brian directly, brian@workwellpodcast.com