Bouygues E&S Marks Mental Health Awareness Week 

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, an annual event created by the Mental Health Foundation to shine a spotlight on mental health. This year’s campaign focuses on anxiety, one of the most common mental health problems facing the UK today. A little over 1 in 10 of us will live with an anxiety disorder at any one time (Mental Health UK, 2023), making this week an important opportunity to raise awareness and understanding of anxiety and provide information on how we can support those living with it. 

“We’ve chosen anxiety as the Mental Health Awareness Week theme this year to kickstart a nationwide conversation, encouraging people to share their own experiences and any helpful ideas on how they manage anxiety.” Alexa Knight, Director of England at the Mental Health Foundation.

At Bouygues E&S, we’re joining the conversation by sharing how as a business we are proactively supporting our employees through mental health difficulties. With over 914,000 workers affected by work-related stress, depression, or anxiety every year (Health and Safety Executive, 2022), employers have a responsibility to prioritise mental health within their organisation. Caring for our employees’ physical and mental wellbeing remains a key priority for Bouygues E&S, which is why we offer a variety of support programmes and services to help our employees manage and reduce their anxiety.  

In the current cost-of-living crisis, the topic of personal finances can trigger feelings of anxiety, stress, and concern for many. More than a third of adults in the UK feel anxious about their financial situation, and 39% don’t feel confident managing their money. In addition, nearly nine million people in the UK are in serious debt, with only a third of that figure receiving help (Financial Capability, 2023).  

To help address these challenges, Bouygues E&S works in partnership with financial wellbeing services to offer financial help and support to our employees. To alleviate some of the anxiety that debt and borrowing can create, our employees have the opportunity to consolidate debt and make repayments straight from their salary through affordable employee loans. Advances on earned pay and access to saving schemes further support employees in managing their money, while the wide array of dedicated webinars and videos make financial education accessible to all. As a result, Bouygues E&S has helped to promote financial wellbeing among our employees and to reduce feelings of anxiety when it comes to money. 

Of course, anxiety can stem from many different areas. That’s why we ensure that every employee and their immediate family has access to advice, training, and services to help them tackle events and issues in their everyday work and personal life, whatever they may be. Through our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), we offer a dedicated programme designed to reduce anxiety and improve sleep through self-guided mindfulness and meditation exercises, as well as science-backed podcasts and webinars to promote health and wellbeing education. Most importantly, every employee can access a qualified counsellor face to face, online, or over the phone to gain personalised support for their mental health journey. By offering these confidential services free of charge to all employees, Bouygues E&S is proud to ensure that everybody has access to the support they need.   

Furthermore, we’re committed to providing a strong network of support to those who are struggling. Since our partnership with Mental Health England in 2017, we’ve trained over 160 Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) - colleagues who volunteered to learn the symptoms of poor mental health and how to effectively support fellow team members. Our MHFA are active in all areas of our business and are on hand to provide a comforting and reassuring ear to others in moments of difficulty. Linda Whitaker, HR administrator at Bouygues E&S, plays a vital role in training and supporting our MHFAs. In light of Mental Health Awareness Week, she reflected on her experience of launching the network within Bouygues E&S: 

“Bouygues E&S has always recognised that a mental health offering is an integral part of our business and has fully supported me throughout my journey in creating and sustaining mental health training. It’s really important that businesses continue to raise awareness of mental health issues such as anxiety and keep the conversation going. The barriers are coming down where mental health is concerned, but there’s still a lot more to be done to ensure everybody gets the support they need. We can all do our part by talking, and listening, non-judgementally, to share our experiences of mental health as individuals, employees, and businesses.”