Our team in Swindon is supporting LGBT equality in the workplace by wearing and encouraging others to wear rainbow lanyards.

Robert Rustage, diversity champion at RWE  explained more about the idea: “We thought we’d order the lanyards to help start a conversation about diversity. People’s sexuality shouldn’t be an issue in the workplace, it doesn’t matter what your sexuality is, and it shouldn’t have an impact on the work you do. If people don’t feel they can be themselves at work, it can affect performance and how engaged they feel about working for the company”.

To support employee wellbeing, RWE introduced the role of Mental Health First Aid Champions in 2017. The role is there to provide support and advice to an employee experiencing a mental health problem, and to reduce any perceived stigma around mental health issues.

Recently the Occupational Health and Wellbeing (OH&W) team met with over 30 the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Champions in Swindon, to provide refresher training, review the role and identify continuous improvement opportunities related to how we support employees.

The day was facilitated by Robert Manson in the OH&W team, who explained more about the event: “We had some great discussions and suggestions about how we can improve the visibility of our MHFA Champions in RWE and we will be taking these forward over the next year.

“Having signed the ‘Charter for Employers Positive about Mental Health’, RWE is recognised externally as a ‘Mindful Employer’, committed to creating a supportive and open culture, where colleagues feel able to talk about mental health confidently and we aspire to appropriately support the mental wellbeing of all employees.”