The Churchill at Meadowhall Team is doing well in Sheffield

As World Wellbeing Week draws to a close, we thought we’d share some insight about an initiative undertaken by our team at the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield that has won praise and recognition from our client, British Land, in its 2021 Customer Excellence Awards.

In the category of ‘Wellbeing’ the Churchill at Meadowhall Team was highly commended.

Here’s what the judges had to say –

Having recently completed his level 3 award in counselling, Paul took action to support others during the last year, setting up a Mental Health Support group on Facebook that was open to current and ex colleagues. This created a dedicated safe space for people to discuss their issues and draw on each other’s experience and coping methods.

The group has around 15 to 20 members, and in a male dominated team that typically don’t talk openly about mental health, this is a huge achievement.

As well as a great support mechanism for team members themselves, helping to get them talking and keeping their minds healthy, it has helped other team members become more aware on a personal level of the wide range of issues people are struggling with and this insight helps them to provide a more empathetic service to shoppers, particularly during the pandemic which has seen an increase in the volume of one-to-one interactions with customers.

Paul’s work has created a definite increase in morale amongst impacted team members and built a strong connection across the team with a sense of purpose beyond the role itself.

The recognition continued coming with overall winner status conferred in the categories of ‘community’, ‘team players’ and ‘operational excellence’.

Said Churchill’s Louisa Clarke, managing director – operations, “The last year was particularly challenging and threw up all sorts of new issues for the Churchill at Meadowhall Team to manage. Lock downs, social distancing, face masks, furlough, closures, re-openings, queue management etc. all put our cleaning, customer service and security personnel under greater pressure than before. The team has had to show fortitude and resilience in coming to terms with new realities and wellbeing has never been more important.

“Amongst all the extra work, adjustments and new protocols, the creation of the Facebook mental health support group was a standout achievement. It was created for our team, by a member of our team, on their own initiative in order to make a difference. And it did make a difference; beyond being recognised by our client, it brought our people closer together even when we were being advised to stay apart.”