I am happy with the balance between my work and home life
On 5 February 2015, the company led a major employee engagement initiative in support of Time to Change’s ‘Time to Talk’ Day. They have set up a mental health steering committee to support this activity with representatives from across the business. UK American Express employees were encouraged to support the campaign by taking 5 minutes to have a conversation about mental health, either in one-to-ones, or in team meetings. Email calls to action to all employees were distributed, printed materials were provided in the communal areas, plus a one minute video was provided as a conversation starter. At the same time, they promoted their ‘Healthy Minds’ employee assistance programme as a go-to resource for emotional wellbeing, so that employees could share information about the resources available. Employees were asked to bank their conversations via a data collection tool. The aim for the public campaign was 24 hours of conversations across the country. The day at the company started with the HR leadership team focusing on the topic at its leadership day programme. A road show event in key operation locations saw hundreds of meaningful interactions, and the Occupational Health team dedicated the day to mental wellbeing activities. Employees across American Express UK took up the challenge, banking a total of 26 hours and 45 minutes’ worth of conversations about mental health, exceeding the target set by the campaign. As a result the company has sought to normalise the conversation around mental health.