Mental health

We offer mental health first aid training to employees all over the business. Staff can volunteer to be available for colleagues experiencing difficult times. These volunteers are trained to signpost relevant organisations, be there to listen and keep any conversations completely confidential.

We provide mental health awareness training for line managers, so they are able to recognize the signs as well as signpost employees to relevant organisations.

19 employees are mental health first aiders
100 sessions were attended for mental health awareness in 2021.

We regularly have third parties provide Mental health awareness courses and mindfulness sessions. These are available to all staff to attend. They aim to help employees with stress resilience and listening, and encourage engagement between colleagues from all across the business.

“It made me think about improving my own mental health such as thinking about doing a little more exercise, taking more breaks and reaching out to family friends more often.” – Hodge employee, 2021

Bupa and Care first

Hodge offers Employee Assistance Programmes to provide colleagues with access to support on a range of aspects, including pressure at work, relationship breakdown or money concerns.

These can be accessed by phone or online, with website support providing “self-service” guidance on home-life (bereavement, childcare and parenting, elderly parents, divorce, finances etc), health (mental health, nutrition, work-life balance, smoking, exercise etc.) and work (change at work, retirement, return to work, workplace conflict etc.) and much more.

If escalation or further support is needed, colleagues can use the service to access face-to-face counselling sessions, either in-person or virtually.

Wellbeing hours

Everyday we dedicate 13:00 – 14:00 as wellbeing hours for our employees. This means there are no meetings during this time and colleagues are encouraged to take a break from their screen, take a walk, and refresh their brain.

A healthy routine is essential when hybrid working, be that physical, mental or emotional.

Healthy Hodge

We are always looking for new ways to ensure that we continually support our colleagues from day-to-day as well as their moments that matter. We introduced Healthy Hodge in 2019, with the aim of supporting our staff with many things, from finances, to family, to mind and body. These are all things that are key to keeping us healthy at work and at home.

We have many resources available to staff as well as relevant signposting for various organisations, if they don’t feel up for talking to someone yet.

Physical Health

  • Cycle-to-work - We believe that a healthy body means a healthy mind. Cycling to work is not only great physical exercise but also benefits the environment, it’s a win-win. That we offer all our employees the opportunity to buy a new bike through our Cycle-to-work scheme.
  • Flu jabs - All our employees are able to request a annual flu jab, so they can stay healthy during the winter months.
  • Gym memberships - We have partnered with PureGym to offer gym and class membership discounts to all our employees. PureGym is located right next to our office, so it is very convenient for employees to get to. We also have showers in our office for employees to use.
  • First aiders - We offer employees training in first aid. Currently we have 22 employees who have taken part in a first aid training course.
  • Funding half marathon entries - We pay for our colleagues entry into 10k runs and half marathons, so all they need to do is focus on the running and the raising money for charity.
  • Sponsoring teams - Our colleagues have set up many sports teams including Netball, 5 aside football and rugby sevens. We are proud to sponsor these teams kit and league memberships.