How Ibstock transformed workplace culture through supporting their Mental Health Allies
Samuel Roberts
Wrote this on, October 23, 2024
In today’s fast-paced, often high-pressure working environments, ensuring employee wellbeing is more important than ever. Ibstock Brick, one of the UK’s leading brickmaker & supplier of brick products, has successfully tackled this challenge by partnering with Everymind at Work to enhance mental health support for their employees, particularly those in factory settings where stigmas around mental health often persist.
We caught up with Bethany Gunn, Learning & Development Advisor and Emma Pearson, People Business Partner at Ibstock to explore their journey of creating a proactive, supportive workplace environment with our support.
The key numbers:
- 6+ increase in wellbeing engagement score since partnering with Everymind, shown in a Best Companies survey.
- 58 Mental Health Allies (MHAs) across Ibstock, providing vital support and making mental health conversations more accessible across sites.
- 2,300 employees are being supported through Ibstock’s partnership with Everymind, ensuring comprehensive wellbeing support across the company.
To take a more proactive approach, we needed to build up a network of Mental Health Allies (MHAs) to provide a first point of contact to colleagues experiencing mental health difficulties… We knew Everymind could provide the right framework to support that network.
– Emma Pearson, People Business Partner
Where the story began…
Ibstock’s workforce is predominantly male, with 85% of employees working in factory settings. Historically, mental health was rarely discussed, particularly among men, who often struggled with societal stigmas around expressing emotions. As Kate Whyte, Learning & Development Manager explained, this challenge was a driving force behind the company’s wellbeing efforts:
“We wanted people to feel safe and supported coming into Ibstock, no matter how they were feeling. We wanted to get the conversation started around mental health, looking at how we could build connections and start looking out for each other.”
Recognising that old-school beliefs were preventing men from discussing their mental health, Ibstock made it a priority to foster an environment where these conversations could happen openly.
To get these conversations going, Ibstock’s wellbeing strategy began with education. The company wanted to focus on raising awareness of mental health across its workforce. Bethany highlighted the importance of first educating managers, ensuring they could identify signs of poor mental health and provide the right support.
However, as a multi-site organisation with employees spread across the UK, Ibstock realised it wasn’t enough to rely solely on managers. Not every employee might feel comfortable approaching their manager about sensitive mental health concerns. This is where Ibstock took a further step to strengthen its wellbeing support.
Why Ibstock partnered with us
Ibstock partnered with Everymind at Work to build a network of Mental Health Allies (MHAs). These trained individuals provided an alternative first point of contact for employees who might be facing mental health challenges. Emma said, “We realised that it was not enough just to train managers. We needed to build up a network of Mental Health Allies (MHFAs) to provide a first point of contact to colleagues experiencing mental health difficulties and/or emotional distress,”
This initiative was further supported by Ibstock’s broader wellbeing strategy, led by Chris McLeish, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Wellbeing Sponsor. Chris emphasised the company’s comprehensive approach to tackling mental health stigma: “As part of the change programme, we have formed a wellbeing working group of members from across the business, created a network of mental health allies (MHAs)… These steps have all helped to normalise conversations around mental health and are working to remove the stigma associated with this critical societal issue.”
One of the key reasons Ibstock chose Everymind as their wellbeing partner was the platform’s holistic approach to supporting both employees and Mental Health Allies. Kate highlighted the importance of providing MHAs with continuous support:
The role of a Mental Health Ally can be difficult and might trigger emotions. Along with having peer support groups, we wanted to provide them with professional support and ongoing development. The Everymind system ticked all the boxes as it offered clinical support to our MHAs as well as ongoing development on key mental health topics.
For Mental Health Allies in the business like Owen Crossan, access to Everymind’s platform provided vital reassurance. He explained how the platform made him feel supported in his role as an MHFA:
Having access to Everymind’s platform is great, I know where to go and what to do should I need any support.
This ongoing development and access to resources ensures MHAs feel confident and supported in their roles, reducing the risk of burnout and emotional overwhelm. Additionally, the Everymind platform provided an invaluable tool for tracking and measuring the effectiveness of their wellbeing efforts.
By keeping track of the conversations between MHAs and employees, Ibstock could build a data-driven approach to target specific areas of wellbeing support. Bethany added, “The Everymind system enabled us to keep track of the conversations that were taking place, allowing us to build up data and target key Wellbeing support within the company,”
Paul Fielding, another MHFA at Ibstock, shared how the platform’s tools allowed him to successfully intervene and support a colleague through a mental health challenge. His intervention helped prevent the colleague from taking a leave of absence, underscoring the significant impact that mental health support can have in the workplace.
The proof is in the impact
The success of Ibstock’s wellbeing initiatives can be seen in tangible improvements in employee engagement. Bethany shared a 2022 employee engagement survey with Best Companies that showed that wellbeing had the highest improvement – up 6 points from the previous year. This reflected the direct impact of the mental health initiatives launched with Everymind’s support.
In addition to this, Ibstock’s wellbeing strategy, including its partnership with Everymind, aligns with their ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) targets for 2030. These targets focus on health, safety and wellbeing as central components of the company’s long-term goals. By embedding mental health support into their corporate culture, Ibstock is well-positioned to create a sustainable, supportive workplace for years to come.
The partnership between Ibstock and Everymind has laid the foundation for continued progress in supporting employee wellbeing. Creating a network of Mental Health Allies has provided Ibstock with better support for its factory workers, particularly those on shifts that don’t align with typical office hours. Emma pointed out that having one mental health ally per site was a key internal goal, ensuring that employees have access to support whenever they need it.
Breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health was a core objective of Ibstock’s wellbeing strategy. By creating a supportive environment where mental health was openly discussed, Ibstock helped reduce these barriers. As Bethany noted,
Having the partnership with Everymind has helped reduce the stigma. It allows people to feel free to talk about their mental health without embarrassment.
Key challenges and outcomes
Engaging on-site workers and overcoming mental health stigma
- Challenge: Ibstock’s workforce is predominantly male, and mental health discussions were historically hindered by traditional stigmas, particularly in factory settings.
- Outcome: Through the Mental Health Ally (MHA) network and the support provided through the Everymind Platform, Ibstock successfully normalised mental health conversations, making it easier for workers to seek help and support across various sites.
Providing continuous support for mental health allies
- Challenge: Mental Health Allies (MHAs) are facing emotionally challenging situations and require ongoing development and support to avoid burnout and remain effective in their roles.
- Outcome: The Everymind Platform provides MHAs with on-demand clinical support, regular check-ins and upskilling, to ensure they are well-prepared and supported to handle sensitive conversations and maintain their own mental wellbeing.
Tracking wellbeing conversations and improving data-driven support
- Challenge: Ibstock lacked a structured method for tracking mental health conversations and identifying areas for improvement in their wellbeing strategy.
- Outcome: Everymind’s platform enabled Ibstock to log and track conversations, allowing for data-driven insights. This helped the company target key wellbeing initiatives and provide tailored support based on identified trends.
Reducing employee absenteeism and retention issues
- Challenge: The business aimed to reduce mental-health related absences and needed a way to intervene early and provide appropriate support to their employees.
- Outcome: With the support of Everymind’s tools, MHAs were able to intervene effectively, as demonstrated by Paul Fielding’s success in preventing a colleague from taking an absence. This highlights the direct impact of the network and the support provided by the partnership.
Supporting a large and diverse workforce
- Challenge: Ibstock’s multi-site, 2,300-strong workforce required consistent and accessible mental health support, particularly for employees working different shifts across remote locations.
- Outcome: Everymind’s partnership provided crucial support to Mental Health Allies across all sites, ensuring they were well-supported in their roles. This “support for the supporters” enabled MHAs to continue offering effective peer support to their colleagues, creating a more resilient and connected support network throughout the company.
Ibstock’s collaboration with Everymind at Work demonstrates how companies can take meaningful steps to prioritise mental health in the workplace. By educating managers, building a network of Mental Health Allies and continuously supporting these efforts with data and development, Ibstock fostered a culture where mental health is openly discussed and supported. This commitment to wellbeing alongside the support of the Everymind partnership, is ensuring that employees across all sites feel safe, supported and valued.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we helped Ibstock prioritise mental health support and staying ahead in the industry, please get in touch here.
