O2's HR Director, Ann Pickering, on cultivating a workforce of love

There are many ways to encourage mental health wellbeing in the workforce. 

L&D has an important role to play in equipping managers with the tools to recognise when an intervention is needed, but culture is of equal importance too. 

Ann Pickering, O2’s HR Director, explains this further to HR Grapevine: “Career expectations have changed drastically in recent years. Quite rightly, employees are increasingly looking for a working environment where they can not only fulfil their career potential and ambitions, but also be themselves. Yet they can only do that if they feel accepted and supported by their employer and colleagues alike. In a world of constantly changing routines and responsibilities, that support has never been more important. 

“At O2, we’ve always aimed to create an open culture, where our people feel empowered to come to work and be themselves. Providing the right tools to support people to have open conversations plays an important part in achieving this, but line managers are also essential to ensuring this is the case. We know that, despite our best efforts, there can be tough days. That’s why all our line managers are trained to spot when someone might need some extra support, and to feel comfortable enough to have a conversation with anyone in their team about their mental health.