Health Boost
“We want our staff to enjoy a healthy, safe and rewarding work-life balance. This isn’t a nicety on our behalf, it’s a necessity. We want to grow, thrive and find joy in all that we do. Putting our people first, helping them be the best version of themselves, not only benefits them, it also benefits our community, our partners and our players”. – Phil Gaskell
Ripstone is and always will aspire to be a ‘healthy organisation’.
For us, a healthy organisation is one that puts its employees’ well-being at the forefront of everything it does.
One that is proactive and committed to making comprehensive positive change through a wide range of meaningful well-being initiatives.
This desire to be a healthy organisation is at the heart of our business. It drives every decision we make and, going forward, will ensure that all of our studios and workspaces remain healthy, safe spaces that support our employees physically, mentally, socially and emotionally.
We know that when people are healthy and well, and living their life’s ‘purpose’, they are able to contribute more – whether that’s to their friends and teammates, their families or the wider communities they are part of.
To keep us laser-focused on our commitment to improving #RipstoneLife, we consider the following three pillars in everything we do:
Purposeful – Identifying what really matters to our people, and finding ways to drive forward measurable improvements that make a real difference.
Supportive – Building a suite of anytime, anywhere mental health tools, resources and services that are readily available to everyone in our organisation.
Nurturing – Putting in place proactive measures that meet the needs of our people, promoting healthier habits across wellbeing, fitness, diet, sleep and energy levels; so we can all approach our challenges feeling empowered.
Purposeful
The term ‘purposeful’ speaks to two distinct aspects in our wellbeing drive.
The first is setting organisation wide health goals that are shaped by the varied needs of our people. Goals that are quantifiable, holding us accountable and helping us benchmark our progress.
The second interpretation of ‘purposeful’ champions empowering our people. Helping them find their ‘personal purpose’ within the company, so that they can drive their own career forward. Ripstone is a flat organisation, without hierarchical boundaries. As such, our people are encouraged to work across disciplines and departments, to widen their skill sets and find their passion; with real opportunities for career progression. Publicly our Best Places to Work Awards help us measure and showcase our success.
Supportive
According to Mental Health First Aid England, 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues each year. These issues vary in nature and intensity and there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. With this in mind, Ripstone has set out to offer a wide range of supportive care.
Our approach focuses on:
Supporting our people through a range of anytime, anywhere online tools and services, as well as face-to-face sessions with our embedded psychology coach who offers services ranging from counselling and CBT, through to professional career coaching.
Empowering our people through education, awareness raising workshops and our R.LifeTalks peer support group. All of which aim to address stigma and make mental health conversations as commonplace as physical health conversations.
Equipping our people with preventative self-help tools. From resource sets collated by our #RipstoneLife Team, to creative activities, such as our bimonthly mindful audio releases that we produce and circulate in-house, encouraging people to pause and take stock. Try it for yourself:
Nurturing
We understand that our employees are our greatest asset, and their wellbeing is paramount to the success of our organisation. Therefore, we have made it our priority to invest in private health plans for all our employees, including discounted gym membership. We also organise regular sporting events, run a weekly walking club and host a free kitchen that prioritises low fat and healthy options. We are currently working toward having our own gym, free for all Ripstone staff.
Committed to Better Wellbeing
Sticking to being purposeful, supportive, and nurturing has been key to us on our journey towards becoming a healthy organisation so far, but we’re not stopping here.
All at Ripstone are unwaveringly committed to further improving our wellbeing processes wherever we can, and we’ll be sharing anything and everything we learn along the way. Additionally, we welcome feedback, suggestions, and any examples of best practices that could improve our wellness efforts in any way.