In celebration of World Mental Health Day was on 10 October 2021, Standard Chartered Bank took the opportunity to highlight mental health and raise awareness through a series of sharing sessions and workshops throughout the month of October.
The theme “Mental Health in an Unequal World” focuses on issues that perpetuate mental health inequality locally and globally.
Through the series of sharing sessions, the Bank further emphasized the need for continuous mental health support for colleagues across the Bank’s footprint during the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic period.
Standard Chartered Brunei kicked off the week with a series of online events to discuss the topic of mental health and reduce the stigma associated with it, with the goal of fostering a healthy, inclusive work environment.
In one of these sharing sessions, employees shared personal stories of their journey physically and mentally, the challenges that they faced and inspiration or motivation that kept them going.
They also talked about the importance of mental health and how people can support the wellbeing of others.
CEO Standard Chartered Brunei Pg Aki Ismasufian Pg Hj Ibrahim also shared his reflections on the important topic of wellbeing – why it is important, expectations, the challenge of working from home, how to be an effective leader, support others, and manage workload while prioritising wellbeing.
“It is vital to raise this awareness of continuing to make mental health a priority of all people”. He further added “Leaders in organisations have the power to ensure everyone feels physically and mentally safe at work and fostering support network can unlock access to higher levels of wellbeing for employees and the organisation,” said the ceo.
On her part, the bank’s Head Human Resources Laila Li said that t Standard Chartered, they have taken actions to improve the accessibility of our support programmes for our colleagues who might be experiencing strains on their mental health.
“The various sharing session and wellbeing workshops demonstrates our strong commitment to providing the right support to the Bank’s employees,” she said.
To support mental wellbeing, Standard Chartered has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which is available all year round, for employees to speak to qualified consultants or experts confidentially on concerns around family, relationships, stress or financial woes.
The Standard Chartered’s EAP also serves as an important resource in crisis situations, such as natural disasters, epidemics or other threats to public safety. Standard Chartered employees benefit from the free access to Clarity Sdn Bhd counsellors up to 6 times yearly for all health related or personal concerns.
Additionally, Standard Chartered deployed various mental health programs for their employees, including launching a Mental Health First Aider support network.
Mental Health First Aiders are not medically trained therapists or psychiatrists, but trained colleagues who can offer emotional and practical support through non-judgmental listening and guidance and can point employees to existing resources.
The Bank believes that this additional support layer is beneficial for the Bank especially during the pandemic as COVID-19 presented personal and professional challenges.
To the same end, the Bank also provides their employees access to hundreds of on-demand and live activities, from yoga and meditation to HIIT and Zumba through an online wellbeing platform called LVL to support mental health.
Earlier this year, the Bank also introduced “Unmind”, a tool that helps employees develop mental wellbeing where they can spend 5-10 mins during the day to “re-energize” themselves. This tool which is also available as a mobile app offers learning materials across a wide range of mental welling topics.
For more information on Standard Chartered’s stance on diversity and inclusion, you can visit https://www.sc.com/en/about/diversity-and-inclusion/.
You can also visit www.sc.com/bnor follow the bank’s Facebook and Instagram at – www.facebook.com/StandardCharteredBNand https://www.instagram.com/stanchartbn
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
