As we reach the colder months the winter blues can creep up on us so it felt like the perfect time to host another Seldon wellness month, highlighting the importance of looking after your emotional, physical and financial wellbeing. Some of the things included, talking about money, a meditation and breathing session, laughing lots at a comedy club and even hosting our own bake off! At Seldon we endeavor to not only grow but also nurture the team and culture we currently have and are so proud of. We believe a commitment to supporting the health and wellbeing of each Seldon employee is at the heart of that.
So, What did we get up to?
Coming Together
We hosted a Seldon breakfast in our London office to kick start a new week! This was an opportunity to bring the Seldon team together and welcome our recent new joiners into the ever growing Seldon family, which had its second highest employee growth to date in 2022 (First place being 2021!). It also highlighted the importance of cross-collaboration and the advantages to being in-person as well as working from home. The breakfast was delicious and it was nice to see so many people in the office on a Monday morning!
Mental Health
The Yin Yoga session we hosted earlier in the year was such a hit we decided to do something similar to help the Seldon team develop skills to support their emotional wellbeing. We hosted a meditation and breathing exercise session which guided the team through useful journaling practices, breathing work and the concept of affirmations through guided meditation. This was a really insightful session that explored multiple techniques that hopefully meant everyone found something that worked for them! We were so relaxed in the session that anyone who walked past probably thought we fell asleep in a work meeting!
Physical Wellbeing
We also put a focus on physical wellbeing, introducing the idea of deskercise. Unfortunately the nature of an office job means that you can often stay in the same position carrying out repetitive motions. It is important to break that cycle whether working from home or the office. We encouraged the team to think about their working set-up to make sure they had a conducive environment that was suitable for their needs.
Financial wellbeing
We also wanted to raise awareness around financial wellbeing as it was the national ‘Talk Money Week’ in the UK from the 7th to 10th of November, which is run by the Money and Pensions Service. We dedicated this week to encouraging conversations around money, which isn’t always the easiest thing to do! Nevertheless, it is important for building financial confidence and resilience, especially during the current cost of living crisis. We took this as an opportunity to remind our global team of how Seldon supports saving for retirement through pensions or a 401(k), and the specific options we have as a business.
Laughter as medicine
They say laughter is the best medicine so the Seldon team went down to the Top Secret Comedy Club towards the end of November to seek the benefits of laughter, such as reduced stress, internally working out and helping us connect with one another! There were some great acts (including the most recent winner of Britain’s Got Talent, Axel Blake) and a brilliant atmosphere. I’m sure the Seldon team will be heading back very soon!
Cake, cake, cake!
To conclude our winter wellness month we hosted a bake-off to highlight how baking can be used as a tool for mindfulness to ease stressful thoughts and future worries. This means that the Seldon team were tucking into cake at 10:30am on a Monday morning but there were no complaints from us! What I learnt is that if you ever need a cake tester, the Seldon team is more than happy to volunteer! 😋
The Future of Wellness at Seldon
This month provided further insight for the Seldon team on the many areas of wellbeing, how to manage these and the positive actions and activities you can do to support them. It has deepened our understanding of what resonates with individuals and where we can provide more information and support. We intend to take what we have learnt into our next wellness month but also in implementing more regular health and wellbeing initiatives and resources throughout the year.
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