On Thursday 12th March, the Young MCA South West Committee organised a Well-being at Work event, kindly hosted by Atkins.
The night started well with some networking over drinks and pizza. It was great to have the opportunity to connect with other young consultants in the region from different firms and project experiences.
There was then a panel session with representation from three regional firms from a variety of roles involved in consulting (eg. project delivery, mental health first-aiders, resourcing and HR). It was fascinating to hear about the different strategies that people use on the job and have heard being used from their teams. Particularly responses on how the focus on well-being has changed over the years and how we can help client teams to evolve in this area as well, including the provision of well-being agendas within project bids were especially of interest to attendees! I particularly resonated with the point made about the importance of neutral headspace in our profession when we are constantly making so many decisions.
Finally, there was a captivating talk from a Happiness Coach, Zofie. Zofie explained how stress makes us stupid and it’s in our best interests to destress to perform at our best. I enjoyed the comment about managers wanting people to come to work with their minds switched on, rather than on autopilot! Zofie took us through some guided meditation at the end and left us with some tangible messages to chew over on well-being – and some extra pizza!
It was a great event and a well timed opportunity for myself and others to focus on our health and wellbeing at a particularly challenging time of the year. I will be putting into practice some of the techniques learned today on my next project!
Words by Polly Clarke and Lucy Thomas, PwC.