Richard Branson once said “clients do not come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients”. As a company, Virgin has waxed lyrical about this ethos for many years. And it isn’t all ‘PR talk’ and hot air.

Webgains has always been a people first organisation; it’s the main reason our clients and partners enjoy working with us.

Our ‘fewer hands, more brains’ philosophy means we work with the best talent, not over-employing or layering employees into bloated teams. All of our staff contribute to the success of the business. Webgains has always had a flexible approach to supporting our staff, and over the past six months we have focussed on this as a key pillar of our existence; to provide sustainable, motivating, door-opening opportunities to everyone that works here.

We know that in today’s fast-paced, digital world there’s no such thing as ‘a job for life’ anymore, so we don’t expect our employees to stay forever. But what we aim to do is provide them with the best possible life experience while they are here.

We have launched some ‘staff-first’ opportunities recently, which we (and our team!) think are pretty cool.

Mental Health Training

In any one year, one in four people will experience a mental health issue. But stigma, and to some extent, the insurgence of social media means we often have a limited understanding of how to look after our mental health and that of the people around us.

Speaking out about mental health is imperative for businesses, and we’ve worked with Team GB & Team England Beach Volleyball athlete Chris Gregory, as well as Founder of Project Get A Grip, Tom Watson to deliver sessions to stop the taboo that surrounds talking about mental health in the workplace. We’re also an early adopter of Mental Health First Aid training, giving our employees the option to attend and qualify for the program developed by MHFA England.

Vitality Partnership

Webgains have partnered with Vitality Health, not only to provide exceptional private medical insurance but to support a healthy lifestyle and wellbeing balance to our staff.  We encourage our teams to be proactive with their health and wellbeing and are providing them with the means to do this.

Launched an EAP

Employee Assistance Programs have been around for many years and are often viewed by employees as ‘that poster on the back of the toilet door’.  However, they are a powerful resource that we actively encourage the use of.  As part of a wider cash-plan, we can engage with the EAP while benefitting from the more enjoyable benefits.

Employee Wellbeing

We were tired of staff surveys only being about the work. Our employees don’t leave their lives at the door when they come into work. So we constructed an engagement and wellbeing survey that aimed to understand a more holistic approach to the areas Webgains as an employer needs to strive to improve constantly. It covered exercise, diet, mental wellbeing, learning and development as well as work-life balance, empowerment, management and motivation.

Resilience Workshops

One of the less traditional topics we’ve added to our training package is the opportunity to develop resilience. An underappreciated skill in the workplace, resilience is often described as your ability to bounce back from a difficult or trying experience.  In the workplace we have to do this all the time; dealing with tough situations, working with external partners, dealing with critique. Employees are often expected to be naturally resilient when they enter the workforce, but resilience is a skill that can be honed and improved, with amazingly positive results for both the individual and the company.

Webgains Wednesdays

Every Wednesday at 4:30 pm we pause to expand our knowledge and satisfy our curiosities. Since September, in conjunction with the launch of our industry-first free e-learning platform, we host a Webgains Wednesdays speaker session. The sessions aren’t instigated to sell, or to tell people how to do their jobs. They’re curated to feed ambition, learn new skills and engage with interesting topics. We’ve hosted over fifteen sessions so far, from sporting greats to startup entrepreneurs.

 

Webgains Academy

Launched in September 2017 the Webgains Academy was an industry first. A free learning and development platform accessible to all which provides bespoke courses on digital marketing, with a focus on affiliate marketing. Taking users from novice to expert each module in the course is free to use and return to as many times as you want.  We have over 400 industry partners making use of the Webgains Academy to date. This isn’t an internal-only tool! As an L&D platform, the Webgains Academy has been particularly successful with new entrants into digital marketing, as we endeavour to close the digital skills gap many employers are currently experiencing in the workforce.

This year we’ll continue to develop our mission to provide a high-performance network to our clients and partners. This mission starts by providing a high-performance culture, filled with opportunities and variety that supports the lives of our employees.

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