The wellbeing of our people has always been our top priority.
Like many employers, out of concern for the health and safety of our employees and their families in early 2020, we sent our people home to work remotely. Doing so enabled us to ensure business continuity and deliver on our promises to customers, while shielding our people from potential exposure to COVID-19 in their day-to-day work.
But this new working arrangement instantly immersed many of our people in an unfamiliar scenario. From the frenzy of an entire household attempting to work, learn and live in harmony under one roof; to the risk of feeling disconnected or isolated from the outside world; to the lack of physical separation of work and home life that often plays a critical role in maintaining balance … working from home during a pandemic presented unique challenges.
We certainly didn’t want the emotional health of our people to suffer for the sake of their physical wellbeing, but none of us could control what the world had suddenly thrown at us.
“You can’t control what goes on outside, but you can control what goes on inside.”
In the early days of the pandemic, we launched unMute, an employee wellness and assistance program, and we’re proud to continue to offer this program as part of our benefits package.
unMute offers Bristlecone employees and their families support and resources to address any challenges that may affect their personal wellbeing, work performance or overall quality of life. It provides free, confidential access to professional counselors who are available to help by talking and working through stress, anxiety, grief or other emotional challenges.
This is a global program facilitated by three wellness partners. These partners also offer wellness apps and conduct occasional wellness webinars, which are open to all employees.
In addition to implementing this new program during the pandemic, we also enlisted internal teams and employee resource groups to reimagine employee engagement in a virtual working environment and assess and advocate for work-life balance. We also supported employees’ physical health needs above and beyond our standard benefits, including testing and vaccine coverage, and extended PTO for those who needed extra time for COVID-19 recovery.
In recent months, we have gladly started welcoming our employees back into our offices, and today, we remain as committed as ever to ensuring their physical and emotional wellbeing.
LISA LESKO
Chief People Officer
Bristlecone
