A focus on wellbeing: DJS Research launches inaugural employee wellbeing survey

DJS Research Ltd – 16 May 2023

Source https://www.djsresearch.co.uk/news/article/A-focus-on-wellbeing-DJS-Research-launches-inaugural-employee-wellbeing-survey

Wellbeing and mental health are incredibly important to us at DJS Research and ensuring that our colleagues are working in a supportive and nurturing environment is central to everything we do, and to our employee-owned ethos. That is why this year, as well as our annual MyDJS employee engagement survey, we have set about checking in on our employee partners more specifically around wellbeing.

The Market Research Society has done a lot of work around wellbeing in recent years, including supporting an Opinium tracker survey to understand more about mental wellbeing in the sector. Towards the end of last year, more than 50 market research professionals met to hear the results of the  2022 Wellbeing in Research survey and talk about ways to improve wellbeing across the industry.

The survey highlighted that while there have been small improvements in mental health within the sector, with fewer researchers experiencing challenges compared to last year (83% versus 87%), there is still work to do.

Just 19% of the researchers who had experienced mental health issues said they had taken time off specifically look after their wellbeing, which although a marginal rise from 2021 (18%), is still greatly lower than the national average (41%). The study also found that the top barrier to researchers taking time off to look after their wellbeing, was ‘having too much work to do’ (52%).

Jane Frost CBE, CEO of MRS, said of the findings: “This research makes clear that many still struggle to act upon their stress or anxiety, a barrier that we need to break down. 

"It’s not just the right thing to do but staff that are happier are proven to perform with greater energy and more efficiently as well. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, it’s likely many will be feeling anxious and stressed, and as leaders in market research, we need to ensure we’re offering as much wellbeing support as we possibly can.”

Introducing our first DJS Wellbeing Survey

Indeed, on a mission to improve wellbeing within our own market research company, our inaugural DJS Wellbeing Survey sought to understand more about what personal and workplace wellbeing means to our partners, as well as how they currently perceive each. It also offered the opportunity to gauge which DJS Research wellbeing initiatives are working well in the eyes of our partners, and highlighted the areas which can be improved on – as well as some suggestions of 'how'.

The results revealed that 97% of colleagues polled believe that workplace wellbeing is important, with 88% of our DJS team saying they agree that DJS is dedicated to employee wellbeing. Seven in 10 said they agree that we provide useful support which aids wellbeing at work (70%), while more than three in five colleagues (65%) rate DJS’ current wellbeing offering as 'effective'.

At DJS Research we have a dedicated Wellbeing Team as well as mental health first aiders who are there to support employees if they are experiencing emotional distress or mental health problems, such as stress, anxiety or depression. Fact sheets are regularly shared covering a range of wellness topics, and we’ve also welcomed guest speakers (our most recent being on stress management) to help support our partners.  We encourage our partners to take an extended lunch for 'Wellness Wednesday' (or whenever suits), as well as offering online yoga sessions and regular coffee and cake days at the office where we can connect with colleagues face-to face.  To add to that, we’ve introduced an early finish on a Friday (where possible) to help us all ease into the weekend!

In addition to what we’re doing already, our survey has given us some great ideas for exploring future wellbeing initiatives and to look at how we can improve the day-to-day for our company partners. It’s good to know also, that there are already many areas in which we’re getting wellness support right and our partners recognise our efforts in this area.

Listening to our employees and valuing their opinions has always been important to DJS Research, and since becoming employee-owned in 2021 on our 20^th anniversary, we have introduced even more ways of hearing their voices. As well as our annual MyDJS survey (which has recently been completed for 2023), our EO Voice panel allows all employees to have a say in how we do things, share feedback and ideas, and help shape the future direction of the company.

Speaking about our DJS Wellbeing Survey, Research Director, Ali Sims said:

“Employee wellbeing has always been important to us at DJS Research and is growing in importance so we’re continually striving to look for ways we can support our employee partners in this area. We launched our first DJS Wellbeing Survey to see what wellbeing means to our partners, as well as what we’re getting right, and more importantly, where we can improve.  The results show that our efforts are being recognised and our partners feel supported in many areas. It’s also given us plenty of food for thought; things we need to look at in more detail and some great ideas of how we can make things even better.”

For more insight into what it’s like to work for our supportive, employee-owned company, take a look here: ‘What it’s really like to work at DJS Research’ to see how we roll…

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