LIVING YOUR best life

Here at Officeworks, we recognise we have an important role to play in the lives of our team members and in the local communities where we live and work. With 167 stores across Australia and more than 9,000 team members, we know our decisions can make a positive difference today and in the future.

At the heart of this decision-making is the health and safety of our team and customers – it goes without saying. As a multi-faceted business, the needs of employees are diverse – we have store and warehouse team members who regularly do more than 15,000 steps a day while others move considerably less, working behind a desk most of the day.

As part of our People & Planet Positive 2025 commitments, we are focused on creating a work environment where everyone can thrive, no matter what their location or role in the business.

Some examples of our safety, health and well-being initiatives include a safety behaviour programme, mental health training workshops for managers, resilience and injury prevention programmes and monthly well-being webinars for team members. The latter cover topics such as nutrition, fatigue, financial well-being, mindset, relationships and mental fitness.

Focus On Mental Health

Increasingly, we are acknowledging that health and safety is not just about physical well-being, but also about achieving positive mental health. This enables our employees to bring their best selves to work, every day.

Our Mental Health Oversight Committee brings a strategic focus to mental health in particular. This group developed our overall framework and oversaw the development of our draft Mental Health Crisis Protocols.

In July 2020, we launched an initiative entitled ‘Your Best Life’. This holistic programme, which has since won a handful of awards, is supported by three pillars –mind, body and soul. It aims to provide tools and resources to help our team members to, as the name suggests, live their best life. Our approach was directed at all areas of well-being, but there is no denying that COVID-19 and its associated border closures, lockdowns, restrictions, remote learning and risk of illness brought the topic of mental health into sharp focus.

Staying Connected

Sarah Hunter, Managing Director, Officeworks

VENDOR SPECIAL Special Issue

One of the most successful components we implemented as part of Your Best Life was ‘Moving Mindz’ – an app-based workplace wellness programme which helped support the mental health of our team during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Our goal – aside from simply staying connected – was to show our employees we cared about their well-being, in all its iterations. In 2020, 3,180 team members –more than 35% of the total – voluntarily took part in the 12-week programme.

During that time, participants were asked to complete daily well-being activities, drawing on nudge theory-based scientific research. Tasks covered themes including mindfulness, nutrition, exercise, sleep and laughter.

COVID-19 […] brought the topic of mental health into sharp focus

During these 12 weeks, we had over 85,000 pieces of engagement on the Moving Mindz platform – posts, photos and videos of participants sharing their wellness journey. What’s more, employees’ mental health scores improved significantly. The programme also resulted in better overall health, more resilience, mindfulness and social connection, and greater sleep patterns.

Speaking Up

We have made inroads over the past two years. However, our work is ongoing. We want to foster an environment where safety is viewed beyond the risk of physical harm, and build a psychologically safe workplace where our team members feel comfortable to speak up if they are not feeling well from either a physical or mental health perspective. This includes reducing mental health stigma by encouraging everyday conversations of care.

Officeworks’ Sarah Hunter is also part of OPI’s focus on Influential Women, our first-ever listing of some of the most inspirational females in the business supplies space (page 30)