Sharing the Caring

Fired up about wellbeing

Morgan Potts and Clayden Boyce. Photo Jim Tannock

IT’S COLD, dark and early in the Awatere Valley as Yealands Estate’s ‘tong masters’ don their aprons hours before dawn. By the time the sun peeks over the neighbouring Pacific Ocean, they’re fuelling roaring fires in the winery’s receival area, and preparing a winter solstice feast for winery staff, permanent vineyard teams and seasonal pruning teams.

It’s all part of connecting, says health and safety manager Brodie Cornelius, who is working to embed wellbeing into the wine company’s culture, anchored by pillars of chill, connect, move, and enjoy. “We do a lot and often,” he says. “Our focus is ingraining wellbeing into everything we do.”

That philosophy, and the myriad of actions that support it – from an onsite counsellor and physio over vintage, to childcare subsidies and free period products — caught the attention of judges in the inaugural Marlborough Wine Industry Wellness Week, held in May. “Yealands showcased significant initiatives that underpin wellbeing, alongside small things that are easily overlooked,” says Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Nicci Armour.

Companies throughout the region’s wine sector were asked to share their inhouse wellbeing initiatives in the wake of harvest, celebrating those doing well, and sharing ideas for those wanting to do even better. Spy Valley Wines won the first ever Marlborough Wine Industry Workplace Wellbeing Impact Award for Taco Tuesday (see June Winepress), but the judges created a separate accolade for Yealands – the Marlborough Wine Industry Workplace Wellbeing Leadership Award – with judges noting that big gains can come from lots of small things sustained over time.

The list of day-to-day initiatives, like flu jabs and skin checks, fruit bowls and sports sponsorship, and a day off and bottle of wine for birthdays, provide the foundations for more focussed initiatives, including the physio available onsite for winery and vineyard staff over vintage 2023, as well as a counsellor for personal and work-related concerns. Vintage brings in international cellar hands, all navigating the complexities of working in a new country, and the counsellor was another way to protecting their wellbeing while far from home, Brodie says. The harvest also sees a pastoral care team kick into action, feeding the team and checking in on morale, while the childcare subsidies available through vintage have benefits for staff and company alike.

Yealands has had a “huge focus” on mental health in recent years, and a pre-vintage visit by mental health advocate Mike King, founder of I Am Hope, was followed by staff interviewing each other for an engagement video, getting individual takes on wellbeing and health. Meetings naturally begin with a round-up of how everyone is feeling, with a push to remove any stigma around mental health issues, Brodie says, noting a desire to have wellbeing integrated into business as usual, as is increasingly seen with health and safety.

The wellbeing culture is also about physical wellbeing and connection, and some of the company’s initiatives –such as paying entry fees for staff and their family for the likes of Round the Bays and Tussock Run – help achieve both. In June the company instigated a new initiative, with a healing therapist to be brought in to work with staff, improving their breathing, meditation techniques and then overall wellbeing. “The things we do are kind of endless,” Brodie says, talking of recent engagement in Pink Shirt Day and Gumboot Friday, chosen by staff as important days to support. “That was really, really cool.”

He hopes the care and attention is attracting more skilled people to the company, including the team of five women, all aged under 23, who managed and operated harvesting equipment this vintage. “It would have been unheard of 10 years ago and now it’s really celebrated within the business.”