The Charter

The intention of the Mindful Business Charter is to remove unnecessary sources of stress and promote better mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. There will be times when long hours and stress cannot be avoided, but this isn’t always the case, and we want it to become the exception rather than the rule. As a business community we have a responsibility to  do things differently.

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The Mindful Business Charter

MY ORGANISATION’S COMMITMENT

  • Drive forward the actions and change necessary to support the Mindful Business Charter. 
  • Promote a culture where people can speak up early about any concerns that they might have with their wellbeing (or the wellbeing of colleagues).
  • Make performance against the Mindful Business Charter / responsible business a priority standing agenda item for all client and supplier relationship review meetings. 
  • Ensure responsible business is included as an area of assessment during significant procurement processes. 
  • Once established, introduce the Mindful Business Charter to one new member every 12 months and report annually on your broader activity to the Mindful Business Charter community.
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MY COMMITMENT

Openness and respect

BUILDING TRUST AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: 

  • Treating internal colleagues and external contacts with the appropriate level of respect and courtesy. 
  • Discussing upfront with my colleagues, clients and contacts their preferred method of communication and clarifying any relevant implications of an individual’s working patterns.
  • Asking for and providing feedback to others on a regular basis.
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Smart meetings and communications 

ADHERING TO SMART MEETING AND COMMUNICATION GUIDANCE: 

  • Being respectful of others’ time by planning meetings properly (considering who needs to attend / giving appropriate notice / setting clear agendas and objectives) and avoiding last minute cancellations. 
  • Unless otherwise necessary, allowing people to join meetings by the method they deem suitable, providing video and call-in details as default on meeting invites to allow everyone to participate regardless of their physical location. 
  • Running meetings effectively, including (a) allowing contribution from participants regardless of location and (b) giving consideration to how different people process information and make decisions. 
  • Avoiding over-use of email and instant chat and avoiding copying people into messages that they don’t need to receive. 
  • Where multiple communication media are used, agreeing how each is expected to be used and allowing people to log out for periods to enable focussed attention. 
  • Making use of subject lines in messages and ensuring these are reflective of the message’s content.
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Respecting rest periods 

CONSIDERATION GIVEN TO THE NEED TO ‘SWITCH OFF’: 

  • Where support is required outside of someone’s core working hours, giving them options for when that could be (early morning or evening / weekend). 
  • When sending communications outside of business hours, being clear whether it needs to be read / actioned promptly or considering sending pre-timed messages (so they are not received late at night and at weekends). 
  • Including working hours / availability as part of email signatures, so people are aware of each other’s’ working patterns. 
  • Respecting people’s right to take annual leave without the expectation of them checking messages / being on call, and role modelling the same behaviour where possible.
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Mindful delegation 

IMPLEMENTING A BEST PRACTICE APPROACH TO COLLABORATION, INSTRUCTION AND DELEGATION: 

  • Respecting the need to provide sufficient context and information for a piece of work, ideally including the purpose and ultimate recipient. 
  • When instructing on a task, negotiating rather than imposing a deadline, being transparent where possible on the wider timetable, and promptly communicating timing changes which impact others. 
  • When being instructed on a task, being confident to flag when a deadline is unrealistic and / or unachievable

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Leading modern workplaces understand that effective wellbeing strategies involve looking at the causes of unnecessary stress, and removing them, to build healthier, more productive workplaces. Join us to be one of them.

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