Local technology firm continue to combat the stigma around mental health in the workplace throughout the pandemic

Saturday 10th October marks the annual occurrence of #WorldMentalHealthDay, a day to bring the nation together to break the silence around mental health.

For local technology firm Novatech Ltd, it is much more than one day a year where they talk about mental health and raise awareness. Novatech embarked on their journey to promoting mental health in the workplace in early 2019. Now over a year since that journey started the company has invested in training 10% of their workforce to become mental health first aiders. 

We spoke to staff at Novatech who attended the training and got some outstanding feedback about the training and the work Novatech are doing as a whole. 

Stacey commented about her mental health training;

“The course has given me a much greater understanding of various mental health illnesses, and reinforced how important it is to be able to support people by looking at things from their perspective.”

Another member of staff at Novatech, Steve told us;

“I wanted to be a mental health first aider due to my own personal experiences, so I was thrilled when Novaetch asked me if I wanted to take part in the course.”

Novatech, specialist provider of Gaming PCs, Workstation and Servers has recently partnered with local mental health charity Solent Mind. 

The partnership between Novatech and Solent Mind was an employee lead decision, where they have raised over £300 in just a few weeks through staff completing the Best Companies engagement survey.

Solent Mind is a  local charity supporting those with mental health issues. Staff at Novatech made the decision they wanted to support a charity local to their head office in Portsmouth which employees, friends or family members may use and benefit from.  

Earlier this year Novatech also introduced three additional short notice annual leave days meaning that should an employee need time off, they can have it approved at a moment’s notice, Throughout the pandemic Novatech have been encouraging staff to manage a good work and life balance encouraging staff to take annual leave to spend time with their families in these uncertain times.  

While staff have been working remotely managers at Novatech have tried to ensure that the team remained as one by organising virtual social events to help keep people connected and assure no one felt isolated during this difficult time.

Along with having trained mental health first aiders, Novatech have also launched a mental health email address where employees can confidently message if they feel they need support but are too nervous to call someone.

Head Of Human Resources at Novatech, Lyndsay told us;

“It is always presumed when you work in HR you know exactly what to say or do when it comes to staff struggling. I have worried many times if I have said or done the right thing to support the staff. The mental health first aider training has given me greater confidence in the support I am giving, as well giving me a better understanding about mental health conditions and how to direct people to the right support.”