May 13th marked the annual PSYCHED Workplace Recognition Awards, held in Millennium Hall, City Hall in Cork City. This was an important night for Arema Connect, as we were honoured once again with a PSYCHED Certification for our commitment to promoting positive mental health in the workplace. Managing Director Pat Keogh, along with our HR & Financial Director, Nuala Keogh, and Client Development Manager, Katherine Sutton, were all in attendance. The evening brought together organisations, advocates, and business leaders who share a common goal: to foster a supportive, healthy workplace where all employees can thrive.
Arema Connect has been engaging with the PSYCHED initiative since its founding in 2018. Their trainings and workshops have proven to play a vital role in our approach to maintaining a healthy workplace culture. In conjunction with our Employee Engagement Strategy, we felt that partnering with such strong advocates for mental health would only strengthen our ability to support each of our employees.
It’s no secret that the contact centre industry faces many stigmas and challenges, such as poor employee satisfaction and high staff turnover rates. Our agents face similar challenges that anyone in a customer-facing job would face, with the additional challenge of some customers being emboldened by making contact via telephone as opposed to face-to-face. At Arema Connect, one of our primary focuses is to be a leader in the industry in terms of being an employer and workplace where people can thrive. We take care to ensure that our team are always supported The PSYCHED Initiative has proven to be a key component in our work toward overcoming these industry barriers and demonstrating that we are dedicated to our people and their well-being.
We continuously emphasise mental health and well-being throughout all aspects of our Employee Engagement strategy. Employees who feel heard, supported and valued are more engaged with the company’s culture and get much greater satisfaction from their role. And of course, this greatly contributes to staff retention too, something that is a major focus for us. As a result of these efforts, our retention rate is 90%, among the highest in the contact centre industry.
Each of our Employee Engagement initiatives allows our team members to stay engaged and connected with their co-workers, members of the management team, and the overall company culture. This has greatly contributed to our collaborative and people-oriented culture. Our employees are at the core of everything we do, therefore, we are aware that their interests need to be recognised while we strive to achieve our organisational goals.
Over the years, we have continuously adapted our various initiatives to meet the changing needs of our team. One of the biggest challenges to date has been staying connected with remote working team members. As such we try to make any initiatives we introduce accessible to both office-based and remote working team members. From our ‘coffee catch-ups’, to team outings, to lunches, we strive to reach all of our employees. The ability to connect and get to know each other in a more social setting leads to a more collaborative working environment.
In particular, we have found that instituting regular “Coffee Catch Ups” with the team has been a highly successful initiative to gain insights into the company culture as the agents experience it. We have seen a shift in our team members as they more openly share if they are having a bad day or have faced any challenges. This greatly ignites conversations amongst the group where others draw on past experiences and offer reassurance. This has also led to team members sharing positive experiences or good weeks, which in turn has a positive impact on the group.
Events like the PSYCHED Initiative’s Celebration & Recognition Evening highlight the importance of mental health and wellbeing to creating a healthy workplace, across different industries and sectors. We believe as a company that by emphasising mental health and wellbeing of our staff, we in turn foster stronger partnerships with our clients.
“The Psyched initiative has really helped us in formulating a Employee Engagement & Wellness Program. It is a great opportunity for us to network with other like-minded companies so that we can share ideas and offer new ways to engage with our teams. The workplace has changed since Covid. We have to adapt and continuously innovate. We offer our staff the option to work remotely, hybrid and office based, keeping in contact with everyone is essential to keeping our culture alive and well. PSYCHED puts some structure on the process” - Pat Keogh, Managing Director
