RAY WHITE ASPLEY , QLD
For Ray White Aspley , COVID-19 was a turning point for them in terms of prioritising their team members ’ wellbeing . They could see how many mental health issues their members were having and felt they had a duty of care and responsibility to do something .
In mid 2022 , Michelle Wilson , Operations Manager of Ray White Aspley put a case together for the directors on the why and the how of a wellbeing initiative , and it was approved . Since then they have launched an EAP program , which has been the most valuable initiative to date .
“ Our EAP is a game changing in terms of being able to support our members and diffuse potentially devastating situations . We can ’ t function without it now ,” Michelle said .
They ’ ve also completed Mental Health First Aid training and run weekly yoga sessions , provide fitness options by partnering with local gyms and are looking to secure partnerships with other businesses to offer discounts for their team members .
“ Everyone has responded really positively to the initiatives we have rolled out so far ,” Rob Green , Director of Ray White Aspley said .
They also do more simple , yet effective activities such as sharing great podcasts and book recommendations to support people ’ s mental and financial wellbeing as well personal and professional development , to name a few .
RAY WHITE CARPENTER REALTY , NZ
Glenn Carpenter , Director of Ray White Carpenter Realty , and his leadership team saw how much COVID-19 impacted the team , so they knew they had to take action . They wanted to make sure that everyone felt connected and supported during a time of uncertainty and isolation . Conducting regular virtual team meetings and hosting online social events helped the team to stay motivated and engaged .
Once everyone was back in the office together , they knew that prioritising their team members ’ wellbeing was something they had to continue . They brought in an external guest speaker , Rosy Harper-Duff from MindSchool ( pictured above ), to run team workshops which included mindset and mental health discussions . Glenn was surprised at how positively his team responded , even people who he thought may not enjoy it , got so much value from each workshop .
“ I received a lot of positive feedback . Rosy has helped our team to grow and develop both personally and professionally , so I invite her back every quarter ,” he said .
Glenn also offers flexible working and encourages working parents to not let the busyness of having a young family affect long-term success .
“ I have a lot of working mums in my team , supporting them and their career goals is important to me and it doesn ’ t matter what hours they can or can ’ t work . They are the backbone of my business ,” Glenn said .
RAY WHITE BALLARAT , VIC
Team culture and customer service are the two most important things for Directors Sam Borner and Will Munro from Ray White Ballarat .
“ It ’ s at the heart of every decision we make and we ’ ve made a lot of changes since we took over the business last year ," Sam said .
The first thing they did was to ask every team member ‘ what culture means to them and what does it mean to work at Ray White Ballarat ?'. This allowed Sam and Will to build the foundations of their core values , with the input from their current team . It also gave the pair the opportunity to grow their business around their new core values .
“ Our team was disjointed because they were spread across three levels of the building , so we reorganised the teams so that everyone was closer together ,” he said .
“ We immediately saw a positive shift in the way people interacted with each other and the vibe instantly improved . We now have plans to turn the bottom floor into a meditation room for people to escape to when they need some quiet time .”
They have since implemented many simple initiatives such as peer nominated employee of the month , positive affirmations at team meetings , quarterly team breakfast and positive weekly wrap ups .
“ We noticed that the small things can often make the biggest impact ”, Sarah Capuano , HR Manager of Ray White Ballarat said .
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