Looking after our employees' wellbeing

The health and wellbeing of our employees has always been a key priority.

Our aim is to inspire our employees to make informed decisions about their health, safety and wellbeing. We believe healthy employees are happier, more engaged and the best ambassadors for our purpose and values.

How we support our employees' wellbeing
 

Paws for a break 

We are well known as a dog-friendly place to work. Our pet care brand Purina led the way, advocating that pets and people are better together – all day. Now we welcome dogs at five offices in the UK and Ireland. Purina has also campaigned for the initiative with other companies.

Stop the brain strain

We support our employees to recognise and get help when they may need that extra support. We have a comprehensive Employee Assistance programme offering 24/7 psychological support; we have trained our line managers in supporting their team’s mental wellbeing and we have enlisted over 300 mental health first aiders across all areas of our business.

Charity begins at work 

It’s great to give. Each of us at Nestlé gets two volunteering days a year to donate our time to worthy causes, from environmental projects to supporting vulnerable people. Altogether, this provides around 120,000 hours of volunteering a year.

Flex days

Occasionally, our business can be demanding and we may need to work extra time. To ensure they don’t miss out, we encourage all office-based permanent colleagues when they have worked over to take one paid flex day a month, on top of their annual leave allowance.

Flexible desks

To prevent the back pains and posture problems that come with sitting in front of a screen for long periods, our office HQs in Gatwick and York have flexible desks. These allow colleagues to sit or stand while they work. Many have reported feeling more alert. Some studies suggest there are health benefits too.

Supporting new parents

Becoming a parent is a seismic change in people’s lives. Our family leave policies are designed to ensure we remain an inclusive place to work for everyone. Some examples are:

• We’ve implemented a gender-neutral parental leave policy, with paid leave of up to 18 weeks for primary caregivers and an additional four-week fully paid parental leave for second caregiver, to allow parents to spend more time with their new child.
• Parent Pals - a mentoring scheme for all new parents returning to work at our York and Gatwick sites.
• Rooms for breastfeeding and expressing available at all sites with more than 50 female employees – and specific guidance for colleagues on supporting women that need to breastfeed or express.
• Our Paternity Leave policy is actually for ‘Partner’ leave, to include all family situations.

It’s good to talk

Our Employee Assistance Programme includes a 24-hour confidential helpline for free, impartial advice and counselling on a range of issues, not just psychological support, including:

• bereavement and anxiety
• relationship advice
• housing concerns
• gambling
• legal advice. 

Financial wellbeing programme

How we feel about our finances can impact our personal wellbeing. Everyone is different, but research shows that if we are in control of our money, we're more able to focus on the things we enjoy in life.

To help our employees manage their finances and plan for the future we launched 'Your Financial Wellbeing' programme, a financial education and money management tool powered by 'nudge'. The service is free to use for all Nestlé employees and completely independent which means the financial education nudge provides is unbiased and transparent.

Work workout

We offer online fitness classes available to all and encourage our employees to take active breaks throughout the day with our online platform Pleaz. The Pleaz platform is packed full of short, guided exercises from stretching to mindfulness, designed to get you up and moving around.