Water Wellbeing Week

This year, Thames Water's Water Wellbeing Week takes place from 14 – 18 October.

We are focusing on financial wellbeing as we believe our employees deserve to be stress-free when it comes to money. We believe it’s important to have the information needed to help plan for day to day life as well as for significant life events.

Tell me more

Finance worries are often identified as a key trigger reported by our mental health first aiders in their interventions. It is in the top four reasons why someone would come forward and ask for help. Financial concerns are common amongst employees seeking mental health support from Occupational Health.

Research by Close Brothers’ published earlier this year found that more than three quarters of UK employees felt that money worries affected them at work. Money worries are one of the single biggest causes of stress, which impacts both mental and physical health if left unchecked.

When looking at wellbeing, we now believe wellbeing is made up of three key areas; mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing and financial wellbeing – they are all fundamental parts of general wellbeing and naturally impact each other. At Thames Water we already have an award-winning mental health strategy and a proactive physical health strategy, we are keen to ensure we are also supporting our financial wellbeing.

What’s available to Thames Water employees?

Financial wellbeing workshops

Following a poll on Yammer and our short survey where we asked you for your input, we have teamed up with HSBC, Standard Life and Dexter Montague to provide a wide range of workshops over the week. We are also offering 1-2-1 sessions with HSBC, tailored to you.

In addition we are excited to announce we have partnered with Neyber to provide our employees with financial education, a range of savings products and affordable loans. All employees will have access to a wide range of financial education resources that they can personalise to their needs. These include access to credit reports, budget planners, saving strategies and much more.

Neyber will be visiting a range of sites over the week to talk to you about how they can support your financial wellbeing. Access to their loans, savings and financial education hub is coming soon.

  • An introduction to financial wellbeing
  • Estate planning and wills
  • Managing and growing your wealth
  • Your pension
  • One on one session
  • First time home buying
  • Making the most of your money
  • My family finances

Total Reward Statements

At Thames Water your Total Reward package is so much more than basic salary. But people tell us their total reward package is confusing and they do not understand what they get.

Your personalised Total Reward Statement, containing information about your total reward and benefits package over the past year, will be available to view and download from Benefits on Tap from 14 October 2019.

Daily challenge

As well as attending workshops you can take part and get involved with our daily challenges:

  • Open your 2019 Total Reward Statement (TRS) – is it what you were expecting?
  • Find out what pension scheme you are in (from your TRS) – go to benefits on tap to find out more about your pension.
  • Complete a budget planner – put yourself in control of your money.
  • Download the smart spending app – how much can you save?
  • Take 5 minutes for yourself – our peaceful mind visualisation helps you to achieve a sense of relaxation in just a few minutes. Your wellbeing matters.

Tell us how you get on with your daily challenges by posting on Yammer #Wellbeingweek19 #Dailychallenge

Physical and Mental Wellbeing

Wellbeing is made up of three fundamental parts – mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing and financial wellbeing. If we are struggling in one area of wellbeing we can support ourselves by ensuring our other wellbeing needs are addressed. When going through financial difficulties it is therefore important to remember to take care of yourself – particularly your mental and physical health.

Physical activity can support good mental health and throughout wellbeing week you may see several small-scale local events to support physical activity. Key things you could do this week would be to use the stairs instead of the lift, take a 30 minute fast paced walk over lunch or take up a new activity. Get your colleagues involved. For those with mental health worries we have our excellent EAP service and also our mental health first aiders who are able to sign post you to relevant support services.

Please also see our Wellbeing Move and Mind pages and our Wellbeing centre for more advice.

Financial hardship

If you are experiencing immediate financial hardship there a number of free resources available to you:

Our Mental Health first aiders are always here to listen and signpost you and our EAP service is available on-line or over the phone 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.