Mental health is a topic that has been receiving increasing attention from many, including companies, and thankfully so. At Leadzai, that’s no different. As we continue to attract and retain talent from younger generations, it's worth noting that Millennials and Gen Zers are placing increasing importance on mental health, with studies showing that these generations prioritize mental health more than previous generations.
Me, as the Chief of Staff, along with other managers in the team, including our HR Director João Bogalho, have been trying to find new perks and ways to improve our team’s wellbeing. While on the surface this may seem like a simple task, it’s actually much more complex when we start digging into it.
As a company, we follow some basic principles that help us be aligned. One of those is that a happy team is a better team, and for that, we’ve come up with a set of perks. Namely, on top of health insurance, we let people work from wherever they want, we offer unlimited days off and we operate under a flexible working schedule, where each team member can decide their own hours and rest when needed. These factors are very valued within the team, but are they enough?
As a startup we expect the workload to move quickly and that our product continues to evolve swiftly. For that, we count with an amazing group of people who dedicate themselves to Leadzai; but how do we make sure their life is well-balanced? And how can we find a partner that works for our 14 different nationalities and 11 different countries?
First, we started thinking about what type of service we’d need. Just like with every other partner we have, we wanted a flexible option that would allow each person to decide whether or not they’d like to use the service. Especially since this may be a sensitive topic, we didn’t want to force anyone to have psychology sessions or to feel they were being trapped into something they either don’t want or don’t feel comfortable with.
Another important aspect, as I mentioned before, was that this service could cover all people in the team no matter where they are. This means attending to different time zones as well as to different languages. Lastly, we needed a budget-conscious option as we’re still growing and want these partnerships to grow alongside us.
After doing some research and brainstorming internally, João Bogalho came across MindPartner by chance during one of the classes he lectures. We scheduled a meeting to know more about them and our first impression couldn’t be better. MindPartner seemed to cover all our needs by providing flexibility, different time zones and all communication available in both Portuguese and English, with some bonus characteristics that we hadn’t really thought about. All for a reasonable price that will allow us to bring in more people to the service, so it was really a no brainer to go ahead and adopt the service.
We kicked off this partnership with an introductory meeting for the entire team where Ana, our MainPartner (the person in charge of our account), explained how this would work and what perks they would have access to, as well as answered any questions we might have. Afterwards, it was up to each individual to decide whether they’d like to try it or not.
Three months later, we’re happy to see that this decision has been a success. While all data is confidential, we do know that more than half the team has decided to try it and has been really enjoying it. From therapy sessions and a chat where we can pose questions directly to a professional, to a company-wide slack channel where we get some prompts reminding us about important mental health actions, each of us is using MindPartner according to our own preference.
Furthermore, this has also posed an opportunity for some people to talk more openly about their experience with therapy and with mental health, building even stronger relationships.
While we understand this won’t solve all our problems and that this is just a small step towards making our team happier, we are glad to rely on companies like MindPartner to help us move closer to our goals.
.svg)
