Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance Award winner: RSA's Lindsey Morgan

Can you explain the thinking behind the Liverpool Wellbeing Team?

I’ve worked for RSA for 27 years, mostly in the Liverpool office. In December 2013 I took on a new operational leadership role, looking after a team where mental health absences were significant and no positive action had been taken to support them outside of the HR policy. Alongside a colleague, we looked deeper into why this was happening and quickly recognised the need for a wider reaching initiative for our site. This led to me forming the Liverpool Wellbeing Team.

Since launch what has the response/impact been?

Since we started delivering events in 2017, we’ve seen a positive reaction and support from all parts of the business. We get a great response to every learning event we host, every bite-sized educational session delivered gets filled to capacity and we’ve received lots of positive and constructive feedback from our colleagues on our future plans too.

On a personal level, I now have much more open and direct conversations with colleagues about mental health and many examples which support the consensus that talking about the issue, is the best way to remove the stigma.

Where could the ‘Wellbeing’ initiative go next?

I’d like to see more mental health awareness training for leaders as part of the firm’s Licence to Lead programme, which is the internal RSA leadership development curriculum. I would also like us, as an organisation to create awareness and promote positive mental health for all employees, not just leadership.

In Liverpool, I’d like to see more personal development around resilience.  We are developing this at the moment and my vision is to start with a learning event and evolve into supportive communities that meet share and promote positive wellness together regularly.

Can you expand on why you think it is important to get involved in nationwide initiatives like World Mental Health Day and Blue Monday?

In Liverpool, I found that colleagues were observing national and global events in pockets, but bringing the site together raises awareness and promotes cross-functional working.

Our biggest and most popular event annually is Mental Health Awareness Week in May. We’ve done a number of things such as hosting training on resilience and cognitive based therapy and shared the most popular apps for supporting positive mental health. Most importantly though, we’ve had employees share their candid experiences of being in a mental health crisis and how they’ve recovered. These incredibly brave and powerful messages support our efforts, to not only encourage awareness, but a greater willingness to talk about mental health.

How supportive is your employer in terms of raising the profile and boosting the acceptance of D&I across the business?

I’m very fortunate that many of RSA’s senior leaders are hugely supportive of the Liverpool Wellbeing Team, but it is really important to remember that every member of the Wellbeing Team (including myself) have busy day jobs and most of what we do is delivered in our own time. I am keen to continue our growth and reach as many people as possible.

What was it like being a winner at the inaugural Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance Awards?

It was an honour to be named a finalist. There were so many people in my category, I honestly didn’t think I’d win. It was a fantastic surprise.

While it’s great for me to be recognised as a winner, this is a massive win for RSA. My hopes are that we can use this a platform to go above and beyond on employee wellbeing, showing our industry, customers and potential customers that we take positive mental health seriously and that its part of our DNA.