In light of today being World Mental Health Day, Riffat Tufail, Vulnerable Customer Lead at Phoenix Group, talks about what Phoenix has been doing to support the mental health of colleagues and customers.
Speaking on World Mental Health Day, Riffat Tufail, Vulnerable Customer Lead at Phoenix Group, said:
“On this World Mental Health Day, it is essential to recognise that the cost-of-living crisis – as well as the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic – risk having an unprecedented impact on people’s mental health.
“At Phoenix Group, we have already developed new initiatives to try and support the mental wellbeing of our colleagues and customers.
“We have created a new financial hardship guide for our colleagues to help them in conversations with customers who are being impacted by cost of living. We have also commissioned research to further understand the impact of the cost of living on vulnerable customers, which is currently in the field.
“A budgeting cost of living exercise, delivered through our award-winning e-learning system, has also been rolled out to help colleagues appreciate the difficult choices that customers may be facing, ensuring they receive the best support possible.
“Our ongoing partnership with Samaritans has also influenced our work in this area, informing our development of a new e-learning tool that helps develop caring and empathetic conversations.
“While we recognise that cost of living pressures will impact our customers, we know they could impact our colleagues as well. That is why in June we announced a lump sum cost-of-living payment for colleagues, as well as other measures such as free hot lunches.
“As we mark World Mental Health Day, we will continue to review our actions to ensure we are doing all we can to support customer and colleague mental health and wellbeing.”
