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We all took a 'Life Admin Day' for World Mental Health Day

We knew that we wanted to do something to mark #WorldMentalHealthDay this year, as part of our ongoing commitment to looking after our employees’ emotional well-being. After going through a few ideas, we decided that the best thing we could give our staff was time. Time to relax, recharge and unwind.

That’s why on Wednesday 10th October, everyone at Charlton Morris was given the day off for a ‘Life Admin Day’.

Crucially, we only announced it the week before, meaning that people didn’t have too much time to make plans, and instead could just take time out to focus on themselves – something we very rarely get to do – even on weekends life just gets in the way sometimes!

Taking care of your mental health is something that we should all be investing time into. Whilst an initiative like World Mental Health Day is great, it’s vital to remember that slogans like ‘It’s ok not to be ok’ don’t only apply for one day a year. Our mental well-being requires attention all year round.

That’s why we’ve gone to great lengths to try to build and develop a truly supportive environment here at Charlton Morris. We want mental health and well-being to be prioritised in everything we do – as seen by Wednesday’s events.

But what is a ‘life admin day’? In all honesty we weren’t too sure either, so we sent out a quick survey to see what people in our Leeds, Copenhagen and New York offices got up to on their day off.

Here’s a few of their answers:

‘I met with a friend for a walk in the park to enjoy the sunny weather’ 

‘I slept in, sorted out a mortgage application, tidied the house and then went to watch my old school play rugby’ 

‘I went to see family, took the dogs for a walk in the sun and stopped for lunch’ 

‘I spent the day with my son and went to the park’ 

What we asked for in return was that on the Thursday when everyone returned to the office, we sat down in groups and talked about what we did, why and if it helped.

We couldn’t be happier with how the day went. When asked, everyone was incredibly positive about the opportunity to take time for themselves midweek. After a frantic start to our new year a few weeks ago, it was a welcome break from what’s been a really intense period for the business.

Feedback from the team included the feeling of freedom they found from not being on their phones, turning off from social media and emails.

I would advise every business to take their very own ‘Life Admin Day’ from time to time, as we’re already feeling the benefits.