We’re committed to supporting the health & wellbeing of our colleagues both in and out of the workplace and so to get 2024 off to a good start, for four weeks across January and February we held our annual Wellness Month.

A number of initiatives took place across the firm, all aimed at having a positive impact on mental and physical health while helping good causes in our community and raising awareness of reducing our environmental impact.

Encouraging people to get out and about and increase their daily step count, our step challenge raised money for local sports related charities, with the Burness Paull Foundation making a donation for every colleague who took part. Streetsport – Denis Law Legacy Trust (Aberdeen), Sports Charity Scotland (Edinburgh) and The Sporting Chance Foundation (Glasgow) all benefited from the activity which saw us collectively take enough steps to climb Mount Everest 334 times.

We welcomed the British Heart Foundation into our offices to deliver lifesaving RevivR training, with around 100 colleagues learning how to perform CPR. We took part in the charity’s “Wear Red to Work Day”, with the Burness Paull Foundation donating over £600 to this fantastic cause. Another important charity involved in our Wellbeing Month was Deaf Action, who gave a presentation on supporting and empowering deaf people to achieve their potential.

Recognising the importance of making time to get together and the impact this has on mental wellbeing, we held “winter warmer” lunches in each of our offices, with healthy and hearty soups and salads from local suppliers nourishing us while we caught up with colleagues. And to try and take some of the healthy eating habits back home, our Meat Free Mondays competition encouraged colleagues to put forward their favourite vegetarian meals over the course of the month, which has given everyone in the firm a great collection of recipes to try.

We also hosted meditation sessions across all three offices to help promote relaxation and shared a range of tips and resources to help colleagues continue to take care of their mind and body throughout the rest of the year.

Emma Smith, Inclusion & Wellbeing Manager at Burness Paull said: “It was wonderful to see the level of engagement from colleagues across the firm during our Wellness Month. We’re committed to being a responsible employer and an important part of that is doing all we can to support positive mental health and healthy lifestyle choices. Wellness Month gives us a focus to remind everyone across the firm about the importance of taking care of their physical and mental wellbeing, but this is something we continue to promote throughout the year, always looking for new ways to engage with colleagues and with our partners and others in our community who help us on this journey.”