As part of Travel Weekly’s Mental Health Matters series, we’ve been speaking to travel firms putting wellbeing at the forefront of the agenda during Covid-19. Here, Natalie Marsh talks to Bedsonline and parent company Hotelbeds
M
y team were normally out interacting with travel agents on a daily basis. Then, all
of a sudden, they’re working from home five days a week,” recalls Rebecca Brett, regional manager at Bedsonline, thinking back to March 2020. Travel companies across the
industry had never experienced a crisis like Covid-19 before. As Brett puts it: “We’ve had ash clouds and terrorist attacks, but this was completely different; you were not allowed to leave your home.” Now, more than a year on,
with constantly changing travel regulations, the travel industry faces no shortage of challenges. Combine these with worries such
as financial support, lockdowns and separation from family and friends, and it’s understandable why many people’s mental resilience has been pushed to new limits. Research from the Mental Health Foundation in March 2020 found
12 17 JUNE 2021
62% of adults felt anxious or worried over a two-week period. And at the end of April 2020, one in three of those in work worried about losing their job. While the foundation’s research
since shows anxiety due to pandemic- related stress has fallen slightly, feelings of loneliness have not returned to pre-lockdown levels. When Covid hit, Bedsonline,
the trade-only accommodation and activities provider, switched “seamlessly” to remote working, says Brett. But the wellbeing of herself and her team of six across the UK and Ireland was her priority. Regular morning meetings and quizzes
Bedsonline has made a point of keeping in contact not only with
staff working from home but also agent partners
Rebecca Brett
were held, with colleagues’ children encouraged to get involved. “It was important the team
understood ‘it’s OK, this is not normal’,” Brett says, acknowledging the difficulties faced with home- schooling and the blurred lines between home and work life. “The business understood and
made it very clear from the start: people first,” she says. “We need to make sure everyone’s OK.” The pandemic has thrown the
issue of our physical health into the spotlight, with statistics of Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths in the news daily. But symptoms of poor mental health have also been increasing. Brett noticed isolation was a major
issue people had to contend with. “For people that had been going out and interacting on a daily basis, social interaction came to a halt,” she says. “And there’s the pressure of thinking ‘how long is this going to go on? How is this going to affect me financially? What’s the future going to look like?’”
Wellbeing week With about 100 offices in more than 60 countries when Covid hit, Bedsonline’s parent company Hotelbeds doubled down on its global wellbeing initiatives, which focus on physical, mental and social wellbeing. The company runs a wellbeing
week and each month new pieces of content focus on physical, mental and social wellbeing. So far, more than 84,000 hours of wellbeing content has been consumed. “Wellbeing week was something
that we did pre-Covid,” says Luke Tulleken, who works on Hotelbeds’ culture and engagement team in
NEED HELP? If you, or someone you know, has been affected by a mental health issue and are seeking help or advice, contact Samaritans free of charge on 116 123
travelweekly.co.uk
HEALTH MATTERS
MENTAL
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