SPECIAL REPORT MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS


RAY OF SUNSHINE SAM FISHER, BEDSONLINE


Each month, T “


Bedsonline hosted a Christmas quiz with agents


Palma. “We kicked it up a gear once Covid hit and we realised we would all be working remotely.” A host of online courses were


introduced, from yoga to a drop-in session with a psychologist, team quizzes and other online events. “We encourage people to go on


these almost self-reflective journeys to help figure out what’s important in their life,” says Tulleken. “We want to encourage the work-life balance and find one that works for you.” Mental health advice is also


signposted, with the firm directing staff to helplines and resources to find the help they need. And the company operates a


People Leaders’ Forum, to give managers the chance to share best practice when it comes to wellbeing. “As leaders you’re expected to


have the answers for your team,” says Brett. “But sometimes you need to bounce ideas off other people. We’re human too. And it’s actually really interesting to go aside with your peers in another part of the world.”


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Extending support Speaking to people has been one of the most-suggested ways of coping with anxieties in the past year. While Brett’s team at Bedsonline


talk on a regular basis, they’ve been praised for taking this further and reaching out to their agent partners. “I said to the team, ‘we need to


make sure we’re doing what we can to support our agent partners because they’re going through the same things you are’,” Brett explains. “It was a simple case of picking up


the phone and saying ‘how are you?’ A lot of agents went, ‘oh, actually not good’,” she remembers. “We


CONTRIBUTE If you would like to contribute to T


ravel Weekly’s Mental Health


Matters series, or to nominate someone who has been a Ray of Sunshine, email: natalie. marsh@travelweekly.co.uk


ravel Weekly will feature an individual who has gone above and


beyond to keep morale up among colleagues and business partners. Our first Ray of Sunshine is Sam Fisher, key account manager for the north at Bedsonline


I was having calls with my top agents still. Some days


it was just a call like, ‘Are you OK? Are you managing?’” says Sam. “I knew at the time it was as


important for me as it was for them. I needed that little lift as well. “It’s only now, 12 months on, when


people say, ‘You know what, Sam, you don’t realise the importance you had being there every day or every week or fortnight.’ “I’m a very positive person. I ran


call centres for many years before doing this role and my biggest thing was always to wake up in the morning and do a team talk to get people motivated. “Working remotely, I’m not seeing


any travel agents, so you still kind of have to do that in the mirror in the morning. Every morning I get up, put my clothes on, face on, lashes on – every single day without fail. And that’s my team talk, like, ‘Come on Sam, you can do this, you’ve got this.’ “My son really struggled when he


went back to school in September, so I’d say to him every day, ‘You need to tell me how you’re feeling,’ and I’d just talk with him each day. “There are so many people that


have spoken out and said ‘I’m really struggling’.”


Regional manager Rebecca Brett says: “Sam is always, always so positive. We all have our down days, but she’s always positive. “You could have a really bad day,


talk to her and all of a sudden feel 10 times better. She talks with her agents constantly to make sure they feel OK. She’s sent flowers and treats, just to say, ‘You’re not on your own, we’re here, can we help?’ “She’s always there going


‘what can I do to help?’ That’s not something you can teach; it’s inherently there within you. “She is a little ray of sunshine and I


know when she speaks to people they come away feeling so much better than when they picked the phone up. That speaks volumes.”


Sam Fisher


offered as much advice and help as we could.” Mental health lessons can be


learnt from the pandemic, says Brett, who hopes people won’t revert to old habits.


“Be kind isn’t just a hashtag,”


she emphasises. “It’s something we absolutely need to remember. “We need to be kind to each other


because we’ve all gone through it. When volumes start to come back, and businesses start to make money and


grow at the rates they were hoping to pre-Covid, it’s the people that got them there. That’s the thing we absolutely need to remember as a business.” Tulleken echoes that sentiment:


“Empathy is something we mustn’t lose. We’ve all been very understanding when it comes to family commitments. “People are far more


understanding of health and personal issues now. That’s something we mustn’t lose.”


17 JUNE 2021 13


PICTURES: Shutterstock/Pressmaster, graficriver_icons_logo, Tatyana Mi; facebook.com/BedsonlineUKIE


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