Employee assistance programme
HelpDirect
Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), run by Validium, provides colleagues and their families with free confidential support and advice on a range of issues – from health and wellbeing related to financial matters. It’s available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, ensuring that support is always available.
From October 2021 to September 2022, 1,795 calls and 772 formal counselling sessions took place. 69% of all primary presenting issues were not work related.
1795
Calls
772
Counselling Sessions
Menopause
- We have 4,000 colleagues in the menopause age range of 45-55 and many others will be impacted as loved ones go through it. That’s why we’ve started the conversation around menopause and are at the beginning of our journey to become an accredited Menopause Friendly Organisation. In 2022 we created a menopause network group (Menofriends), who host monthly Menofriends cafés to support one another.
- In September 2022 we launched free menopause support from expert practitioners on the Peppy app for all colleagues and their partners. Peppy connects colleagues to expert menopause nurses and is proven to improve symptoms of menopause. Support is easy-to-access, personalised and confidential. In the first month following our launch of the app, over 540 colleagues registered for support.
British Airways’ Health Services
- We have an in-house occupational health service which provides CAA regulatory medical examinations and assessments for pilots and cabin crew. It also offers health surveillance for colleagues requiring support in accordance with UK health and safety legislation.
- As business activity increased and colleagues returned to work following the pandemic, we established the Early Active Rehabilitation programme. This provided timely medical assistance to support colleagues’ health and their return to work.
- In 2022 our in-house physiotherapy and rehabilitation support increased to pre-pandemic levels.
- 2022 also saw us continue to offer colleagues Flu vaccinations to support NHS provisions over the winter.
Mental Health First Aiders
We’re proud to have a strong history of supporting our colleagues’ mental health which we do in three ways: through our in-house Occupational Health service, through Validium/HelpDirect who provide access to counselling services and through our in-house support services for our flight crew (Pilot Assistant Network) and cabin crew (Crewcare).
In 2022 we introduced mental health first-aiders to support overseas-based colleagues. Over 110 colleagues were upskilled as mental health first aiders in 2022.
110
Colleagues have been upskilled as Mental Health First Aiders
UnMind
We extended our partnership with UnMind to continue to offer all colleagues a free subscription to the market-leading mental wellbeing app. The platform was used by 5,600 colleagues in 2022.
5600
Colleagues signed up to the UnMind app