Sodexo UK and Ireland have announced a strategic health and wellbeing partnership with Spectrum.Life to provide their Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to all colleagues with a comprehensive suite of health and wellbeing solutions to support their mental and physical health.

Since 2015, Sodexo has provided an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support colleagues with life’s challenges. However, the last two years, which have been trying for all, have demonstrated the growing need for the service, and the organisation has decided to invest significantly in a new strategic partnership with Spectrum.Life to offer market-leading health and wellbeing support. 
 
The EAP service, which is available 24/7 and 365 days a year, will start on 1 February and will provide colleagues and their immediate family members with confidential, free counselling and wellbeing support, which can be accessed through a freephone helpline, live chat, WhatsApp, SMS, and email.
 
Ryan Candy, Head of Change, Employee Experience & People Performance at Sodexo, said: 

We are delighted to have partnered with Spectrum.Life to offer all colleagues access to a comprehensive suite of market-leading health, wellness, legal and financial support. The wellbeing of our people is critical to us and an integral part of our culture, and we understand balancing everyday life with the requirements of work, and personal life can create pressures for all. We have a laser focus on enhancing our colleagues’ health and wellbeing and one of the ways we do this is through partnerships with industry experts such as Spectrum.Life, and we see this as a positive step in our journey to make Sodexo a great place to work.

In addition to counselling, Spectrum.Life will also offer support with trained and experienced experts on a wide range of topics through the EAP, including:

  • Guidance on financial, legal, and medical issues
  • Life coaching          
  • Autism spectrum conditions
  • Meditation  
  • Infertility and pregnancy loss
  • Parent and elder care support
  • Career guidance
  • Cancer support       

 Spectrum.Life will also offer an innovative digital support service to improve the general wellbeing of the user through their EAP, which provides access to:

  •  A digital gym with an extensive range of live gym classes each week and on-demand access to 500 fitness classes
  • A digital wellbeing seminar series, with a weekly schedule of live and on-demand events built around recognised wellbeing calendars and key events
  •  Nutrition information with more than 200 recipes
  • Mental health e-learning with courses created by clinicians
  • Self-guided mindfulness and meditation courses, focussing on a range of topics

 As part of the agreement, Sodexo and Spectrum.Life have committed to delivering one fully funded Mental Health First Responder course for every five that Sodexo purchase, to SMEs, clients and partners of Sodexo, to expand the reach of mental health support and support social impact.
 
Angela Halliday, Director of Social Impact at Sodexo, said:

We are living through challenging times, and our commitment to the welfare of everybody in the organisation will be enhanced by the introduction of this support, which we encourage any colleague to use should they need it. Sodexo has a deep social commitment to its people, and we have put our core values into action by providing very concrete support to help our colleagues stay happy, healthy and fully focused on life.

Dr. Sarah O’Neill, Chief Clinical Officer & Co-Founder at Spectrum.Life, added:

Spectrum.Life is delighted to be working with Sodexo. Proactive employers know their organisation is only as strong as its people, so taking steps to encourage a holistic approach to wellbeing in the management of colleagues’ health is something businesses can’t afford to overlook.  We’re confident that our suite of services strengthens Sodexo’s employee wellbeing offering by providing supportive, clinician-led, early intervention methods for those who need it, whenever and wherever they need support.

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