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Fitness isn’t just about throwing on a pair of running shoes, and physical activity is only one small part of Harcourt’s new initiative to support a healthy, happy workforce.
The brand has announced it will devote each quarter of 2023 to exploring the many meanings of “fitness,” starting with getting active, and moving on to support its team to feel financially robust, mentally healthy, and future-ready.
An initiative of the people and culture team, this project came about after examining the particular stressors that appeared to be exerting pressure on the Harcourts’ workplace — and indeed across Australia — at the start of 2023.
As Mitch Green, head of people and culture, explained: “The pandemic took a mental toll on all of us; isolation took a physical toll; inflation is taking a financial toll; and many of us are having such a tough time in the present that we can’t even think about the future. ‘People first’ has never been a more important value than it is right in this moment.”
Mr Green said he always aimed to make his team and their work a resource for employees to find balance and personal support, but he realised that with the pressures of this year, they needed to leave no stone unturned when it came to facilitating personal wellbeing.
“This year, we wanted to be more proactive in the value we deliver to our corporate team members,” Mr Green said. “Our team needs support more than ever and we aim to deliver it.”
Just approaching the end of the first quarter, the initiative will soon move from programming like workout classes and webinars about nutrition to seminars on budgeting and investing.
Quarter three, meanwhile, will familiarise employees with the mental wellbeing support tools already in place at the organisation, and also make use of presentations aimed to support psychological health.
In the final three months of the year, employees will be encouraged to consider their future ambitions, crafting a plan to achieve the goals they’ve identified.
Mr Green acknowledged that tackling some of these topics won’t be easy.
“Some of the sessions we’re running will require a lot of courage, but we’re also going to have plenty of fun and laughter on the way,” he said.
“We’ll be challenging our team to get their gym gear on for group fitness sessions, to put together a budget and set themselves financial goals, to take some time to meditate and practice mindfulness, and finally to dream big and set their sights on the future”.
Aimee Nowland, Harcourts’ cultural ambassador, said the program showed how the brand was “bringing to life [its] values of ‘putting people first’ and ‘fun and laughter’.”
“It is an excellent example of the company culture and providing tools, tricks and resources for not only our professional lives but also our personal life,” Ms Nowland said.
And she, too, promised there would be levity along the way, with “plenty of laughter when doing Zumba with your work peers!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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