Colleague wellbeing

One in four people experience mental ill health issues every year. We know that when our colleagues are struggling with their wellbeing, we risk them feeling disengaged, feeling less productive, or indeed being absent from work. At M&S, we see it as our responsibility to provide our people with the tools to support their wellbeing.  

As part of our commitment, from 2024 we have been investing in our managers to improve mental health and wellbeing support for our store teams. We provide training through our charity partners at the Retail Trust, which is tailored to the mental health and wellbeing challenges affecting colleagues in Retail settings specifically. Our aim is to improve managers' own wellbeing and the support they provide for their teams on a day-to-day basis when it comes to mental health. The front-line team dedicated to advising our Line Managers (named LMAS) have also been trained, because it's important to us that all our colleagues feel confident approaching conversations about wellbeing.  

Inclusion, diversity, and mental health go hand in hand and our Health and Wellbeing network forms part of our community of colleague networks – find out more here. Formed by almost 3000 colleagues, it is an internal platform led by colleagues, for colleagues, to share stories and support their peers - and forms part of our initiative to give colleagues a safe space to discuss mental health. As one of our key Inclusion networks at M&S, the Health and Wellbeing network work closely with their senior sponsors on our executive board, directly influencing business decisions to make M&S a more supportive and more accessible place to work.