Image Caption: ABP colleagues working together in Hull
The pledge forms a key pillar of Maritime UK’s Diversity in Maritime Programme and aims to ensure that employee mental health and wellbeing are considered at the highest levels across the sector.
The Mental Health in Maritime Pledge calls upon executives from maritime organisations to make a public commitment, which states:
We are committed to improving the quality of mental health and wellbeing provision through action and support, at all levels, throughout our organisation and our industry.
Henrik L. Pedersen, ABP Chief Executive Officer, said: “Whilst discussions around mental health are not new, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought them to the top of the public agenda and resulted in many leaders gaining a better understanding of the challenges, as well as sharing their personal stories to raise awareness. We have a responsibility to support our employees and create programmes, policies, and resources for them to be at their personal best. Creating a culture of workplace health is not a nice-to-have; it is a core business priority and goes hand in hand with proactive employee engagement efforts.”
The UK’s leading port operator, ABP believes that a series of concrete actions are needed to improve mental health and wellbeing within its workforce.
Alison Rumsey, ABP Chief HR Officer, added: “At ABP we have already taken a number of actions to support our employees’ mental health and wellbeing. In 2020, we launched our ‘ability’ diversity and inclusion network which focuses on mental health and disability, and this year we specifically included mental wellbeing in the safety training that all employees undertake.
“We also provide 24/7, year-round access to an external employee assistance service to support colleagues and their immediate families, which has been particularly valuable during the pandemic.”
Sarah Kenny, Chair, Maritime UK, said: “The huge effort made by people across our sector in the past year has reminded us all that it is individuals at the front and centre of everything we do. That is why it is so important to create a sector that fully supports its people and is as inclusive as possible so that we can attract and retain the best talent that reflects the diverse nature – and offer – of our society.
“There has been a welcome recognition of the importance of mental health and wellbeing in recent months – and this pledge provides a framework to bring that work together; to share and support one another to move the sector forward. We call on companies across maritime to sign the pledge.”
