Employee health, wellbeing, and development

Our people are our most important asset. As the driving force behind our business, it’s their passion and expertise that power Partner Success.

But as well as driving our commercial ambitions, our people are ambassadors of our Responsible Business principles. They bring our strategy to life, fostering an environment of care, ethical decision-making, sustainability, and community engagement.

Making our people feel welcomed and ensuring they can thrive is a business imperative. Our approach is driven by the belief that a thriving workforce is built on empowerment, wellbeing, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). By providing our teams with the resources, support, and environment needed to drive Partner Success, we’re cultivating a culture where productivity and job satisfaction go hand-in-hand. 

Embracing diversity and inclusion

We believe that the best environment comes from a workforce that reflects the world around us. That’s why we have a strong focus on DEI, ensuring our employees can feel valued, empowered to succeed, and a sense of belonging. 

Embracing DEI brings numerous benefits to our business, including enhanced innovation, higher employee engagement, better decision-making, and the ability to attract top talent.

To help us embed DEI into our culture, we run an Open Network for Employees (ONE) Westcon programme. Through the programme, we organise events, activities, and education tied to awareness days and cultural celebrations. Examples include International Women’s Day, Diwali Day, Black History Month, and many more – and this helps us create a vibrant workplace that values everyone’s religions and backgrounds.

We also recognise the important of addressing gender disparities in tech and empowering women to thrive in their careers.

Championing inclusion, we’re continuing our efforts to advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment, including:

• Focus on women in leadership to see equal balance between top management positions (South Africa)
• Focus on hiring female technicians (Sub-Saharan Africa)
• Global celebrations of International Women’s Day
   

Developing our people to achieve their best

Employee development fuels our business. A skilled and motivated workforce leads to increased productivity, higher satisfaction, and a culture of innovation, while nurturing future leaders for sustained growth.

To help employees reach their full potential, we provide a supportive and inclusive environment that champions career development and continuous learning. We do this through training programmes, coaching, and leadership development, embracing virtual training as an effective delivery method. 

We also provide our Percipio training platform for individuals to find and upskill with courses of their choice.

Promoting our people’s health and wellbeing

Supporting our employees’ wellbeing is not only a reflection of our care for our people – it’s a strategic investment in the long-term success and happiness of our workforce. 

Our wellbeing vision enables us to support our employees’ health and talent outcomes in many ways, and it’s centred around caring for our people’s physical, mental and emotional, community, social, and financial wellbeing.

To help our employees stay physically healthy, we run various initiatives throughout the year, such as (but not limited to):

• Recurring sports charity events
  
• Cycle to work initiatives (Central Europe)
• Online wellness sessions (Middle East) and a health and sport online platform (global)
• Gym contributions (Northern Europe) and free fruit in the office (Northern Europe, Australia)
   

Mental health awareness is also a year-round focus for us, to enhance productivity, reduce turnover, and ensure the good mental wellbeing of our workforce. Here are just some of the ways we support our people’s mental wellbeing:

• Birthday Leave in APAC and wellbeing leave in Asia
• Employee Assistance Programs in various regions
• Multifunctional ‘calm’ rooms for prayer, privacy, and other needs (Northern Europe, UK, Spain, Kenya, New Zealand)
• Various forms of resources and education
   

We’re also committed to ensuring a family-friendly working environment and work-life balance. Examples include a kindergarten programme for our employees (France), a lactation room in our Kenya office, and our annual Sinterklaas celebration for our employees’ children in the Netherlands.

Looking ahead

We’re always looking to improve and expand our plans around diversity, employee development, and wellbeing for our workforce. For our 2024 financial year, we’re exploring plans for a health and fitness month in the Middle East, financial wellbeing workshops in APAC, a review of family leave policies in the UK, and the introduction of Mental Health First Aiders.

Learn more about how we empower our people in our latest Responsible Business Report.