Zen’s friends and family week puts wellbeing to work

Zen’s friends and family week

Rochdale-based Zen Internet spent last week (6 - 10 August) opening its doors to the friends and families of staff, giving them a unique peek into life at the company.

Over 60 children and more than 30 adults took up the invitation, and were rewarded with balloons, lollipops and special security passes (and there were treats for the kids, too!). The friends and families took lunch in the Zen canteen and were offered an insight into the working lives of their loved ones at Zen.

The week-long event was certainly lots of fun, but there was a serious side, too. Zen’s friends and family week is all part of a focus on wellness in the workplace. Zen’s most important long-term objective is “happy staff”, and the company believes that one key ingredient of that is ensuring a healthy work-life balance.

Ayshea Robertson, human resources director at Zen, said: “We want Zen to be a family-oriented, people-first business. By putting the focus back onto the most important people in the lives of our staff we want to remind them that work isn’t, and shouldn’t be, everything. And we want the families of our staff members to know that they’re part of the Zen family too.”

She added that the week was deliberately broader than traditional “bring your kids to work” events. She said: “Of course we wanted staff to bring their children in but we also acknowledge that partners, siblings, parents and even friends share an interest in where their loved ones work. We’re very pleased that over 30 adults took up the invitation to visit Zen.”

Zen has a long history of promoting workplace wellbeing. Earlier this year the company was named a Times Top 100 Place To Work.