6 min read

The impact of stress on hospitality people and why it’s so important to take positive action to build strong, resilient teams – featuring: Jasper Wellbeing – Recruiting in Hospitality podcast

16 years ago, Shane Cooke, founder of Jasper Wellbeing, left his native Teesside and moved south to become a chef. After a career that has included working at a Michelin starred restaurant, Shane quit the industry and retrained as a workplace resilience and wellbeing practitioner.

Pressure in the workplace is a leading cause of stress

Earlier this year research by Hospitality Action indicated that 75% of hospitality employees cited pressure in the workplace as their biggest cause of stress. During Covid-19 this has risen as people worry, not only about the pandemic but whether they will have jobs to return to.

Increasingly, over the past year, employers are zoning in on the mental wellbeing of their workforce and taking active steps to support them.

The first step is recognising that you have a problem

With this in mind, Caterer.com caught up with Shane to talk about why he left the industry he loved and why he’s now helping hospitality businesses to become healthier, happier places to work.

We started by asking Shane what prompted the change? ‘I realised that I wasn’t happy, miserable in fact, and work played a significant part in that. I didn’t initially know what was wrong but just kept going, as most people do. Four years ago, I hit rock bottom, suffering from severe anxiety depressive disorder. I was walking down the street past a martial arts gym and I just found myself walking in.’

‘A trainer there asked me if I wanted to hit some pads. All the anger, tension, anxiety and stress poured out and the trainer listened to me as I punched the pads. It was the first time anyone had, and it lifted this weight off my shoulders.’

It is well known that physical activity can help lower overall stress levels and improve quality of life, both mentally and physically.

‘I kept training and achieved a peak, mentally and physically, and realised that I could support chefs who were experiencing the same pressures I had, possibly using fitness to help them.’

Using personal experience to support hospitality

Shane continued, ‘I worked on various ideas of how to make this happen and two years ago

I successfully applied for an ICANN scholarship. I was researching ways in which I could help hospitality people and ways I could positively support the industry.’

‘Earlier this year I was furloughed, then made redundant. That was the catalyst, and since March I’ve been working on Jasper Wellbeing, and it’s brought this fresh sense of energy. I feel nourished and I’ve got to the point now where I have something concrete that can really make a positive change to people working in hospitality.’

Why is Jasper Wellbeing different?

We asked Shane what makes Jasper Wellbeing different from other organisations who are also offering health and wellbeing support to hospitality businesses?

‘We’re different because I’ve had first-hand experience of working at the highest level as a chef and the pressures that go with that. I speak from the heart and everything we do is built on that personal experience. We’ve worked hard to gain accreditations in wellbeing, mental health, resilience, mindfulness, nutrition, and care.’

‘Jasper Wellbeing has a unique and personal approach to every client we work with, be this one to one, with a group or with a whole organisation. Our aim is for each person we come into contact with to fully recognise and achieve their wellness goals and live a happier, healthier, more fulfilled life.’

Resilience and its impact on wellbeing

Living happier is tied to how resilient you are. But can you measure resilience and what is it?

Resilience is about how you cope or adapt. Some people have the ability, and resilience, to bounce back from stressful events much more quickly than others who seem to get “stuck” at a point in their life, unable to move forward.

Resilience is a strength that can be developed and used positively in the workplace. Resilient people do experience stress and anxiety, but they have great coping skills that help them deal with challenges in a positive way.

Using WRAW to measure resilience in the workplace

Shane is a licenced workplace resilience and well-being Master practitioner and uses WRAW, the world’s first psychometric tool that measures resilience and its impact on wellbeing, to help organisations have happier, more productive workforces.

‘WRAW stands for Workplace Resilience and Wellbeing and it’s a great tool that has been developed to provide insights into health and wellbeing.’

‘By using WRAW employees can increase self-awareness of their current levels of resilience. It also gives organisations data which can be used to support employees more effectively and to engender a culture of healthy workplace performance.’

The five pillars of WRAW

Shane continued, ‘WRAW is based on the 5 pillars of resilience, a holistic overview, covering thinking styles and the emotional and physical elements that impact on everyone’s wellbeing. These 5 pillars are:

Energy – sustaining and renewing physical energy to have the capacity to keep going through challenging times
Future Focus – having a clear sense of purpose and direction to help move forward when stuck or feeling held back
Inner Drive – sustaining self-belief when times get tough, displaying confidence, motivation and perseverance
Flexible Thinking – having an open and optimistic mindset, with a positive and adaptive response to change and challenges
Strong Relationships – building open and trusting relationships, and being willing to call on these for help and support if facing a challenge

‘These are great tools, in partnership with mindfulness, that will help HR teams to gauge how healthy and happy their people are and be proactive in helping to minimise any decline in wellbeing.’

‘Mental health is not just about problems; it is also about preservation. Just like we work on preserving and enhancing our physical health, we should also be doing the same for our minds.’

Top tips for workplace resilience:

Regularly check in on yourself. Are you doing OK or could you benefit from some resilience training to help strengthen your coping mechanisms?
Practice mindfulness and be kind to yourself. Realise when you’re feeling less than 100% and take a pause to reset. Don’t put mental pressure on yourself to get stuff done.
Build a strong workplace network. Surrounding yourself with positive people has a positive impact on your own mental health and wellbeing and can lead to feeling happier at work.
Don’t take setbacks personally. Use them as learning opportunities to develop new skills that will help you in the future.
Take care of your health. Physical and mental health are important factors in your resilience.