The Retail Trust joins forces with asset and property manager Estama to boost the health and happiness of its workforce

Image: Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust

Asset and property manager Estama has started working with retail industry charity the Retail Trust to protect its staff’s wellbeing.

Counselling, financial aid and a virtual GP service are among the new resources being made available to employees of Estama, which manages a number of commercial properties including 30 retail centres across the UK.

Mental health support for younger family members, a variety of discounts and rewards, and access to the Retail Trust’s wellbeing helpline are also being provided to Estama’s staff as a result of the partnership.

New research by the Retail Trust found improved relationships between managers and their teams has helped halt a 12-month decline in the wellbeing of retail workers, and Estama’s managers will also receive training to help support their people’s mental health.

Eoin Conway, managing director at Estama, said: “At Estama, we are known for managing commercial property, and particularly retail commercial property. Retail is a very particular part of the commercial property world, with many moving parts and an impact that reaches far beyond the buildings themselves, touching the public, private businesses, office workers, services, transport, logistics and consumers every day.

People are at the heart of what we do. The positive difference made by a good centre team is as clear to me as the positive difference made by a good store manager, and it is both a privilege and a great opportunity for us to work with the Retail Trust to keep the health and wellbeing of the people we work with at the centre of our approach.

Many national retailers are already working with the Retail Trust, and what excites us is the opportunity, given our reach across the country, to help the charity grow its outreach further to independent retailers and the wider teams that make retail places work.”

The Retail Trust helps more than 200 employers improve the health of their staff, including Currys, Poundland and Mountain Warehouse which also began new partnership with the charity in the last year to increase this support to thousands more workers.

Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, said: “We’re partnering with Estama to give its people more help to manage their health and happiness and look after one another.

Employers of all shapes and sizes are receiving this support from the Retail Trust and we’d encourage even more to join us as we look for new ways to improve the wellbeing of retail workers across the country.”