Oakleaf together with Surrey Chambers of Commerce are hosting a live event on Wednesday 16th November for Surrey business leaders, bringing together prominent advocates and experts to delve into workplace mental health and wellbeing.

Kindly sponsored by Evelyn Partners, join us to learn and be inspired by our keynote speakers:

• Geoff McDonald, Co-Founder of Minds@Work and former Global VP of HR for Unilever. Geoff is now best known as a global advocate, campaigner and consultant who is passionate about addressing the stigma of mental ill health in workplaces, and helping organisations embed purpose as a key driver of business performance.
• Dr Jenny Leeser, MBBS MRCP (UK) FFOM, in conversation with Magnus Kauders. Dr Leeser is a Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, a Member of the Royal College of Physicians and a senior consultant occupational physician with extensive experience in all aspects of occupational health. 
• Chris Morell, Operations Director at Pro Drive IT. Chris and his team at Pro Drive, an IT company based in Woking, are in the process of implementing a four day work week for staff. Chris will discuss how they went about implementing this change, and how doing so has provided flexibility, improved wellbeing, helped to attract staff and actually improved productivity and efficiency.

There will also be an opportunity for networking over light refreshments.

Where: The Seasons Café at Guildford Cathedral

When: Wednesday 16 November, 9.30am networking for a 10am start, ending at 12pm

Cost: £12, with all proceeds going to Oakleaf (£8 for members of Oakleaf's Mental Health Leaders Network)

Addressing mental health at work has never been more important. One in six employees are experiencing mental ill-health at any one time (1); stress, depression and anxiety were responsible for half of all working days lost due to health issues in the UK in 2021 (2); and 39% of employees have experienced poor mental health due to work, or where work was a contributing factor, in the past year (3). The good news is evidence shows tackling workplace mental health is possible. Doing so can give a good return on investment to the employer (4), increases employee wellbeing and productivity, and reduces attrition (5).

Kindly sponsored by: