08/29/2024
As national Wellness Month winds to a close, we wanted to share more about Winthrop’s internal wellness initiatives with the hope that they may spark ideas on promoting employee wellbeing for others. At Winthrop, we take a multi-pronged approach to wellness for our employees, recognizing that stress, balance, and overall health and happiness may differ for everyone. A few of our areas of focus include:
Physical Health: Every little bit counts! has made strides (figuratively and literally) in promoting the physical health of its employees through sponsorship of fun, local initiatives such as the Minneapolis Downtown Dash 5K, bringing free, private workout classes to our employees and summer associates, and in our own physical office space – a design intended to encourage and enhance collaboration and movement through our internally-connected space.
Mental Health: While we recognize that everyone may have differing needs on this front, one popular offering has been our “Introduction to Meditation” class, led by our own Mary Taylor, which offers a quick introduction to various types of meditation and an opportunity to practice a few of them. Many of our professionals are surprised to find that devoting as little as 10 minutes to meditation can help “reset” your mind and body and provide an enhanced feeling of calmness and increased receptivity to facing the challenges of your everyday life.
Nutritional Health: Everyone has to eat! We’ve made concerted efforts to promote health snack and lunch options at the firm and have recently started sharing healthy (and taste-tested) recipes with our employees.
Sleep: We can’t forget to sleep! Quality sleep plays a critical role in memory consolidation, decision-making, and creativity—key attributes for professionals in high-stress environments. It also helps regulate mood, reduce stress, and support a strong immune system, thereby reducing the risk of chronic health conditions. Winthrop has been fortunate to partner with Sarah Moe from Health Specialists in bringing education on this critical subject to our employees. Additionally, Winthrop employees enjoy access to the Calm App, which provides our professionals with tools to help destress and improve overall wellbeing, including sleep resources and guided meditation and mindfulness exercises.
