In 2024, I nearly died.
How’s that for a dramatic opening?
I’ll come back with more context in a sec. For now, though, let’s talk about why that’s relevant.
I’ve been employed by one company or another for *bashes calculator keys* 22 years now. During that period, I’ve only almost died once. So, I guess I can’t really compare my time at Yardstick with my stints anywhere else.
All I know is this:
The support I received from the Yardstick team in the months, weeks, and days after my life-altering experience made me look at the whole employee/employer relationship in a new light.
And I think I know why. While it goes without saying that everyone at Yardstick works their backsides off to do exceptional marketing, there’s an unspoken philosophy here that keeps things in perspective:
There’s more to life than work.
My story
Okay, as promised: the juicy bit.
I’d been diagnosed with Crohn’s, an inflammatory bowel disease, in my mid to late twenties. Unlike many sufferers, in the decade or so that followed, I’d never needed medication or any other real change to my lifestyle.
Then, one chilly Sunday evening, I felt a twang in my gut so sharp that a hospital trip was the only option. A scan revealed my Crohn’s had flared up, my small intestine had burst, and the pain I’d suffered was peritonitis – an infection that can be fatal unless treated straight away.
To save my life, 24cm of my digestive system was removed, and I was given a stoma, meaning I’d need to wear what people usually call a colostomy bag. In total, it took almost three months to heal from and adjust to this new reality.
The day of the op, it was left to my wife (who I’d married exactly six months to the day earlier – some anniversary present, right?) to call Yardstick and tell them the news. And it’s from that moment on that the “good employer” evidence began mounting and mounting.
Be a human first and a businessperson second
When I got home after being discharged from hospital, there was a huge bouquet of flowers in the fireplace. Yardstick had sent them to my wife – a small gesture, but the kind of thing that makes all the difference when your world’s been turned upside down.
I’m not for a moment suggesting you add a line into next year’s company budget for “Florist expenses”. With any luck, sudden hospitalisations among your workforce will be few and far between…
Just remember that in business, sometimes it’s okay to lead with heart rather than head.
Make life easy for people
As a digital copywriter at Yardstick, I belong to a close-knit team responsible for putting together the words for our clients’ websites. But another key part of the job is chairing the three-hour discovery meetings we hold to gather the essential details that will inform what we write.
The prospect of fronting a client call for a full 180 minutes while fatigued, shellshocked, and out of practice wasn’t one I found particularly appealing in my first few weeks back at my desk. To their endless credit, my bosses at Yardstick understood this, and kept me beavering away behind the scenes instead.
You’ve every right to expect your employees to give their tasks their all. But it pays to consider what that looks like in practice, and what simple steps you can take to remove any frictions.
Put support measures in place
As a responsible employer, you play several roles.
The big one is being a contributor to the local economy. Another carries even more weight:
For eight hours a day, you’re effectively responsible for the lives of the people on your payroll. That means doing more than paying lip service to the notion of employee wellbeing, and creating a workplace that actually makes people feel cared for.
As you can imagine, life post-stoma raises as many mental health concerns as physical ones. Fortunately, Yardstick have a series of retained psychotherapists on the books.
I’m not in the least bit ashamed to say I’ve used this therapy service to help me come to terms with what now lies ahead of me. It’s eased my worries and made life easier to handle – and that includes those workdays when I’m trying to tap out a marketing masterpiece on my keyboard.
Understand that it isn’t 2019 anymore
Pre-Covid, practically everyone working in professional services was in the office, 9 am to 5 pm every day. If you’re still rigidly enforcing that as a rule for your employees today, you’re out of step.
Allowing staff to work flexibly won’t affect productivity, but it will affect mood – for the better. And that’s true for employees, both young and old.
In hospital, I lost two stone in weight, which when you’re a short-arse like me, results in a drastic change in appearance. As soon as my scars had healed, I got in the gym and started weightlifting to bulk back up, but there was a snag:
After 5.30 pm, the leisure centre where I train resembles the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan, a jumbled throng of bodies crawling over each other, fighting for space. Yet since Yardstick allows employees to work flexibly, on gym days I can stay at home, do my shift from 8 am to 4 pm instead, and be under the bench press before the sweating masses descend.
Things like this might feel trivial, but they’re what separate subpar employers from the other ones. The ones who approach their duties with fairness and decency. The ones who strive to do what’s right. The ones who are good.
What’s next
As I write this, I’m days away from going back into hospital for a stoma reversal operation. By the time it’s published, I’ll be back on the ward recovering.
Hopefully it’ll all go smoothly. Maybe there’ll be hiccups.
Either way, I’ll get through it. And when I do, I know I’ve got a great place to work to come back to.
We’re here for you
Want to work for a company that looks after its employees? Want to work with a marketing agency full of happy staff eager to make your business better? Call 0115 8965 300 or email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk and let’s talk about it.
