Over the past year alone, we’ve engaged over 1,000 delegates in our Lunch and Learn sessions, so we've decided to gather together a list of our favourite subjects that can offer practical benefits for employees' personal mental health and help create a workplace culture that prioritises wellbeing. Wellbeing-related Lunch and Learns can either be run periodically, such as monthly, or they can strategically coincide with events like mental health awareness days to amplify their impact and relevance.
As well as providing you with ideas for a great Lunch and Learn session, we’re also able to deliver these online and in person, hosted by one of our expert trainers who all have in-depth knowledge of the topics.
What are Lunch and Learns?
A Lunch and Learn is as simple as it sounds, with employees learning while they have lunch! They’re essentially short, informal training sessions that combine a presentation or workshop on a specific topic that’s delivered during mealtime (usually lunchtime or breakfast). Employers can choose to provide a tasty spread for their employees, or attendees can bring their own food if that’s preferred.
What are the benefits of Lunch and Learns?
Lunch and Learns are an effective way to raise awareness of a specific issue in an engaging way.
They offer a welcome change of pace from the usual workday routine. The relaxed atmosphere, combined with the social aspect of sharing a meal, creates a fun experience with the added benefit of expanding everyone’s knowledge and skills.
Lunch and Learns are also an ideal platform for disseminating information as part of an internal communications strategy (e.g., company initiatives and policies, such as a new wellbeing drive or benefit).
How can Lunch and Learns play a role in an employee wellbeing strategy?
By their very nature, Lunch and Learns are an ideal way of showing your employees that you care about their wellbeing. After all, you are providing food and information that can improve their professional (and even personal) lives. As such, they can play a valuable role in underpinning your employee wellbeing strategy.
If you’ve recently launched a new employee wellbeing strategy, or if you’re concerned about low uptake of your existing mental health and wellbeing provision, Lunch and Learns provide an interactive opportunity to raise awareness of your offering.
We’d always recommend having a well-rounded wellbeing strategy in place alongside running Lunch and Learns. Without a broader strategy to address underlying issues and provide ongoing support, Lunch and Learns can feel like isolated events – leading to feelings of disillusionment. A comprehensive wellbeing plan allows you to back up your words with action, demonstrating a genuine commitment to employee wellbeing, which can go a long way towards improving employee satisfaction and engagement.
Lunch and Learn ideas
The more focused your Lunch and Learn session, the more your employees will get out of it. To help those who are not sure which topics to cover, we’ve put together a list of ideas for sessions that are popular, useful and can also help to underpin a successful employee wellbeing strategy. Our suggested Lunch and Learn ideas include:
1. Resilience and Change
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from challenges and stressful situations. A resilience and change Lunch and Learn session offers a chance to delve into the key aspects of resilience and reflection, explaining techniques for building resilience through change, focusing on what people can influence and control.
It’s also an opportunity to discuss stress management techniques to help people maintain balance and wellbeing in the face of life's ups and downs. It can be a good starter session for giving your team fundamental resilience-building skills.
2. Mental Health at Work
Every employee will benefit from learning a foundational understanding of what mental health is and how it can be affected by the demands of working life. Using the Stress Bucket model as an introduction to managing stress levels will highlight the early warning signs of mental ill-health.
Mental health at work Lunch and Learns are also a chance to signpost to all of your available mental health and wellbeing resources, including any Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aid or other support offered by your company.
3. Practical Tools for Supporting Colleagues
Raising awareness of practical tools for supporting colleagues is a perfect step towards creating a more supportive workplace environment. The session can also provide a platform for passing on a foundational knowledge of mental health problems (e.g., anxiety and depression). Through guided activities, your employees can get to know themselves and their team better. They can also learn best-practice advice on the right language to use, along with helpful phrases for discussing mental health with a colleague. Employees can also benefit from learning listening skills, helping them to hear and understand others’ concerns.
The Lunch and Learn can also be an opportunity for attendees to take ownership of their own wellbeing and that of their colleagues by making a "pledge" to create a healthier workplace.
4. Neurodiversity in the Workplace
A diverse workforce with neurodiverse individuals is crucial for business innovation and success, but neurodiversity itself is often misunderstood. A Lunch and Learn session on neurodiversity helps to foster an inclusive work environment where everyone feels comfortable and supported. As well as educating employees on what neurodiversity means, it also raises awareness of how to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the needs of neurodiverse employees, such as providing quiet workspaces and fostering understanding among colleagues.
5. Avoiding Burnout at Work
Burnout is a very real workplace problem, affecting everyone from the CEO down. Burnout is a state of physical and mental exhaustion that’s triggered by excessive or prolonged stress. It can lead to feelings of emptiness, detachment and hostility and is one of the most common work-related mental health issues.
Avoiding burnout at work sessions therefore explore the causes and symptoms of workplace burnout and explain the cumulative dangers of powering through by working late, saying “yes” to every project, answering every email immediately and neglecting to take breaks.
The sessions are a way of highlighting best practices for avoiding burnout that prioritise emotional and physical wellbeing as well as teaching stress management techniques, including mindfulness.
6. Menopause at Work
It’s important to talk about the effect menopause can have on employees. Menopause can cause people to have difficulties concentrating, discomfort from hot flushes, and fatigue from disrupted sleep. These physical symptoms can contribute to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Having a Lunch and Learn session on menopause can help to raise awareness of the symptoms and how they affect individuals in the workplace. It’s also a chance to learn practical ways of providing support to those experiencing it.
7. Boosting Confidence and Building Self-Esteem
Low self-esteem can have a huge impact on people's mental health, affecting everything from their personal life to their workplace performance. Reflecting on the causes of low-self esteem, and discussing practical strategies for boosting confidence and building self-esteem such as recognising strengths, practising self-kindness, challenging negative thoughts, setting challenging goals or simply learning to say “no” more often can have a powerful positive effect on overall happiness and wellbeing.
It’s a great opportunity to highlight everyone’s personal strengths and celebrate achievements.
8. Self-Care and Wellbeing
There is tremendous value in stopping for a moment and reflecting on self-care and wellbeing. A healthy mind and body leads to reduced stress and anxiety and is the best way to foster happiness and productivity.
To help foster self-care and wellbeing, employees will benefit from being introduced to various self-care practices that will allow people to connect with themselves and others, find joy in movement and activity, practice mindfulness and gratitude, embrace lifelong learning, and experience the fulfilment of giving back in everyday life.
9. Introduction to Mental Health First Aid
Mental Health First Aid can make all the difference, so these sessions provide a way of teaching the basic knowledge of common mental health issues so that employees can learn essential techniques for both self-care and supporting colleagues who may be struggling. A key benefit of this Lunch and Learn is raising awareness of the MHFAider role and encouraging applications from employees to train as a MHFAider. These sessions can help to ensure you get the right people volunteering as MHFAiders, as they’ll know exactly what the role involves.
10. Financial Wellbeing Awareness
While most people understand the importance of money, it's easy to forget how financial pressures can impact mental health and wellbeing. Lunch and Learn sessions on financial wellbeing can raise awareness of the connection between money worries and mental health and offer advice on budgeting, saving and creating sustainable spending habits. Such sessions can offer invaluable guidance to help those particularly affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
The Lunch and Learn can also be a platform for highlighting any employee perks and resources that can contribute to positive financial wellbeing, such as an Employee Assistance Program or specific money-saving benefits.
How Altruist can help
If you’re looking for a guided Lunch and Learn session, delivered by an expert speaker, we can help. As different industries and job roles come with different challenges, we can even make our Lunch and Learn sessions sector-specific and tailored to your organisation’s exact needs. You can find out more by viewing our Lunch and Learn service pages:
- Lunch and Learn: Resilience and Change & Mental Health at Work
- Mental Health: Lunch And Learn Online
We can also ensure that your Lunch and Learn sessions really deliver, by backing them up with a complete strategy to foster a culture of employee wellbeing. Our comprehensive Workplace Wellbeing Audit will help you assess your current wellbeing provisions, giving you clear recommendations for how to create a holistic and effective employee wellbeing strategy.