Your Wellbeing during Autumn Term

As we continue to adapt to new ways of working, it's important that we know how to access support, wherever we're working. 

The School has an in-house counselling team for both staff and students that allows you to discuss a problem or situation that is causing concern, or distress that is taking place at work or home. Counselling at LSE is fully inclusive; individuals should feel comfortable approaching staff counsellors regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and religious faith. For more details, see the Staff Counselling webpage. 

Alternatively, you may prefer to access confidential telephone counselling courtesy of the Employee Assistance Programme. The EAP aims to provide staff with access to confidential support on all aspects of wellbeing, including counselling, health information, signposting to useful resources concerning personal finance and legal matters, and more.

You can contact the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) by calling 0800 107 6147 (quoting LSE as the name of your employer) or access the online portal by visiting www.colleaguesupport.co.uk (entering code 206011 as your username and password). There's no limit to the number of calls you can make and your anonymity is assured at all times. 

It only takes a moment to sign up to LSE Extras - the School's benefits platform for staff – just click here to get started. Access a huge range of discounts (including groceries and holidays), and see all your LSE perks at a glance!

You can create an account on LSE Extras using your name as it's recorded in our system and your payroll number. If you aren't quite sure what your payroll number is, you can find it on your payslip – alternatively, you can find out by logging into MyView and selecting 'Account' followed by 'View my details'. 

If you experience any issues with creating an account, try using your payroll number but without the initial '0'. If it's still not working, just contact Staffwellbeing@lse.ac.uk and we'll be happy to help.

For more details about LSE Extras - including a walk-through video and information about upcoming offers - take a look at the new LSE Extras information webpage. 

A number of new financial awareness webinars have been arranged for 2023. Upcoming topics include:

• Navigating the Cost of Living Crisis and General Financial Wellbeing
• Early-Mid Term Financial Planning
• Planning for a Secure Financial Future
• Short Term Financial Planning

Sessions on these are now bookable via Eventbrite links. To find out more and reserve your place(s) – as well as access other related resources – see the Financial Wellbeing webpage. 

If you've previously joined (or been interested in) the online Body Balance or Body Conditioning classes, you might be interested in the new 'Stretch and Tone' sessions that are being run during Autumn Term with the same trainer. 

Stretch & Tone is a 45 minute weekly class that is slow moving yet challenging a class designed to improve strength, posture, flexibility and all over fitness. A class that focuses on both mind and body, leaving you feeling strong, flexible and invigorated. Sounds good? Just click on the link below to see the available dates and to book your spot. 

Click here to book your place

We recommend that you have the following to hand when you join a class:

• Yoga mat (though not essential)
• Water
• Towel

After you've signed up, a Zoom link to join will be sent to you on the morning of the date of the class. Just let us know at Staffwellbeing@lse.ac.uk if you have any questions or experience any difficulties in booking a place for a class. Do let us know if a particular class is showing as 'Full' because we may be able to fit you in. 

Did you know that, as an LSE member of staff, you can access LSESU sports and exercise facilities in the Saw Swee Hock and Marshall buildings, courtesy of LSESU Level Up Fitness? Just visit the webpage to find out more.

To promote the SU Gym to staff as a fitness option when we’re on campus, the SU Gym have generously provided a number of guest passes for staff – each pass will entitle you to a completely free visit to the SU Gym! To collect your guest pass, please come to HR Reception on the 5th floor of the Lionel Robbins Building.

What’s more, the SU Gym are now offering a special discount to staff – if you buy a bundle of 10 passes, you can now get a 10% discount via the SU Gym webpage! Passes are a little more flexible than a monthly membership, so this may be an especially attractive option if you’re only on campus for some of the week.

For more about how you can keep on top of your fitness, including discounted gym memberships with Fitness First and preferential rates at Boom Cycle and KOBOX, see the physical wellbeing webpage.

If you’re in the mood for some more cycling, you might be interested to learn that Boom Cycle are offering free rides! To make their classes more accessible, you can join a free class at 11.30am every Saturday at Holborn, courtesy of the Boom Cycle Community Ride – just click here to find out more details, including how to book. If you have any questions about how to book, please contact the Boom Cycle team directly at holborn@boomcycle.co.uk

If all this talk of cycling is making you think of taking it up more often, you may wish to take a look at the School’s cycle to work scheme – save money on the cost of a bike, get fit and help the environment, all at the same time!

While we may feel that we know the basics about good nutrition, it can be challenging to put this into practice during the working day, especially when we’re alternating between campus and home environments. With that in mind, the London Nutritionist previously ran two online workshops for LSE staff. As well as covering general good practice when it comes to eating and drinking, the workshops also addressed how we can build better nutrition into the working day, whether we’re on or off campus.

Food & Mood: This session took a deeper look into how what we eat can affect we feel mentally, just as how we feel has a large influence on what foods we choose. Learn how to avoid common pitfalls and to get the right nutrients throughout the working day. Please click here to access the recording from the session. 

Keeping Energised: Learn how to avoid the 4 o’clock slump! What and when we eat has a huge effect on our physical and mental energy levels. This session gave participants a guided tour of the best (and worst) foods for keeping energised during the working day. Please click here to access the recording from the session. 

As many of us adapt to new ways of working, we’re working out – both individually and in teams – how we can thrive in our wellbeing, personal resilience and performance going forward. With this in mind, you may find the recordings from two specially developed webinars - on Stress management and Unlocking motivation - useful.

Led by Dr Aarti Anhal, the Thrive webinars explored:

• The links between stress, wellbeing and optimal performance,
• Practical frameworks and coping strategies for managing stress at work
• Risk-based approaches to mitigating stress in teams
• Thoughts about how the meaning of work may have changed in our lives as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic
• Practical strategies for wellbeing and performance goals that can boost motivation
• Ways in which managers can create the conditions within teams for staff to feel motivated and engaged

Just click on the links below to access the recordings:

Stress Management - click here to access the recording from the session

Unlocking Motivation - click here to access the recording from the session

It might not be surprising to learn that sleep and wellbeing are linked. Many of us can experience difficulties getting enough quality sleep. Niggling worries can lead to a negative spiral in which anxiety and poor sleep exacerbate each other.

If this sounds familiar, or if you're just looking to enhance your sleep routine, these recordings from previous workshops led by Dr Sophie Bostock ('The Sleep Coach') may well be helpful. Just click on the links below to access the recordings, which cover different sleep-related topics. Each recording lasts approximately 1 hour, although of course you are welcome to pause a recording at any point and work through the content at your own pace. 

Summer 2023 has seen the return of the 'Explore London' walks! If you're curious about what's near our campus, or are just looking to get away from your desk at lunchtime, join us for an hour. We aim for a variety of routes so that there's something for everyone - whether it's exploring the labyrinthine area of the law courts, finding some of the many churches and historic sites either side of Fleet Street, or taking a route through storied Bloomsbury. 

You'll see walks advertised in advance in Staff News as well as on LSE Tree. We hope to announce more walks for September 2023 soon, so watch this space! We are also always keen to receive your suggestions for where we might walk next, so please do get in touch at Staffwellbeing@lse.ac.uk if there are any particular routes close to campus that you'd like us to try. 

Due to popular demand, we have arranged additional morning yoga sessions during Autumn Term! Want to stretch, relax and recharge before starting your working day? Then get yourself along to one of the following 60-minute morning yoga sessions with Yoga expert, Gaetano Piccirillo:

• Tuesday 26 September, 8.30 – 9.30
• Tuesday 10 October, 8.30 – 9.30
• Tuesday 24 October, 8.30 – 9.30

Just click on this link to book your place(s). All sessions will be held in the Desert Room, Faith Centre (Saw Swee Hock Building). All levels of experience are welcome. All you need to bring with you is a water bottle, towel and - if you have one - a Yoga mat (although a supply of mats will also be available so don't worry if you don't have one). 

The 15 Minute Challenge is this summer's online teams fitness competition for staff. Starting on 14 August and running for 6 weeks, teams of 3-6 staff compete against each other, encouraging colleagues to complete at least 15 minutes of fitness activity each day - with the larger aim of building a long-term exercise habit. Just vist the 15 Minute Challenge webpage for full details. 

Guidance and toolkits have been developed to cover a range of different topics. These resources often include guidance for line managers, case studies of colleagues around the School, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and more. Just click on the following links to find out more: 

• Flexible Working Toolkit
• Toolkit for Parents and Carers
• Annual Leave Pocket Guide
• Menopause Toolkit 

Please do take the time to explore the guidance that's out there. Even if a particular topic isn't directly relevant to your own situation, it might help you to understand enough to support someone else, inside or outside LSE.