Embedding healthy high performance

Since becoming a signatory to the Mindful Business Charter (MBC) in 2019, Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has continued to deepen its commitment to creating healthier ways of working. That work stepped into a new phase in early 2024, when we explored an essential question: Where do our people experience avoidable stress?

Colleagues across the firm contributed openly and constructively in response to that question, and the themes were clear. The two areas which stood out as priority sources of day‑to‑day pressure were (1) workload and resource management, and (2) technology (particularly around communication – meetings and emails). This insight became the catalyst for a major shift in how we approach wellbeing at WBD.

Historically, our wellbeing strategy focused primarily on support – valuing mental health resources, networks and champions. Our partnership with the MBC helped us evolve our thinking so that rather than focusing on the symptoms of stress, we set out to reduce the causes.

A series of practical changes followed. Over the past year, we’ve developed a clearer narrative around what high performance means at WBD, and we’ve reinforced that wellbeing is a driver of performance. Some of the changes we’ve made include:

• Introducing firmwide Wellbeing Working Practices designed to support healthy high performance. One of our first changes – adjusting default Outlook meetings to 25 and 50 minutes – has already helped create natural micro-breaks between meetings, reducing cognitive overload, supporting sustainable focus and energy throughout the day.
• Strengthening capability and creating more consistency across our manager group with our new People Manager Toolkit.
• Reviewing activity data more closely to identify individuals consistently overworking, enabling proactive conversations with team leaders.
• Expanding resource management into two business groups to help teams plan more effectively and create more scope to support and control workloads.

We are also rolling out training in FY 2026/27 for all managers and supervisors on 'Supporting Healthy High Performance'.

Our work has been recognised beyond WBD. In November, we were named a Top 10% MBC Member Organisation, reflecting our strong engagement in the MBC community alongside leading organisations such as Barclays and Mastercard.

As our partnership with the MBC continues, so does our commitment to maintaining a workplace where people can thrive. Our Wellbeing Working Practices reflect not just a set of guidelines, but a culture: one grounded in respect, smart working practices, and the belief that sustainable high performance is possible when people are supported to bring their best every day.