The UK’s leading provider of emergency care for pets, Vets Now, has launched Peppy – a digital health app that connects people to real, human health experts – for all its staff.
As well as providing help for women going through menopause, Peppy will also give Vets Now colleagues access to free expert support and guidance for fertility, pregnancy, early parenthood and men’s health.
It’s the first step in wide-ranging and ambitious plans which will be rolled out this year to help support women in the Vets Now workplace who are going through the menopause.
Peppy enables Vets Now staff to access one-to-one private chat and video consultations with experts, quick answer videos on common topics, health and fitness programmes, support with mental health and nutrition and much more.
About 88 percent of Vets Now’s 1,800 employees are women, with 28 percent aged over 40, where they could be perimenopausal, menopausal or postmenopausal, and the rest will face going through the menopause at some point. Of Vets Now’s eleven-strong board of directors, nine of them are women.
The Peppy launch comes off the back of detailed research of Vets Now’s workplace audience, including menopause focus groups which involved 120 of the business’s clinical and support staff.
Practical outcomes were identified from this research which will help women feel better supported at work and will be launched as a wider menopause support plan later in the year including steps to help manage mental wellbeing at work, menopause support hubs and encouraging a culture which talks honestly about menopause.
Laura Black, head of health, safety and well-being, is a member of the well-being strategy group at Vets Now. She said: “Women over 50 are the fastest growing demographic in the workplace and sadly it’s estimated that almost 900,000 women in the UK have quit their jobs due to the menopause. We are committed to creating an understanding workplace for employees going through the perimenopause and menopause and want to make sure they feel supported by us at all times.
“We’ve launched Peppy to help our colleagues take control of their health and get the answers they need from experts, anytime, anywhere. The app is free to access for all employees and their partners.
“Helpfully, there’s been a spotlight on menopause in the workplace thanks to Davina McCall’s documentary and recent campaigns. We’ve been working hard on formulating a menopause support package for staff over the past couple of years and we’re really proud that we’re one of the first major veterinary businesses to make this step change. We’d encourage other businesses in the sector to look at similar plans for their colleagues.”
While the drive to launch Peppy was initially to support the Vets Now Menopause policy, it will provide the team with so much more, providing access to expert, personalised support on topics including:
- Menopause – for menopause and perimenopause
- Fertility – for all stages of the fertility journey
- Baby – pregnancy and early parenthood
- Men’s Health – for anyone identifying as a man
For more information on Peppy visit their website.
