Wholesaler JW Filshill is urging independent retailers across Scotland to help raise awareness of the charity GroceryAid and how it can support them and their employees.
Filshill, which supplies KeyStore outlets across Scotland and the north of England, says that many of its own staff and customers have benefited. Many KeyStore retailers are now promoting the charity’s services in staff rooms by displaying posters and the 24/7 Helpline number while all Filshill drivers have been given keyrings featuring the free number.
Amanda Casey, health and safety manager at Filshill, said: “In the last two years, at Filshill we have repositioned the business to put mental health and wellbeing at the heart of everything,” she said.
“We now have 23 mental health first aiders and now we are working with GroceryAid to strengthen what we are doing to support our staff by getting the message across that GroceryAid is there for our customers too.
“GroceryAid is an amazing charity but many independent retailers aren’t aware that it is there to help them and their staff – we want to collaborate with the charity to really raise awareness of its critical work.”
At Filshill, 37% of staff have used GroceryAid’s services at one point with many saying they had previously been unaware of the charity and that they could benefit from it.
“GroceryAid allows us to also reach out to our retail customers and let them know that there is free and confidential welfare support available to them through the charity’s website and, most importantly, the 24/7 Helpline – emotional, practical and financial support is available and it’s so easy to access that support,” said Ms Casey.
“I would encourage our colleagues across the industry in Scotland to put their support behind GroceryAid for the benefit of both staff and customers.”
Jim Harper, GroceryAid Scotland’s joint chair, added: “In the last few years we’ve been working really hard to raise awareness of the charity in Scotland and we’ve effectively reinvented GroceryAid here with the support of retailers, wholesalers and suppliers.
“Working with wholesalers like Filshill, we can get the message across to independent retailers and their staff that this help and support is available to them – there is a lot of support that they can access via GroceryAid.”
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