Skip to Content

Category Archives: News

EAP Awareness Week 2022

This week, at JCA we are holding our second annual Employee Assistance Programme Awareness Week to increase the familiarity of our employees with the types of support and assistance available through our EAP, now in its seventh year. 

Our theme for this year is ‘Community’ and we are emphasising the importance of community – both in our private lives (family, friends) and at work (our teammates, colleagues). 

Throughout the week we are sharing valuable information, tips and advice on different areas of support provided by our external EAP provider. The services include help with home and work life, physical and emotional health, wellbeing resources, self-help programmes, webinars and other.  

Employee Assistance Programme 

JCA values the health and wellbeing of all our employees and recognises that balancing everyday life together with the requirements of work and home can create pressure for everyone. We aim to establish a positive health and wellbeing culture that includes awareness, understanding, effective processes and positive behaviour by employees at all levels. 

As part of our commitment to health and wellbeing of our staff, we implemented an Employee Assistance Programme in 2016, delivered by an independent external organisation, which provides confidential support and guidance relating to personal issues via telephone and online advice, support and counselling services. 

Wellbeing at the core 

At JCA, we fully recognise that mental and physical health and wellbeing are equally important and that work can have a potential impact on both. 

We have an employee wellbeing policy that sets out and manages our obligations to maintain the mental health and wellbeing of our staff. The policy covers JCA’s commitment to employee health, the responsibilities of managers and others for maintaining psychological health, health promotion initiatives, communicating and training on health issues, the range of support available for the maintenance of mental health, and organisational commitment to handling individual issues. 

Trained to help

We take a “we’re in this together” approach – everyone has their part to play in ensuring that support can be accessed as needed, with dedicated support roles available. We have mental aid first aiders who are trained in mental health awareness and can support mental ill health and offer sign posted support.

Talking about mental health at work can be daunting: people may worry about how they will be treated and how their colleagues will react. We therefore invited JCA employees across the business to volunteer to become Health and Wellbeing Champions. Our Champions help implement and support JCA’s wellbeing and mental health programme through raising awareness of wellbeing, promoting healthy lifestyles and positive mental health. Every Champion attended an internationally recognised training course ‘Mental Health Champions’, accredited by Mental Health First Aid (MHFA).

Health and Wellbeing Champions can support workplace culture and make a difference to the lives of work colleagues, working with the organisation to make mental health a normal topic of conversation, dispelling myths and providing another avenue for people to seek support.

A number of our senior managers and line managers have also attended ‘Line Manager Mental Health Awareness Training’ run by Mind, with further sessions to be arranged later this year.  This training aims to provide line managers with a better understanding of mental health difficulties and the confidence to  manage mental health in the workplace, which promotes wellbeing and understanding across the teams and reduces perceived stigma when discussing mental health issues.


Further read:

0 Continue Reading →

JCA Inflatable 5k Charity Event 

JCA is taking part in the Inflatable 5k in St Albans this Saturday! Our team of volunteers will be testing their skills tackling 32 gigantic obstacles over a 5km route. 

We are raising money for three wonderful charities: Happy Days Children’s Charity, Steph’s Wishes and Mind UK. Support the team and donate now!

The Inflatable 5k is the world’s largest and best inflatable obstacle course challenge, combining distance running with a variety of inflatable obstacles along the way! 

Support the team and help us raise money for three wonderful charities: Happy Days Children’s Charity, Steph’s Wishes and Mind UK.

Steph’s Wishes: “We aim to provide a memorable day out for young people diagnosed with reoccurring or incurable cancer to make memories for themselves and their families to cherish.” 

Happy Days Children’s Charity: “We help families and groups by organising and funding special days and holidays such as trips to the seaside, theatres, zoos, museums, outdoor activity centres, sporting events and other educational and cultural activities for children in the UK living with mental, physical and emotional difficulties.” 

Mind UK: “We provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. We campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. ” 

Read more:

0 Continue Reading →

Imagine The Future – International Women in Engineering Day

International Women in Engineering Day, brought to us by Women’s Engineering Society (WES) celebrates its 9th year in 2022.  Since 2014, INWED has grown enormously, receiving UNESCO patronage in 2016 and going truly global the following year. 

For 2022, we’re looking towards the future, focusing on those who will change the industry for the better.  

Women in engineering  

As reported in March 2022 by Engineering UK, women make up 16.5% of all engineers, compared to 10.5% reported in 2010. This represents a 6-percentage point increase in the proportion of women in the engineering workforce. 

The actual number of women working in engineering roles also increased from 562,000 in 2010 to 936,000 in 2021. (Useful Statistics, WES, June 2022) 

Celebrating International Women in Engineering Day at JCA

Over the last few years, we have noticed an increase in the number of women applying for roles in our industry and we hope this trend continues. 

To celebrate the International Women in Engineering Day, we asked a few of our female colleagues working across the business in different roles about their experiences of working in engineering/maintenance industry. 

 Brodie Price – Project Quantity Surveyor 

During my childhood, I grew up with a family of men in the Construction/Engineering Industry and there was rarely a woman in sight. Whilst the industry does still remain a male dominated industry, I have seen a major shift within the past 10 years and continue to do so.

There are so many roles to choose from Health & Safety Managers, Procurement Assistant, Contracts Managers to Quantity Surveyors. In fact, the majority of our commercial team are women! 

I have found my place, not just within JCA, but within the Construction/Engineering Industry itself. Being a female hasn’t hindered my opportunities, I am respected and praised as much as anyone else for my skills and abilities. I feel particularly proud of what I have achieved within this industry and hope to inspire more women to choose a career in Construction/Engineering.”

Olly Begum – Operations Support Manager 

As a woman working in a male dominated industry for the best part of 12 years, I have to say there have been some significant changes over the years. 

Initially when I moved into FM as admin support, it was quite clear that most women were office admin based and men were in higher or operational positions. I have personally seen my own sister struggle to get further. As more women’s campaigns were coming into play, her company slowly started adapting to these changes and she is now an Account Manager managing a portfolio worth £10 million. I always look up to my sister and I’m very proud of her. 

For me, as there has been more support in the engineering industry for women’s opportunities, it has made the ‘male industry’ less scary to be in. It’s important that we, as women, keep fighting for everything we can where equality is concerned, and that we don’t settle for second best.

Gabrielle Duncan – Assistant Contracts Engineer  

“At JCA, being the youngest and only female contracts engineer on the Projects division I thought I would be faced with a lot of stereotypical and domineering opinions from male colleagues, but in fact I’ve gained a whole support system and 50 new ‘work-Uncles’. I often feel like the most respected person in any room. 

My entry into the industry was through wanting to undertake a Health & Safety role by completing my NEBOSH in Managing Construction Safely. I felt like I needed to work 10x harder as a woman in a male dominated industry and became one of the youngest in the UK to complete this qualification. 

My senior management at JCA are supportive and dedicated to shape me into an engineer in a Project Managing role. The industry has changed the stigma it once used to have. I feel very privileged being a part of the JCA team, the environment is friendly and truly rewarding.”  

To find out more about International Women in Engineering Day 2022, visit the official website: http://www.inwed.org.uk/  

To get involved on Twitter, search hashtags #INWED22 and #ImagineTheFuture 

Want to know more about what it’s like to work for JCA? Read our employees’ testimonials here and find out more about what JCA stands for here

About Women’s Engineering Society 

The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) is an English charity, founded in 1919 at the end of the First World War, when women who had been employed in technical fields found it difficult, if not impossible, to continue working as engineers. A change in the law to return women engineers to the home just as their sisters were admitted into the civil service and legal professions, led to the establishment of WES by pioneering and influential women. 

WES has worked tirelessly for over a hundred years to ensure equality for women in engineering. Today WES’ mission is to support women in engineering to fulfil their potential and support the engineering industry to be inclusive. 

  1. Women: Support women to achieve their potential as engineers, applied scientists and leaders and to reward excellence. 
  1. Education: Encourage and promote the education, study and application of engineering. 
  1. Sustainability: Work with organisations and influencers to promote gender diversity and equality in the workplace and sustain the historic legacy and future effectiveness of the Women’s Engineering Society. 
0 Continue Reading →