News in the Channel - issue #14

EXERTIS

We've had some amazing stories from our teams recently, where they're able to share and talk about their mental health challenges... “ ”

“Exertis is part of the global Technology Distribution Council and were at the forefront of putting that agenda together to lobby and engage vendors in a way that looks at the supply chain end to end,” says Tim. Health agenda But it isn’t just environmental wellbeing that Exertis is concerned with, it is also with that of its employees, especially their mental health. “Mental health is one of those areas that people didn’t want to talk about, and, in my opinion, it’s part of your physical health,” he says. “I mean, no one would think anything about someone having time off for appendicitis, but it can be different for a mental health need, and that still needs to be destigmatised.” To this end, Exertis has invested in Mental Health First Aid training, and now 31 of its employees are fully trained in it. “This has been really important,” says Tim. “It shows people that is important to us as an employer and enables them to talk about some of the challenges they’re having. We’ve had some amazing stories from our teams recently, where they’re able to share and talk about their mental health challenges and it – I hate to use the phrase – normalises it. “Now, they can talk about it with their manager, or their peer group, and that means people can bring their whole self to the company and perform the best that they can.” Exertis has also raised more than £125,000 for Mental Health UK in the past 18 months as part of its programme to raise awareness of mental health issues.

“It is wonderful to be able to support them at the same time as raising awareness within our company,” he says. “I’m a great believer in thinking about the whole individual and creating an environment where people can feel comfortable about bringing their whole self, whether or not it’s a mental health issue, a physical issue, any other paradigm that really makes this world so rich and wonderful.” Looking ahead After a pleasing 2023 in challenging conditions, Tim is looking ahead with confidence for 2024 for Exertis. “I love a tagline and we are talking about ‘more in ‘24’,” he says. “We want to have more customers, selling them more products more often, and we want to be making a good profit. More in 24 is key to the way I’m thinking about it. “Part of that is going to be through an economic bounce. I don’t expect it to be early in the year, but I think there are some interesting inflexions that are going to take place over the course of the year as AI starts to get hold, as Win 11 [Windows 11], which had a major update last year] starts to gain traction. And the connexion of Win 11 to the chipset, to Copilot and AI will create a bit of a snowball and a refresh cycle. “For 2024, I’m optimistic that some of the challenges that we’ve had over the last 18 months will start to recede and we can look to a brighter, better future. I think most of us have seen the movie before. We know that economic cycles have ups and downs and very much hoping that next year is the beginning of the up.”