With the always-popular Staff Wellbeing Week coming up on 23 October, we catch up with Human Resources Senior Organisational and Staff Development Consultant, Wendy Botha.

Work stuff
I’ve been at Macquarie for…
I have recently had my third-year anniversary working at Macquarie. Time flies, it seems just the other day I was packing my bags with my family and moving to Australia from South Africa.

In a nutshell, my job is to…
Support our HR client team, leaders and staff at Macquarie to perform at their best. I work in the Organisational Development team where we design and develop various workshops and work on different projects in the people space to enhance the capability, performance and wellbeing of our staff. Some of the projects I work on are the ‘Your Say’ staff survey and the Wellbeing program.

The question I hear most often in my work is…
“Where can I find…” Our shared drive where we keep all our documents has evolved over the years and has a wonderful library of all our work but sometimes it is not that easy to remember where we have saved certain documents 😊.

The top three things on my to-do list today are…
1. Finalise the planning for Staff Wellbeing Week – coming 23 Oct-2 Nov, so be sure to book your place!
2. Juggling my week around so that I can attend my niece’s presentation day tomorrow – she is finishing her HSC this year.
3. Taking my son to basketball.

If I could do any other job at Macquarie (with instant qualifications/knowledge) it would be…
A researcher in the wellbeing space. I believe there is so much work still to be done in the field of wellbeing in the workplace and I would love to be able to dedicate a year or two of my life doing a Master’s or PhD in this area.

Name a Macquarie staff member who impressed you last week…
Joe Lander. He is an Artist in Residence, at the Centre for Emotional Health. I met him while planning this year’s Wellbeing Week. He will be exhibiting his work during Staff Wellbeing Week and sharing his personal story of how he has struggled with mental illness. He has done some wonderful portraits of men in recovery as part of a research project to overcome the stigma of mental health in men.

I get my campus coffee fix from …
The library. My daily ritual en route to the office from my car is to collect my coffee. I have definitely become part of the coffee culture in Australia!

If you were given $50 million to create or build something at Macquarie, what would you do with it?
I would give it to the sustainability team to invest in the volunteering program for staff. Did you know all staff get two days of volunteering leave per year? This is such a great initiative. Imagine how many people we can help in our community if we all made use of our volunteering leave once or twice a year. It’s also good for your wellbeing – helping others helps you.

Personal life
My ethnic heritage is…
I was born in England but grew up in South Africa and moved to Australia four years ago with my husband and kids to secure a better future for our boys (aged 11 and 12). Although moving countries was not easy, and I have had my ups and downs, I can honestly say we now feel very settled and at home in Australia. We have also built up a wonderful circle of friends and life in Sydney is good!

My favourite subject at school was…
I don’t think I had a favourite subject, but I LOVED sport and played six-seven days a week after school.

Outside work, you’ll often find me…
Running with my wonderful running group (this is not only great exercise and the best way to the start the day, but it is also the cheapest and best form of therapy 😊). I also enjoy reading, binge-watching different TV series, watching my kids play sport and travelling with my family. We recently had a week skiing in Perisher – it was my boys’ first experience in the snow and first-time skiing – we all loved it and hope to make it an annual thing!

I’m really looking forward to…
Spending Christmas holidays at home and having my Dad visit us from South Africa. We are planning a ‘staycation’ where we can all explore more of the wonderful sights and places in Sydney.

If I could have dinner with anyone (living or dead) it would be…
Nelson Mandela. I think he is one of the greatest leaders and most inspirational people ever to have lived. Mandela had some wonderful quotes but the two that stand out for me are, “Education is the most powerful tool which you can use to change the world” and “For to be free is not merely to cut off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”