Welbee from School Wellbeing Accelerator – an easy-to-use online evaluation and staff wellbeing improvement tool, designed to help senior leaders and HR directors create mentally healthy schools, retain and motivate staff, reduce costs and drive up studentattainment – has been named the Best Wellbeing Solution in The ERA Awards 2022.
Welbee, which enables school leaders to measure workplace wellbeing and how effectively leaders manage the risks of workplace stress, features a 10 minute online staff survey, recognised by the Department for Education’s Staff Wellbeing Charter, that utilises the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Management Standards to compare overall scores with those of other schools and organisations.
Innovator, Mark Solomons, CEO, was praised for the solution’s focus on ‘what happens after the survey’, which – unlike others – ‘recommends actions for Senior Leadership Teams (SLTs)’, making it quick and easy to celebrate where things are going well and concentrate effort where it is needed most. Key findings, presented through the Welbee dashboard, score each school on how well staff are coping, whether the school has a good working environment, whether staff feel empowered, the degree of flexibility they have, how well they are supported by their managers, colleagues and peers, whether they know what is expected of them and if they feel included in managing change.
Data filters, heatmaps and analytics also help SLT’s to quickly identify who to support, as well as those who are coping well, and to improve engagement and effectively address concerns through two-way anonymous staff conversations. Progress and the impact of actions can also be tracked enabling SLT’s to focus on what works for them, to build wellbeing into the culture of the school and improve retention, reduce absences, achieve better financial performance and further raise student outcomes.
“85% of schools that use Welbee report an improvement in staff wellbeing scores after running their second or subsequent surveys,” said Mark Solomons. “Investment in wellbeing contributes significantly to improved health and wellbeing for teachers, all staff and students, and ultimately, to more positive learning outcomes, as shown in a 2021 report from the Teacher Development Trust (https://tdtrust.org/coi) and in other research from the education and the health sector.”
The Judges commented that Welbee is ‘a great tool for assessing staff wellbeing’ and ‘a time-saver for school leaders’. They went on to praise Welbee for ‘providing leaders with access to high level data to assess and support well-being, which gives them the visibility to support positive interventions and outcomes.’
Concluding, Mark Solomons, said, “I’d like to say a huge thank you to all our customers and the way they have supported and underpinned our development with their brilliant feedback. And of course to our fantastic team, whose passion and commitment to the company and the schools we serve is just incredible – thank you.”
The Education Resources Awards (ERA) – organised by Brilliant Marketing Solutions and the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) – highlight the quality and diversity of educational products and resources, excellent educational establishments and the most dedicated members of the teaching profession and supplier industry, all working together to encourage the very best in education.