At Welbee, we strongly believe that the way to deliver the best outcomes for students is to put staff first. Staff who look forward to each day, enjoy their job and are in an environment where they can do their best work, create happy and more effective classrooms.
Sadly, evidence shows those working in education, particularly teaching staff, suffer from higher stress and anxiety compared to those in other sectors. And research demonstrates a casual link between staff self-reported wellbeing and a range of much needed benefits, including:
It is time to address this. Leaders want to improve staff wellbeing, though often struggle to prioritise this above the wellbeing and attainment of students, the needs of parents and other everyday tasks.
This is why Welbee was born, founded when working with 17 schools around Belfast in 2016, where one school had been measuring and tracking the wellbeing of their staff annually since 2010. The other schools wanted a similar approach and from an initial manual process, a comprehensive and easy to use online platform has been developed (all in collaboration with Multi-Academy Trusts, state and independent schools).
The way we collaborate and respond to our customers makes us different, together with:
It’s also why we were named the best wellbeing solution in the 2022 Education Resource Awards.
Our expertise comes from our founder (Mark Solomons) and recruiting people with the right knowledge and, most importantly, who care about the impact we make.
Mark has always been an advocate for outstanding teaching and learning and understands the many barriers that make it hard for schools to deliver this. His mum was a teacher and he has been active as a Governor and Trust Chair in Primary and Secondary Schools for over 20 years, before making education his full time focus in 2009.
His first career was as an operating board member and Retail Director in the banking sector, where he led a large national and cross-functional and cultural team. This is where he first realised the importance of putting staff first and experienced first-hand the impact staff wellbeing and engagement has on organisational performance.
Prior to launching and growing Welbee, he:
This expertise and passion runs through our culture and is openly shared across the education sector and with our customers.
Welbee’s award winning support for Multi-Academy Trusts and their schools, systemises staff wellbeing improvement, by identifying and suggesting actions that have the greatest impact. We make it easier:
Welbee uses measurement recognised by the Health and Safety Executive (Management Standards) and the Staff Wellbeing Charter and aligns with Ofsted’s Leadership and Management judgement.
Available evidence clearly demonstrates the link between staff wellbeing and a range of benefits that Welbee will help you realise.
Your students are often priority number one and in order to deliver for them your staff have to feel cared for, valued, and able to do their best work.
We all know that juggling all the ingredients to make that a reality is a massive challenge – yet it’s essential in order to raise student attainment, improve financial performance and to attract – and retain – the best staff.
Welbee is a really clever tool that is making a real impact for hundreds of schools and MATs. It has just been named best wellbeing solution in the 2022 Education Resource Awards.
We think it might be perfect for you.
We know how busy you are, and even if you have taken another approach, can we set up a 25 minute demo with you, online, at a time that works for you?
I think you’ll be surprised at how helpful Welbee could be for your team and at the evidence backed and recognised support it provides.
There’s no obligation or commitment beyond that initial 25 minutes – which I know is not trivial for you – but I wouldn’t ask, if I didn’t believe that you’ll find it really worthwhile.
You can book your demo by emailing support@welbee.co.uk.
We look forward to meeting you (virtually at least).
Also included:
85% of users see improved scores in their second survey.
Welbee is making available its Managing the Menopause course to all education leaders, after the Government rejects 5 of 12 recommendations from the Women and Equalities Committee of the House of Commons. The recommendations were made because of key findings, such as those set out in the Menopause and the Workplace report by the Fawcett Society and Channel 4. This polled 4,000 women aged 45-55, finding that 10 per cent had left their job because of symptoms of the menopause, 14% asked for reduced hours and 8% stopped asking for promotion.
Given the make-up of staff in education - leaders, teachers and particularly support staff - and the already challenging retention and recruitment situation, supporting those experiencing the menopause is so important. While you may already have taken steps to help leaders, do check out the course to see if it could offer further support.
Case Study: The Two Counties Trust
The Two Counties Trust has nine secondary schools and 1300 staff, operating across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The Trust is passionate about improving student outcomes and ensuring all schools are great places to learn and work.
Debbie Duggan, Operational Resources Director, discusses the challenges of ensuring the wellbeing of all Trust staff.
The challenges of ‘taking a temperature test’
‘We recognise that mentally-healthy schools function at a higher level - staff can focus on their ‘real’ job – teaching their students – rather than battling the stress that can be created in an unsupportive and negative work environment. With teacher focus on learning and attainment, we can provide our students with the opportunities and experiences that will enhance their life choices and make a positive contribution to the world we share.
‘We regularly take a temperature check of wellbeing across the Trust, to identify where additional support is required, and find solutions to any problems to ensure the ongoing welfare of our workforce community.
‘Previously we had created our own survey and managing this across nine secondary schools and preparing and analysing the resulting data in the ways that we needed was extremely challenging and time consuming. So we looked for support.
Simple solution from Welbee
‘Welbee listened to our needs and found ways to accommodate them. The process is straightforward with a 10-minute online staff survey, with invitations and reminders fully managed, to encourage all staff to participate. Once the anonymous responses are in a comprehensive report is created.
This gave our employees the confidence to answer openly and was a clear signal that we were taking the survey and their wellbeing very seriously.
Accessing the data and a clear way forward
‘The results identified areas where the Trust was performing well, and where there was a need to focus, covering all staff, specific groups, or roles within our schools that needed support. The data dashboard allows us to analyse the benchmarked data by Trust or school and provides fast and focussed advice on next steps. We can also easily track performance between surveys.
‘Each headteacher benefits from their own school dashboard, giving them ownership over their results. They can also respond to the anonymous feedback from their staff using Welbee Voice, and build appropriate action plans within their school.
‘Welbee provides an amazing foundation to our wellbeing strategy. It’s cost-effective, easy to use and provides excellent support, making the complex job of managing multiple pieces of data from 1300 employees, easy. Welbee is a highly effective staff wellbeing evaluation and improvement tool, making staff wellbeing simply part of what happens every day.’
A final word…
Welbee came from schools and has been built with the feedback of schools and Trusts. We listen and respond to their needs. Our new analytics tracking, the creation of internal benchmarks, a host of previous developments and our future ones have all come from our customers,
We also provide advice and support to the sector through our learning centre.
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Company no: 05303883
Charity no: 1107640
