Recognising National Workplace Well-being Day – A Well-being Initiative within the Examcraft Group

Helping young people perform better so they achieve their personal potential is the everyday work of The Examcraft Group.

The company employs a small team of full-time staff (approx. 12) and has 100s of teachers involved in the delivery of its service from presenting face-to-face seminars in schools to the setting of mock examination papers.

Like most businesses there are seasonal peaks in demand – times of the year when all staff have to give 120% to ensure that the customers’ expectations are delivered on. In this intense work environment it was felt that giving staff time in every week to interact with one another as a team was important.

Thus the Well-being 15 initiative was initiated. This began as a 15 minute intervention first thing on a Friday morning on a particular well-being theme. These interventions were led by different staff members.

The Well-being 15 has now become a 15 minute ‘company chat’ first thing on Friday morning, accompanied by tea/coffee and a sweet delight normally baked by a member of our team. The range of delights reflect the cultural and geographical diversity of the team. Scones and jam remain a firm favourite with many of the Irish born employees!

We chat and talk about what we are doing for the weekend. There may be a couple of stories and a laugh. It is a great way of socialising and getting to know each other better. It is basically time-out and staff believe it has been beneficial.

The essential benefit comes from stronger relationships, getting to know one another outside of the day to day operational tasks of the business.

Overall, the initiative has strong support from the staff, While away days are great, by their nature they have to be sporadic – Well-being 15 is a weekly reminder to all staff that personal well-being is central to everyone’s success as an individual and our overall success as an organisation.

So have we at The Examcraft Group got it all figured out?

Not by any means but Wellbeing 15 is a step in the right direction. It helps start conversations around Well-being and helps in nurturing a culture of support, respect and personal growth.