App aims to boost staff wellbeing

08 September 2011

An innovative free mobile phone app has been launched providing employers and their employees with a range of wellbeing resources based on their current mood or feelings.

The new app, My Wellbeing, has been developed by experts at Leeds Metropolitan University to harness the University’s wealth of wellbeing-related expertise and present it as an innovative application for iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.

MyWellbeing.org is an online wellbeing resource with a number of clients across the public and private sector, reaching over 200,000 employees and their families. Since implementing its own Wellbeing programme the University has saved £75,000 a year in wages with stress-related absence down by 16% and the accident incident rate standing at just 64.7 per 100,000 employees, compared to the sector average of 325.

Winner of a number of national awards, MyWellbeing.org gives users advice based on their current feelings or what is on their mind, for example: stress. Whilst there are 65 wellbeing-related topics consisting of 25,000 words, no more than five pieces of information are presented at any one time. The ingenious nature of the navigation means that if what is presented is not what the user is looking for, it is easy to try something else or start again.

The task-based advice is built around every-day tasks such as dealing with emails, writing reports or attending meetings. As well as tips on how to manage these activities, related health advice is offered such as relaxation or anger management.

The programme’s founder John Hamilton, Head of Safety, Health and Wellbeing at Leeds Metropolitan, explains: "This phone app is a great resource for employers, providing them with the ability to signpost help and advice for all their employees, wherever they are”.

MyWellbeing.org has its origins in the Leeds Metropolitan University’s wellbeing excellence programme implemented in 2009, incorporating a wide range of initiatives and activities targeted at staff and student wellbeing. The programme built on the work done by the safety, health and wellbeing team in developing new arrangements for managing work-related stress, the university’s biggest cause of absence.

MyWellbeing.org won the overall award in the 2010 Occupational Health Awards, the 2010 SHP/IOSH Award for Best Achievement in Local Authority and Education, and the higher education award in the 2010 Teaching Public Health Network Awards. It was also a finalist in the prestigious 2010 National Business Awards.