Keep Thriving Case Study: HandsHQ

Having attended one of British Safety Council’s free Keep Thriving webinars, HandsHQ successfully applied to receive up to £10,000 of funding from British Safety Council. This allowed them to think about how best to support their dynamic and agile workforce, assess and apply best practice, and test innovations and interventions to improve the wellbeing of their employees.  

As part of developing their wellbeing strategy, HandsHQ organised their first ‘wellbeing stand-down day’ which provided employees with wellbeing sessions that they were passionate about, such as mindfulness, combatting imposter syndrome, and building public speaking skills.   

In keeping with their identity as a software organisation, HandsHQ were keen to harness the power of technology (automation and innovation) to support long-term worker wellbeing. They used a part of their Keep Thriving funding to make ClassPass available for their employees alongside integrating survey technology into their wellbeing feedback mechanisms.  

Further, HandsHQ used part of their Keep Thriving award to provide access to 1:1 nutritional support for their 23 employees, grounding their wellbeing offering in a holistic, whole-person approach to worker wellbeing. This allowed for bespoke advice, nutritional problem solving, and resulted in measured increases in both productivity and morale.  

HandsHQ’s wellbeing interventions have sought to connect colleagues, increase collaboration, and challenge many of the dangers that come from hybrid and home working, such as isolation, loneliness, and maintaining an appropriate work life balance.   

As part of the Keep Thriving funding award, HandsHQ have worked with British Safety Council to understand the importance of measuring and assessing wellbeing metrics, allowing for the integration of employee feedback into their medium and long-term wellbeing strategy.  

Through data monitoring, HandsHQ have been able to report an improvement to their employee net promoter score, which remains well above the industry average. They have also received positive feedback and testimonials from employees, who report increases in productivity and morale, which has allowed HandsHQ to maintain their low turnover rate in an industry defined by high employee turnover.   

As part of their long-term plans, HandsHQ will look to expand their wellbeing offering into a wider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy.  

Rob Bullen CFIOSH, HandsHQ’s Senior Environment Health Safety (EHS) Specialist said: “The Keep Thriving funding award allowed us to test a range of wellbeing tools that we found across the industry and helped achieve our goals towards best practice. Without the funding award, we wouldn't have been able to leverage emerging technologies and support to take our wellbeing plans into longer-term measures towards corporate social responsibility.”