Customer case study
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Background
Like many organisations, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) has long had an Employee Assistance Program in place to help employees, particularly in regards to their mental health.
But EAP is often utilised when a person is close to tipping over the edge whereas organisations are now looking at how best they can support their employees before EAP is required.
RACS is a leading advocate for surgical standards, professionalism and surgical education in Australia and New Zealand. Assisting those surgeons is a raft of professional and administrative staff who support training and education activities, professional standards, advocacy and Fellowship engagement..
The Executive General Manager of People & Culture at RACS, Sophie Lukeis, was introduced to mental wellness App Groov through her private health insurer. “After using it for a while I thought it would be ideal to be introduced to the wider RACS workforce,” she said.
“The strain COVID-19 has put on everyone has meant that as an organisation we had a greater responsibility to equip our staff to look after their wellbeing.
“We have an established Employee Assistance Program but I felt we needed additional support for our people as often EAP is utilised when a person is really suffering. I saw this App as giving people mental fitness to be their best every day.”
The results
Groov is open to all staff at RACS. “The take up has been really positive and we look forward to getting more feedback from our staff regarding the effectiveness. We saw a strong engagement rate of 44% after a short adoption period. Content was consumed 605 times during one month alone!” Sophie said.
“So many staff have reached out to me to say thank you for giving them a tool they can use to look after themselves.
“Many have also shared this with their own family and friends. I think the most overwhelming sentiment from staff was that RACS really cares and doesn’t just pay lip service to a wellbeing philosophy.”
Sophie said the payoff had been reflected in a recent staff engagement survey with “many comments about the focus on staff health and wellbeing being a positive part of our workplace culture”.
“So many staff have reached out to me to say thank you for giving them a tool they can use to look after themselves. Many have also shared this with their own family and friends. I think the most overwhelming sentiment from staff was that RACS really cares and doesn’t just pay lip service to a wellbeing philosophy”.
— Sophie Lukeis, Executive General Manager of People & Culture at RACS
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