Hunter Gatherer AHP is a staffing and recruitment firm based in the UK that specialises in the healthcare sector. Today, we’re talking to Viktorija, an Operations Assistant responsible for integrating several health and wellbeing initiatives across the organisation.
Throughout the last few years, Hunter Gatherer AHP has cultivated a culture of open communication, social time amongst colleagues and an atmosphere of support. This approach has kept their employees’ health and wellbeing balanced, however, Viktorija shares that they are always looking to improve, which is why WeThrive was key to taking their strategy to the next level.
Why an intelligent survey was crucial
Having never used a survey tool before, Viktorija and the team were unsure what to expect. Their previous approaches had been based on anecdotal feedback from staff and guestimating the right approach.
WeThrive’s mental health and wellbeing survey is designed to uncover the specific areas of people’s lives that are hindering their mental health and happiness. Hunter Gatherer captured their data over a 3-week period and the results were analysed, segmented and delivered back to them instantly. They were pleased to see that they had scored very highly in the “connection” area of the WeThrive 4C model, which indicated that the majority of their people felt a strong sense of belonging and connection to the organisation and their colleagues and that they received enough attention.
However, Viktorija notes “our lowest scored areas were physical health, free from worry and lack of sleep. It was a great eye-opener and really helped us to identify areas for improvement.”
After receiving these insights, swift action was taken to target these specific low-scoring areas. For example, Hunter Gatherer recently integrated GymPass, which “has contributed massively to our team’s physical and emotional wellbeing.” Their people have been much more physically active and colleagues who rarely exercised felt motivated to join gym classes alongside their peers. Viktorija explained how this also positively contributed towards team building, and the whole organisation will be participating in Tough Mudder to raise money for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
The organisation has started running educational sessions related to these key areas to support employees suffering from a lack of sleep and higher levels of worry. WeThrive’s wellbeing survey was key to identifying these issues and ensuring that employees got targeted support in the areas that matter most to them.
6 months later
After responding to these key issues and implementing relevant, effective changes, Hunter Gatherer saw a huge transformation. Viktorija shares that after their second mental health and wellbeing survey they “were pleased to see that physical health has gone up by +12%, which is a huge improvement for us.” The other areas of concern (worry and lack of sleep) also improved, which Viktorija attributes to their educational sessions and improved physical health.
These fantastic improvements make it clear that listening to their staff and responding directly to the areas that will have the greatest impact has been the most effective strategy for improving mental health and wellbeing.
After experiencing rapid improvements Hunter Gatherer plans to “keep growing and supporting our employee’s health and wellbeing, particularly focusing on emotional connection. We’re planning to run another check-in survey in the next 6 months.”
