Organisation Type: Medical Diagnostics and Laboratory Supplies
Number of Employees: 111 in Ireland
Location: Annacotty Limerick, Ireland
The Process
1. Gain & Demonstrate Support
Serosep recognised that creating a healthy workplace required visible leadership and a shared commitment across the organisation. From the beginning, our HR Manager and CFO supported the Healthy Workplace Framework, recognising the positive impact employee wellbeing has on engagement, retention, productivity and organisational culture.
Using the Healthy Workplaces Ireland Playbook, we completed stakeholder mapping and an ADKAR change readiness assessment to understand where support already existed and where further communication was needed. This helped us develop a strong business case linking wellbeing to our organisational values of openness, responsibility, continuous improvement and meaningful relationships.
2. Conduct Assessment & Set Objectives
We reviewed our existing wellbeing supports and gathered informal employee feedback to better understand our strengths and opportunities for improvement.
This assessment highlighted positive work-life balance initiatives, access to counselling and GP services, and a supportive organisational culture. It also identified opportunities to strengthen mental health supports, improve awareness of available wellbeing resources, and introduce more structured evaluation.
From this, we developed three SMART objectives:
- Establish a Wellbeing Champion network and Mental Health Support Framework.
- Increase opportunities for physical activity and healthy lifestyle initiatives.
- Improve mental health awareness through enhanced signposting and Mental Health First Aid support.
3. Plan & Resource
Our planning focused on creating practical, achievable actions that could be embedded into everyday working life.
We developed detailed action plans outlining activities, responsibilities, required resources and success measures. Resources included HR support, wellbeing champions, communication materials, training budgets and Healthy Workplaces Ireland resources.
Potential barriers such as competing priorities and differing operational needs across departments were considered during planning, allowing us to build realistic timelines and engagement strategies.
4. Implement
Implementation has focused on making wellbeing visible, accessible and inclusive for all employees.
We introduced multiple communication channels including HR newsletters, noticeboards, digital displays and team meetings to ensure consistent messaging across office and production environments.
Plans include:
- Launching a Wellbeing Champion network.
- Improving mental health awareness and signposting.
- Promoting physical wellbeing initiatives.
- Embedding wellbeing conversations into everyday management practices.
Our approach recognises that different employee groups engage differently, so communications and activities have been adapted to suit onsite, offsite, and production staff.
5. Evaluate & Improve
Evaluation has been built into the programme from the beginning rather than being treated as an end-stage activity.
We monitor:
- Participation in wellbeing initiatives.
- Absenteeism trends.
- Staff turnover.
- Use of wellbeing supports such as GP and EAP services.
- Employee feedback through pulse surveys and informal discussions.
Regular reviews allow us to identify what’s working, make improvements and ensure wellbeing remains responsive to employee needs.
Challenges
Like many organisations, our biggest challenges have been balancing wellbeing initiatives alongside day-to-day business priorities and ensuring equal engagement across all departments, particularly production teams working different shift patterns.
We also recognised that historical wellbeing data was limited, making it difficult to establish an initial benchmark. This prompted us to introduce more consistent methods of collecting participation and wellbeing data moving forward.
Cost
Most initiatives have been delivered using existing internal resources and free Healthy Workplaces Ireland tools.
Investment has primarily involved staff time, communications, planning, and training for future Wellbeing Champions and Mental Health First Aid. By integrating wellbeing into existing HR processes, we have been able to maximise impact while keeping financial costs relatively low.
Outcomes
Although our wellbeing programme is still developing, several positive outcomes have already emerged:
- Strong leadership commitment.
- A clear organisational wellbeing strategy with measurable objectives.
- Improved communication around employee wellbeing.
- Increased awareness of existing wellbeing supports.
- Better planning and governance for future initiatives.
- A structured framework for measuring participation and continuous improvement.
Most importantly, wellbeing has become an ongoing organisational conversation rather than a series of isolated activities.
Key Learnings / Tips
- Leadership support is essential and should be visible throughout the process.
- Start with achievable actions and build momentum over time.
- Engage employees early and involve representatives from different departments.
- Communicate regularly using multiple channels to reach all staff.
- Collect baseline data from the beginning.
- View wellbeing as a continuous journey rather than a one-off project.