Organisation Type:
Tandem is an engineering design and project management firm. We work predominately with Life Science clients bur others include advanced manufacturing facilities, industrial, food and beverage and public service.
Number of Employees:
Tandem currently has 82 core team members.
Location:
Tandem has four offices in Ireland. Its head office is in Cork, we also have offices in Killarney, Waterford and Dublin. Tandem also has offices in Amsterdam and Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Process
Tandem Project Management was delighted with the opportunity to participate in the first Healthy Ireland Healthy Workplace Programme. Our initial focus was gaining leadership support for the programme and implementing initial behaviour change initiatives. We started off in a strong position as leadership already support our EHS and Wellbeing Committee called Thrive.
We made a presentation to the senior leadership team outlining the rationale for introducing the healthy workplace framework. We emphasised the benefits to wellbeing in the workplace such as:
- A one-point increase in employee happiness is linked to a 12% increase in productivity (Bellet, De Neve & Ward)
- Organisations with a stronger wellbeing are 14% more likely to attract talent (Ward)
- Companies with a high wellbeing engagement see 21% higher productivity (Gallup)
Some of the considerations that we highlighted during this process were cost, time, resources, feasibility, uptake from personnel, the benefits to Tandem and the accreditation itself.
Our stated programme goals are:
- People don’t get sick or injured while working in Tandem.
- We have tools, education, and awareness in place to change behaviours and create a healthier workforce.
- To ensure our systems facilitate when someone is ill or in crisis, and management of absence and return to work.
- Continually reviewing and improving the Healthy Ireland Framework in Tandem.
The Healthy Workplace Team worked with the Thrive committee and the management team to review our employee engagement survey and amended it to include additional wellbeing questions. Tandem undertook a structured baseline assessment aligned to the four pillars of the Healthy Ireland framework, combining qualitative employee feedback with quantitative organisational data.
- Psychosocial work environment
- Physical work environment
- Personal health resources
- Community engagement
Under the plan and resource pillar, Tandem developed a structured action plan aligned to the four pillars, with defined activities, inputs, outputs, outcomes and where possible, tracking mechanisms.
One example, under the Personal Health Resources pillar, was our ‘Tandem Transformation’ initiative. This included a points-based system, weekly reporting, accessible HSE resources, structured messaging, dedicated communication channels and milestone incentives. The initiative promotes sustainable behaviour change in movement, nutrition, water intake and overall wellbeing. It was successfully run at the start of 2026 and participants have indicated that they would like the programme to run again in the Autumn.
The implementation phase of the programme required a clear focus on embedding wellbeing into day-to-day operations under the four pillars.
Examples from Tandem’s programme include encouraging personnel to make suggestions around improving our physical workplace through existing reporting channels. The introduction of the ‘Skills Corner’ on the company intranet is supporting improved time and deadline management, directly responding to employee feedback. Community engagement participation data is now being tracked and reviewed. Volunteering opportunities are being planned with an emphasis on offering a mix of weekday and weekend options to support inclusivity.
Step 5 focuses on ensuring that the Healthy Ireland Framework is not a one-off initiative, but a continuous cycle of review, learning and improvement. Tandem’s evaluation processes are developing alongside delivery, with a clear commitment to evidence-based decision making.
Wellbeing is now a recurring agenda item at Thrive meetings and leadership discussions. This ensures that progress, participation levels and feedback are reviewed consistently rather than retrospectively.
Challenges:
It wasn’t a huge challenge but aligning the playbook with where we were as a company was the first hurdle. It was important that we identified our journey through the playbook and identified how to make it work for us.
We had not previously utilised data in our wellbeing initiatives and plans, so identifying the appropriate data streams and developing suitable questions that would deliver impactful information to allow us to make good decisions. That has been challenging and it is a work in progress.
Uptake from the team can be challenging, a lot of effort is being driven into providing opportunities under the four pillars, and a lot of the time, the uptake isn’t’ there. Finding ways to encourage participation can be a challenge.
Cost:
In relation to costs, we were in a very favourable position in that the Thrive Committee already had the financial backing of the senior leadership team.
Outcomes:
We are now more structured in delivering our wellbeing and community engagement initiatives. We plan, implement, collect data and analyse. We have delivered successful programme initiatives, for example, the Tandem Transformation initiative which has had the result of encouraging healthy behaviours among the team.
Key Learnings/Tips:
- The importance of visible leadership support in the form of role modelling.
- Data collection should be streamlined and purposeful, short pulse surveys following initiatives will support continuous improvement.
- Shared ownership, you need a team to ensure the success of the programme
- Initiatives should be simple but impactful and where possible should fit into the workday
- Regular communication of what’s going on encourages discussion and participation
- We have to remain flexible as a team to recognise what is and isn’t working