WELLBEING
Why a ‘quick fix’ approach to staff wellbeing doesn’t work
Mark Solomons, founder of triple ERA Award-winning Welbee, an on-line evaluation and staff wellbeing improvement tool, and Edu Intelligence, the first AI tool delivering data analytics and recommended actions from combining stakeholder feedback and wider school data, tells us why a long-term strategy is essential.
fabric of your trust or school. It’s about building a ‘strategy’ that puts staff at the heart of everything you do. This is nothing new and these strategies exist, but are they lived every day?
The most effective leaders I know don’t wait for a crisis to act. They see wellbeing as a journey, not a destination, and they use data to guide their route.
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• Move beyond the annual survey: A once- a-year survey is a useful snapshot, but it’s not a live feed. To be proactive, you should be regularly checking the pulse of your staff. This doesn’t have to be another burden; it can be as simple as quick check-ins or more regular short surveys that focus on a single key issue, or simply asking questions in meetings or 1 to 1 conversations.
taff wellbeing remains a key talking point. We’ve all seen countless articles, reports and, indeed, books (my own included), dedicated to the topic. Yet, despite the widespread conversations and a growing understanding of its importance, why do the same issues persist?
The answer lies in how some leaders approach the problem. Too often we have become masters of the quick fix - treating symptoms and not the root causes. Wellbeing days or even a week, yoga sessions, free breakfast, and other activities. While well-intentioned, unless they are part of a more comprehensive solution, they are simply sticking plasters. They may provide temporary relief but fail to address the fundamental issues that are causing the stress and burnout we see. I have written about this before and make no apologies for returning to it. Building a culture where staff want to work and can do their best work is like building a house. It needs solid foundations, and you don’t start by building the first floor. You start by looking at the deep-seated issues that undermine morale and lead to high staff turnover and absence.
Through my work with hundreds of schools and trusts, the same key issues continue to show up in our wellbeing surveys:
• Workload: This remains a significant issue, despite the focus given to it, and the use of AI. The number of administrative tasks, marking, and data entry is consistently cited as a primary driver of stress. It’s no surprise that this leads to burnout and a real or perceived poor work- life balance, two of the reasons staff leave the profession.
November 2025
• Behaviour: Poor student behaviour, from low- level disruption to verbal abuse, or worse, adds further to the stress of educators. A perceived lack of support from some senior leaders and parents in dealing with these issues compounds the problem. When staff don’t feel that someone has their back, their sense of professional efficacy falls, and so does their wellbeing.
• Resources: Whether it’s a shortage of staff, inadequate instructional materials, or not enough devices (or they don’t work), the lack of resources makes it difficult for some staff to do their job to the best of their ability. This feeling of disempowerment and frustration can be a significant contributor to low morale.
• Poor communication and low trust: When staff don’t feel involved in decisions that affect them, or that their leaders are not listening, it erodes trust. Without trust there is less likely to be open communication, psychological safety, and shared commitment to the trust or school’s mission. It is a reciprocal relationship, and leaders must show that they trust their staff first if they want that trust in return.
Given we know what the problems are, why haven’t we solved them? It’s not for a lack of caring or trying. I’ve met thousands of dedicated school leaders who want the best for their staff. Is it the focus on symptoms over causes? We give staff a wellness app, when the real issue is they want backing when dealing with behaviour. We offer counselling sessions, important when it is needed, yet earlier in the process it may simply have been their need for acknowledgement and support.
So, what is the alternative to the quick fix? It is to stop treating wellbeing separately, as an add- on, or an initiative and instead embed it into the
• Segment and analyse data: Don’t only look at the overall trust or school data. Look at trends within different departments, year groups, roles, or the time people have been employed. Is a particular cohort of staff feeling unsupported? By drilling down into the data, you can identify specific areas and target support before small issues become bigger ones. And, of course, share what is working well with others.
• Connect wellbeing data with other metrics: The real power of data comes from connecting different sources. Correlate your wellbeing survey results with your staff absence and turnover, and student behaviour and attendance data. This allows you to really see what is happening and gain clarity on what needs to change.
• Act on feedback and track progress: Data is only as useful as the action it helps you to take. Show staff what you are doing in response to a survey or their feedback. Track progress and impact and report back. This closes the loop, builds trust, and shows staff that their voices are being heard. It turns a data-gathering exercise into a collaborative problem-solving process that delivers improvements.
Lasting change won’t happen overnight. It requires perseverance and a commitment to addressing the causes, not just the symptoms. By focusing on the fundamentals, the day-to-day experiences of your staff, you can create a culture where people thrive. And when your staff are thriving, so are your students.
For further information and practical advice, visit: u
https://welbee.co.uk
www.education-today.co.uk 19
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