Expert Q&A – Why hope is fundamental to employee wellbeing

We all live off hope.

Whether it’s willing England to win in the Euro 2024 final against Spain, hoping that the sun will stick around for longer than a few days or simply hoping for a better day today than yesterday, hope is that feeling of expectation that what you want to happen, will happen.

Hope is believing that change is possible, that what you long for will come to pass. And it’s hope that is built into Ashia, the UK’s first wellbeing streaming service.

As part of our series of expert Q&As, we sat down with Ashia CEO Phil Worms, to discuss why employee wellbeing is so important and how their product can help employees ‘benefit’.

Zest: Why is employee wellbeing so important?

Ashia: If you don’t take care of your people, they’re likely to be less productive and loyal.

Ultimately, you’re likely to lose them. This impacts your bottom line. Before the pandemic, employers might provide a gym membership or a bowl of fruit in the office, but we’ve all learned that wellbeing is so much more than that – it’s how you feel financially, emotionally, physically.

Employee wellbeing is not a single issue and what we might be struggling with changes through our working life and that’s why Ashia is holistic, covering a huge variety of topics.

Zest: Have you done any research on wellbeing in the workplace?

Ashia: We conducted a YouGov poll last year that showed only 1% of employees would speak to their manager if they were struggling.

Zest: So how can Ashia help an employee with their wellbeing?

Ashia: Ashia offers them a platform where they can help themselves and connect with those who offer support, in a private, safe place.  It also provides an incredible resource for line management to understand more about the issues members of their teams might be struggling with.

Zest: Why is hope such an important part of your wellbeing service?

Ashia: Well, it’s in our name. Ashia means life and hope and we believe those two words sum up what we are trying to achieve – showing people that there is always hope by providing them with the tools and information to get through the challenges they might face in life.  Hope is a necessity for us to live and work well.

Zest: How do you bring this to life on Ashia?

Ashia: Through a combination of video-led storytelling and clever tech. Ashia serves up inspiring lived experience stories of overcoming adversity from real people, alongside expert advice and a huge directory of support organisations.

Zest: Tell us more about the tech.

Ashia: Ashia is the first streaming service to focus solely on content to help people with their wellbeing. It works like the major streamers Netflix and iPlayer, with rails of regularly updated content and the ability to like, share and save into playlists. It also provides real-time anonymised data – there’s no waiting for a quarterly report – so you have a much more accurate idea of what your people are concerned about. One of our clients describes it as the 3D approach to wellbeing!

Zest: How does Ashia differ from other wellbeing support apps?

Ashia: Ashia has 16 channels of wellbeing support with easy to consume short-form video content, rather than acres of text, plus it also has exclusive wellbeing offers. There are regular on-demand webinars for line managers and Mental Health First Aiders to learn how to support others. And clients can also integrate their own wellbeing content, making it easy for their employees to find everything they need in one place instead of having to trawl through their intranet.

Zest: Can a company try Ashia before they buy it?

Ashia: Absolutely, we offer a no obligation free trial period for anyone who is interested in using Ashia to support the wellbeing of their people.

For more information about Ashia, visit our Marketplace page here.