academy+ announces launch of new Wellbeing hub
5 December 2024
academy+ announces the launch of its new Wellbeing hub, a comprehensive resource offering a wide range of movement and mindfulness content for clients. This exciting development follows successful conclusion of licensing deals with world-renowned fitness company Les Mills, and mental health platform MindLabs.
This latest offering further expands the company’s full-service solution for SMEs. Clients now have access to 700+ CPD-certified, SCORM-compliant courses, to manage ongoing mandatory training requirements. Following the acquisition of performance-skills based company Scott Bradbury earlier this year, there’s also an extensive library of digital learning resources to improve employee and manager performance at work. The Wellbeing hub offers businesses a scalable, accessible solution to support the mental and physical health of staff.
Trusted suite of movement and mindfulness resources
The movement area of the hub includes a wide range of Les Mills fitness classes, offering benefit to everyone from beginners to regular gym-goers – including BODYCOMBAT™, BODYPUMP™, BODYATTACK™, BODYBALANCE™, CORE, instructional videos and more. These have been chosen to reflect the varied needs of today’s workforce – with everything from low to high intensity sessions, ranging from 15-55mins in length.
The mental health area of the hub offers NHS-approved, neuroscience-based meditation, mindfulness and breathwork classes, from MindLabs. Suitable for those who’ve never meditated before as well as advanced practitioners, these accessible videos address important areas for employee wellbeing, including relieving stress and anxiety, improving sleep and increasing energy levels.
Wellbeing hub content will be updated quarterly, to maximise employee benefit and engagement.
Why does wellbeing matter?
Investing in employee wellbeing is no longer just a nice-to-have, it’s critical for productivity, retention and long-term sustainability. The CIPD’s 2023 health and wellbeing at work survey revealed mental ill-health as the leading cause of long-term employee absence. Similarly, the Mental Health Foundation states, “Poor mental wellbeing costs employers in the UK an estimated £42 billion to £45 billion annually through presenteeism, sickness absence and staff turnover”.
Conversely, companies with a strong focus on employee wellbeing experience fewer absences, lower turnover rates, and improved employee engagement. As CBI Economics reports, “For every £1 invested in mental health by employers, businesses get £5 back, raising employee productivity by around 12%.”
This data underscores the need for affordable, accessible solutions that address both mental and physical wellbeing. academy+ aims to meet that need with a solution that fits seamlessly into employees’ workdays, so they can make positive changes at times that suit them best.
academy+ CEO, Ian McClelland, said, “Our clients, generally UK SMEs, have been telling us that they are increasingly responsible and concerned for the wellbeing of their staff as well as their learning and development. They commonly have to juggle different vendors and subscriptions which is expensive, is a barrier to staff engagement and doesn’t easily allow for the aggregation of staff data in one place. Our new Wellbeing hub is another step toward solving that problem for them.”
The Wellbeing hub is currently available to businesses via the Staff Skills academy+ LMS and will be offered to New Skills academy+ learners in 2025.
For further information or sales enquiries, please contact:
Paul Joyce
Chief Commercial Officer
Academy Plus Group Limited t/a academy+
paul@academypl.us
