A digital-first wellbeing strategy can help frontline employees engage with resources on their own terms, whether it’s mental health support, financial guidance or physical health tools.

For employees in hands-on, people-focused roles, accessing reliable workplace wellbeing support can sometimes be a challenge. Long hours, physically demanding work and the emotional strain of caring for others mean that wellbeing resources need to be both practical and easy to access.

At early learning provider Story House Early Learning, bridging this gap meant turning to a digital-first wellbeing strategy designed to provide flexible, on-demand support for its frontline workers.

“There is so much research on birth-to-five-years being such a critical part of the child’s life. And our educators are nurturing these little humans and creating lasting impact on them,” says Kate Ludwig,​​​​ Head of People and Culture at Story House Early Learning.

“If we’re not doing the right thing for our people, then we’re not doing the right thing for the children in their care… so we have spent the past three years making sure we’ve got a robust tech infrastructure in place to support our distributed workforce to manage their wellbeing.”

Since the business’s digital-first wellbeing strategy was implemented, it has seen an impressive ten per cent year-on-year improvement in retention. 

The success of the strategy saw the business take home the Best Health and Wellbeing Strategy Award at last year’s AHRI Awards and Scholarship program.

Components of a digital-first wellbeing strategy

Story House operates across 50+ locations in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, with around 1700 employees across all three states. 

The decision to take a digital-led approach to employee wellbeing was made partly to ensure consistent support and resources among its dispersed workforce. However, the reasoning also went deeper than this, says Ludwig.

“There are instances where people aren’t comfortable speaking to their employer for whatever reason,” she says. “I don’t want people to feel like they can only access support or resources at the time they talk to their direct manager.

“The digital-first strategy is imperative for me, because I want to feel comfortable that I’m providing the right tools and support, and I want people to be able to access them themselves as they need.”

The primary medium for these tools is an internal platform called Main Street, which serves as a hub for wellbeing resources. 

“Around 99 per cent of our workforce is interacting with Main Street in some capacity,” says Ludwig.

Main Street has been designed and curated to provide support for employees’ mental, physical and financial health, as well as their personal safety. 

Below, Ludwig unpacks some of the key tools and strategies in each area.

Mental health

Mental health is one area in particular where digital-first, self-service wellbeing resources can have a huge impact. 

Despite rising social and legislative recognition of the importance of mental wellbeing, many employees still fear judgement or stigma when approaching a colleague or manager directly for support. In fact, research published in 2023 showed that seven in 10 Australians would hide a mental health condition from their employer. 

While Story House’s managers and assistant managers are trained in mental health first aid so employees can access in-person support if they prefer, there are also avenues for anonymous, self-service digital support.

For instance, Main Street is connected to employee wellbeing app Sonder.

“Sonder is an approved medical service, and our team members and their direct family members can access medical professionals and advice 24/7 via the app,” says Ludwig.

Employees can also use the app to access resources on mental health, mindfulness, sleep and more, she adds.

“Managers can access support too – for example, [they might say], ‘I’ve got a team member going through X – can you please support me with how I can approach this?’”

Physical health

Ensuring the physical wellbeing of frontline employees working with children is paramount, and Main Street helps support this through its ‘Move’ and ‘Munch’ sections, says Ludwig​​​​. 

“In the Move section, there are a lot of workout videos and gym routines and tips to improve your physical health,” she says​​​​. “And then Munch is linked to HelloFresh, and all of their recipes are available through that program so people can create their own healthy meals.”

By making fitness and nutrition resources easily accessible, Main Street helps employees integrate healthy habits into their daily lives without adding extra stress or pressure, she explains.

“There are instances where people aren’t comfortable speaking to their employer for whatever reason. I don’t want people to feel like they can only access support or resources at the time they talk to their direct manager.” – Kate Ludwig,​​​​ Head of People and Culture, Story House Early Learning

Financial health

Financial health is another area where employees might be reluctant to approach their manager for support, says Ludwig, meaning it was crucial for Story House to put robust self-service mechanisms in place to help employees stay in control of their finances – especially in economically challenging times.

These include guides and resources on Main Street to improve financial management, as well as Humanforce Thrive, a tool that allows employees to access up to half of their earned wages before payday if they need to.

“So, for example, if they’re in a position where they need money to be able to get out of an unsafe situation, and they’re not comfortable coming to us to ask for help, then they’ve got access to tools that can help them, [no questions asked],” she says.

Personal safety

Main Street gives employees access to a range of tools that help protect their personal safety both in and outside the workplace. 

“One of the tools on Sonder is a ‘check on me’ feature,” says Ludwig. “Let’s say you’re on a first date and you’re not sure if it’s a safe situation or not. You can [activate] this feature on the app, and it’ll check on you in an hour or so. And then if you don’t respond after a certain amount of time, they’ll send an alert to responders or emergency services to check that you’re okay.

“Similarly, if you’re walking home at night from the train station, they’ve got a feature that can track your journey – you can input where you are and where you’ll be ending up. And if you go off journey or you stop for too long, then they’ll check on you, and if you don’t respond within a certain period they’ll send a responder or emergency services.”

The hub also contains dedicated resources and a personal safety plan for employees experiencing domestic violence situations, she adds.

Building a strategy that works for your people

As well as a 10 per cent year-on-year increase in retention, Story House’s comprehensive wellbeing offerings have also contributed to 85 per cent of the company’s employees saying it’s a great place to work.  

Her team was delighted to see their strategy win AHRI’s Best Health and Wellbeing Strategy Award at last year’s ceremony.

“Being recognised for that work was really exciting, because it is so important to me,” says Ludwig.

“We’ve also received the Great Place To Work certification two years in a row, and we were in [Great Place To Work’s list] of the top 10 best employers in Australia for 2023 and 2024.”

For businesses hoping to kick-start their digital-first wellbeing strategy, her advice is to work backwards: determine what really matters to your people, and think about the resources you can offer to meet those needs.

“People want to feel included, so take them on the journey and make sure what you’re implementing is aligned,” she says.

“Sometimes organisations are [reluctant] to put out an anonymous survey or ask ‘What can we do to support you?’ because they’re concerned that they won’t be able to deliver on the answer. But if your people aren’t telling you [about these issues], then they’re telling someone else.

“Start with simple things that show your people that you care, and then build up a business case if you need to based on the outcomes.”

Develop the skills to design a sustainable wellbeing strategy with AHRI’s Implementing Wellbeing Initiatives short course. You’ll explore strategies to customise and apply wellbeing models and targeted interventions.