What we did

LiveWorkWell has run more than 15 six-week Mindful Advantage programmes at Publicis Groupe, the world’s third-largest advertising agency, as part of the in-house development programme. The brief? To help them find their off switch. The courses are always oversubscribed.

We have also trained teams to work better together through Core Strengths’ Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI), and several leaders have received one-to-one coaching.

The project was shortlisted for the HR Excellence Awards and was the subject of a chapter in the book Mindfulness in the Workplace. Publicis,  formerly known as Starcom Mediavest Group, now calls mindfulness ‘an important part of our DNA in supporting the emotional wellbeing of our people’.

What they said

‘Here at Publicis we’ve partnered with LiveWorkWell to better understand the motivations of our employees and how they can better collaborate on projects and diffuse conflict when it arises. Susan’s background in wellbeing initiatives made her the perfect partner to deliver our SDI sessions as her years of experience partnering with Publicis and her background in psychology allows her to pick out information and themes that others might miss. Feedback from our employees is that Susan’s approach to SDI has enabled delegates to absorb a lot of information via a fun-filled session that tasks teams with looking at what they will do with their new-found insights following training. This makes the return on investment of behavioural training more tangible, allowing us to connect Susan’s work with our business key performance indicators. Sessions with Susan are always in high demand, and we foresee working with Susan on future SDI sessions as best practice.’ — Learning & Development Advisor, Publicis Groupe

‘Introducing mindfulness coaching at the agency was both bold and impactful. Feedback shows there has been a 19.1% increase in staff being able to manage work-related pressure appropriately, and a 17.8% rise in them being able to maintain a healthy work/life balance.’ – Liz Nottingham, Publicis HR director, writing in HR magazine

‘It has helped me to take a step back and look at workloads, prioritise and work on one task rather than rushing into something and panicking/not performing to my best level.’ – Publicis participant

‘A great way to be able to settle the mind when we’re used to moving at 100mph.’ – Publicis participant

‘One of the most valuable courses ever. I have recommended the course to the whole team I work in.’ – Publicis participant

What data showed

For managers

• ↑24%

  Work/life balance
• ↑22%

  Focus
• ↑18%

  Engagement

For employees

• ↓23%

  Stress
• ↑19%

  Performance
• ↑16%

  Work/life balance

Compiled by an independent researcher. Results show score changes for each ability, based on participant surveys before and after training.