Our client
Aspers had been discussing internally about investing in a partnership with an organization that would be able to provide a range of engaging activities for their colleagues on-site at their east London property, part of what at the time was their new Mindfulness Programme initiative.
The casino industry are known for being innovative with products and services and Aspers aim was to extend this innovative approach beyond the casino floor to their workforce. The end goal was that the activity – whatever form it would eventually take – had to be diverse, inclusive and fun, free to all the Aspers family and incorporate to some degree the concept of mindfulness – and they weren’t immediately able to find an organisation that was a natural fit to meet this wish list.
Cooperation
After our preliminary meetings, a mutual spark of excitement formed at the prospect of developing a concept that would meet Aspers requirements:
“Professionalism, values, passion and energy mirrored our own; all vital ingredients for a solid and long-lasting partnership. Through this collaboration, we developed a unique fusion of mindfulness with creativity that we now refer to within our business as the Mindful Art module of our Mindfulness Calendar of events.” Richard Noble, COO, Aspers
Our approach
In the first instance, we worked closely with Aspers to run a pilot programme to gauge interest and employee uptake.
By using light touch mindfulness techniques and visual art practice, our aim was to create a calm, relaxing environment where employees could take those tools and thrive within the workplace. We understood this would form part of Asper’s Employee Assistance Workplace Programs, to indirectly use it to assist with staff sickness, absence, anxiety and depression.
Over the course of the sessions, from the 53 participants who attended multiple sessions – nearly double the number of participants originally anticipated – we received 85 responses to survey we distributed with replies such as,
“It is a good way to relax, and to get to know yourself better, and each other”
83% of participants attended more than one session. Asper’s goal was to engage with at least 5% of their workforce, which was exceeded, with 8.5% of their workforce participating.
In addition to the surveys, our artist facilitators tracked individual participant development. We reached out to 3 employees to gather in-depth feedback on the sessions and the programme overall.
This feedback enabled us to glean valuable insight into how the sessions were received, alongside the impact they had on staff:
Project Outcomes
Based on the success that was fed back to us, Aspers recommissioned us to deliver a tailor made programme in 2017, 2018 and through to 2019.
