Workplace Wellbeing: I tested three wellbeing apps to stay motivated in work
If you had walked into my office five minutes ago, you would have found me with my eyes closed, listening to a soft voice urging me to deepen my breath and quieten my mind. Come back later, and you could find me on the floor doing dead bug exercises.
I'm not skiving. I'm following the latest trend in workplace wellbeing. Research, including a paper published by the University of Oxford Wellbeing Centre in 2024, has consistently found that employees in good physical and mental health are more engaged, motivated, and efficient.
Findings like these are convincing organisations to invest in employee wellbeing apps. I've spent the past month trying three high-profile ones.
The first is Headspace, which offers mindfulness and meditation exercises. It was founded in 2010 by a former Buddhist monk, Andy Puddicombe, and his business partner, Richard Pierson.
An AI companion shows me around the platform and gives tips on getting started. I decide to begin with a stress management course.
Every working day for the next 20 days, I listen to 10-minute sessions of simple meditation techniques, such as focusing my attention on my breath and letting go of expectations. I perform body scans, where I pause, breathe, and notice what's happening in my body. I eat more mindfully and do gentle yoga movements. And each time I complete a session, I am congratulated for taking time to unwind. The exercises and the praise I get for completing them give me a welcome boost in mood during my working day.
I like Headspace's regular check-in feature, which asks you to consider how you're feeling. This has become a daily habit that helps me to identify and tackle niggly issues before they escalate in to serious problems.
At times, notifications reminding me to complete my mindfulness tasks for that day annoyed me. I occasionally ignored them, because I was under pressure to meet a deadline. But on less busy days, I appreciated the nudge.
All this Zen comes at a price. Individual users pay €57.99 for a yearly subscription, and there's a sliding scale for employers who want to offer the app to their employees. Depending on the number of employees in the organisation, it ranges from €39.50 to €50.
Headspace also provides employee assistance programmes, coaching tools, and therapy services for an additional fee.
Data is collected within the app, but users are advised that it is anonymised, before being compiled in to metrics that employers can use to understand and further support the wellness needs of their workforce.
Mapping my progress
The second platform I tried is Thrive Global. Founded by Arianna Huffington, a Greek-American author, businesswoman, and co-founder of the HuffPost news website, it describes itself as 'a behaviour change technology company with a mission to improve productivity and health outcomes, one micro step at a time'.
Thrive is designed to be embedded in internal workflow channels, like Slack, and Microsoft Teams. Users can access it easily by clicking on an icon, rather than opening another application on their computer or mobile device.
One of the first things users do when they sign up is set an intention. Thrive maps that intention across five core pillars: Sleep, food, movement, stress management, and connection. Then, it identifies a micro step you can take daily to bring you closer to achieving your goal.
It also provides you with content relating to other activities you could do if you have the time and motivation to do so.
Sharon Ní Chonchúir taking a break from work to do a quick workout in the sunshine. Picture: Richard Smallwood.
As a journalist who spends most days sitting at a computer, I need to be more active, so I set that as my intention. Over the next few days, Thrive tells me to stand up and stretch between meetings, take walking meetings, when possible, and go for a walk at lunchtime.
You might think these are simple things I could have thought of myself, but I'm more likely to do them when Thrive prompts me.
One of Thrive's most popular features is Reset. This is a library of 60-second breathing exercises, stress-reducing sighs, and stretches set to calming music and scenes of natural beauty. (The platform also allows you to create videos, using your own chosen images.)
These videos are designed to deactivate the stress response and restore a sense of calm and equilibrium throughout the day. I enjoy breathwork and mindfulness, so I loved them.
Thrive doesn't disclose its pricing policy publicly because it deals directly with companies. But it insists it's competitive and willing to work with businesses to meet their needs and budgets.
Regarding data collection, like Headspace, it also aggregates data, so employers can recognise trends across their organisation.
Apps 'keep you on your toes'
The final workplace wellbeing platform I try is an Irish one, called Saol. It was co-founded by former athlete Derval O'Rourke and her business partner, Greg O'Gorman, and is now managed exclusively by O'Gorman.
The set-up is simple: I give them my email, create a password, download the app, and I'm good to go.
The first thing I notice on the app is a tab listing upcoming live events. These include a question-and-answer session on finances and a mental health session on challenging negative thoughts. Everyone can attend, but you can catch the recordings in the on-demand section, if you miss these sessions.
I'm most impressed by this on-demand section. It offers all sorts of fitness workouts, covering everything from strength and functional mobility to dance, Pilates, and yoga. I particularly liked the 15-minute workouts. Even someone as time-poor as me can usually fit that in to my working day.
The on-demand section also has videos on topics such as breathwork, decluttering, nutrition, recipes, sleep, and more.
The app currently focuses on fitness, nutrition, mental wellbeing, finances, personal development, work-life balance, and mindfulness. All of its content is developed and delivered by professionals experienced in their field.
For example, cognitive behavioural therapist Emily Murphy was lined up to deliver the session on challenging negative thoughts.
There are plans to grow Saol by adding more content, providing access to mental health counsellors, and building on its community component.
Currently, this consists of chat functions, monthly challenges, and a book club, all of which allow people to interact with other users.
Similar to Headspace, Saol's price depends on the number of employers or customers the platform will be offered to.
If your company employs only 10 people, you pay the maximum €175, plus VAT, per employee, but if you're a large organisation of 100,000 people, you'll pay less than €2 per person.
Similar to the other platforms, Saol takes confidentiality seriously. It records only its on-demand classes, talks, and workshops. But even when services like mental health counselling are introduced, all sensitive interactions will take place in person and away from the app and offline.
Saol's fitness content stands out. Whenever I have a spare 15 minutes, I try to fit one of its workouts in to my day.
My overall verdict on these platforms? They are based on simple wellness concepts we all know and understand, but we can be too lazy to put them in to practice. I can see how some people might experience the advice they dispense as hectoring, preaching, or yet another thing to fit in to an already busy day.
But for the most part, I didn't have that experience. I found them to be more like a gentle tap on the shoulder, reminding me that I benefit from taking time to look after myself.
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