What's the key to supporting our staff with their wellbeing?

We asked Jess Mercuriadi, Academic Support Officer in the Library, who's spent the last few years heading up a dedicated staff engagement group.

Here are some of Jess's top tips and suggestions...

Hi, Jess. What are your tips for boosting staff wellbeing within departments?

Jess:

• Actively listen to what your staff are worried about.
• Do your research - what are some budget-friendly ways to conquer imposter syndrome, stress or anxiety, and to improve accessibility in your office?
• If you build it, they will come... if there's a promise of cake! The best way to gain engagement is always free tea and cake - what an easy and effective way to make staff aware of what you're offering. Just remember to include gluten-free and vegan options too.

Tell us about some of your recent wellbeing projects in the Library...

Jess:

• Regular tea and cake catch-ups, designed to help us all check in with each other.
• A staff mindfulness session (led by Marie Ainge of Warwick Foundation Studies) that included soundscapes, sensory toys, videos and lighting.
• A 'Dealing with stress and anxiety in the workplace' session (led by Denver Thorpe from Wellbeing Support Services).
• Our current project is growing our own desk plants!

What does your role at Warwick involve?

Jess: I've been the Library’s Academic Support Officer for just over two years. I'm part of the Academic Services Development team - we're responsible for the digital education suite that the Library provides for our users.

Some of my duties include creating Moodle courses, video creating and editing, social media, leading training sessions and supporting teaching, along with many more tasks which all make my day-to-day incredibly varied.

How did the Library's Staff Engagement Group - and its focus on wellbeing - come about?

Jess: This group has been set up for a number of years and has gone through various rebrands. To begin with, it focused on liaison work - we supported staff with worries and issues, and represented Library workers in meetings with the management team.

However, post-pandemic there was a very welcome shift to focusing more on staff networking and wellbeing. As chair of the Staff Engagement Group, this was an exciting pivot for me.

We marked the Staff Engagement Group’s relaunch with a competition: we asked Library staff to take photos of their favourite places on campus from their lunchtime walks, and then invited everyone to vote for their favourite photos in the Library’s weekly bulletin. The winner was announced at the next all staff meeting and received a gift. This was an incredibly successful way to relaunch this group - not only did we build a lot of engagement, but we also gave staff an opportunity to be active over their lunch break and take the time to appreciate their favourite places on campus.

Find out more

Jess: I'm happy to share ideas or have a conversation with anyone interested in starting their own staff engagement group. You can contact me by emailing or .