New Possible’s British HR Awards sets out to discover and celebrate the organisations that are truly passionate about delivering a world-class people experience.
Continuing with our Sharing Success series, we interview British HR Awards 2025 Winners to shine a light on the inspiring projects that are improving workplaces across the UK and beyond. In this article we chat with Ella Deery from Havas, Winners of the 'Employee Wellness Initiative of the Year' category.
Introducing Ella Deery:
Ella’s role sits within the People Team at Havas; she describes her role as: “focusing on building meaningful experiences that genuinely support people – whether they’re just starting out or leading from the front.”
Ella also says: “more broadly I would say my role is all about unlocking potential. That means working closely with teams across the business to design development programmes, embedding a learning culture, and making sure we’re giving our people the right tools and opportunities to grow. But I believe you can’t truly grow unless you feel well – mentally, emotionally and professionally. That’s why wellbeing is a thread that runs through everything we do."
"I’m lucky to sit in a team where this is really valued and understood – my manager Louise Mossman, Head of Talent Development is a huge supporter and helps enable this work, and our Group Chief People Officer, Ewen MacPherson, is passionate about the difference this can make to people and helps to unlock opportunities for this work across Havas."
About Havas:
Havas is one of the world’s largest global communications groups, with more than 23,000 people operating in over 100 markets and sharing one mission: to make a meaningful difference to brands, businesses, and people.
Elevating Wellbeing Through Havas Equalise
In the UK team, meaningfulness is central to their approach, and their wellbeing strategy embodies this ethos. Since the launch of Havas Equalise in 2016, the company has focused on fostering a culture that prioritises wellbeing.
Havas Equalise is a dynamic and evolving programme built around four pillars: mental health, financial wellbeing, physical health, and social connection. It combines preventative measures with reactive support through workshops, one-on-one coaching, and holistic treatments, while surprise events such as puppy therapy bring joy and spontaneity to the workplace.
Employees have access to a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, virtual GP services, and the Wellness Lounge - a dedicated, tech-free relaxation space at the office’s core.
In 2024, over 850 employees engaged with the programme, accumulating more than 650 wellbeing hours. Voluntary turnover among participants decreased and employee engagement scores remain consistently high, demonstrating the programme’s positive impact. But Havas recognises the importance of continually raising wellbeing standards. The company views Havas Equalise not merely as a programme, but as a new standard of support, committed to ongoing development.
Policies such as four mental health days annually and a Work from Anywhere policy allowing four weeks of global remote work per year have been introduced to help employees maintain work-life balance.
Ella described the initiative as: "a holistic and strategic approach to ensure wellbeing is embedded in our culture, not treated as an added benefit."
In 2024, Havas enhanced Havas Equalise through several strategic initiatives:
- Embedding Wellbeing into Culture: The company integrated wellbeing into its core values through a company-wide workshop, leading to the adoption of 'being human at heart', a value promoting empathy and compassion that now influences recruitment, onboarding, and employee development.
- Addressing Systemic Barriers: Recognising that wellbeing extends beyond perks, Havas’ ‘Your Career’ workstream reviews job design and resource planning to ensure sustainable workloads align with resources.
- Empowering Line Managers: To strengthen the role of line managers, Havas launched the Manager Academy with modules on wellbeing and inclusivity; over 200 managers completed this pilot training in 2024.
- Inclusive Wellbeing: Inclusivity is fundamental to the strategy, with mental health champions appointed within Employee Resource Group (ERG) to represent diverse voices and strengthen community wellbeing connections.
- Data-Driven Approach: A management dashboard tracks diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) data points to monitor wellbeing engagement across demographics, enabling initiatives to meet diverse needs.
- Strategic Integration: Wellbeing is embedded in the 'Impact+' sustainability strategy, prioritised in business decisions, and reviewed regularly by the executive committee.
- Leadership Commitment: Leadership accountability was enhanced by appointing executive sponsors across ERGs, highlighting mental health as a top organisational priority.
When asked whether Havas faced any challenges during the implementation of these initiatives and how they were addressed, Ella mentioned: “One of the biggest has been shifting perceptions: moving wellbeing from being seen as a “nice to have” to a core part of how we work. To tackle this, we focused on leadership buy-in from the start, aligning wellbeing with business priorities and securing executive sponsorship through forums like our ERGs.
"Another challenge has been equipping line managers to support wellbeing confidently and consistently – not everyone feels naturally comfortable or prepared for those conversations. That’s why we built dedicated training into our Manager Academy, making wellbeing a practical, actionable part of their role. We’ve also had to be mindful of ensuring our approach is inclusive and relevant across a diverse workforce, which is where our data-led approach and ERG partnerships have been key in helping us adapt and respond to what our people actually need. It’s still a work in progress, but we’re committed to learning and improving as we go.”
What’s next for Havas Equalise?
Ella commented on the future of Havas Equalise: “The next phase for Havas Equalise is all about deepening impact, broadening reach, and ensuring the programme evolves in step with the changing needs of our people. We continue moving towards a more data-informed approach – using engagement insights and DEI metrics to identify where support is working and where there are gaps. This will help us tailor interventions more precisely, particularly for underrepresented or higher-risk groups. We’re also exploring ways to further embed wellbeing into our everyday – whether that’s building wellbeing checkpoints into performance conversations or continuing to expand manager capabilities through ongoing training."
"Looking ahead, we want Havas Equalise to feel more personalised – with increased access to flexible resources that support people through different life stages and career moments. And as societal expectations continue to rise, we see our role as not just meeting the bar but helping redefine what a truly human-centred workplace looks like – one where wellbeing, creativity, and performance go hand in hand.”
What advice would Ella give to give to other organisations looking to create a similar wellbeing initiative?
“Start by listening – really listening – to what your people need and want. The most effective wellbeing initiatives are grounded in genuine insight, not assumptions. Use data to spot trends, identify pressure points, and understand how different groups experience work differently. Then build something that feels authentic to your culture – there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Wellbeing isn’t about grand gestures; it’s about consistency and integration. Align it with your values, embed it into management behaviours, job design, and everyday practices, and make sure senior leaders are visibly engaged. Finally, keep it evolving. What worked last year might not work tomorrow, so stay curious, stay open, and be willing to adapt. “
Overall, the judges praised 'strong commercial results' and 'deep cultural integration'.
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