WellbeingSolutions
About WellbeingSolutions
Short answer: WellbeingSolutions is a workplace wellbeing platform for organisations in Australia and New Zealand. It sends personalised SMS wellbeing check-ins to staff, with no app to download, and connects anyone who asks for help to the professional support their organisation chooses. It is a product of WISMS Limited, a New Zealand company based in Auckland.
Who we are
- Brand: WellbeingSolutions™
- Company: WISMS Limited, trading as WellbeingSolutions
- NZ company number: 9382125
- NZBN: 9429053225405
- Based in: Auckland, New Zealand
- Office: 25/2 Bishop Dunn Place, East Tāmaki, Auckland 2013
- Serving: organisations in Australia and New Zealand
- Email: hello@wellbeingsolutions.co
- Website: www.wellbeingsolutions.co
WellbeingSolutions is not affiliated with UK-based "Wellbeing Solutions" companies, or with any other business that has a similar name.
Our story
Kevin Mc Afee is the founder and CEO of WellbeingSolutions and the founder of WISMS. Originally from Ireland, Kevin has called New Zealand home for more than 20 years.
In February 2011, Kevin had only just started as national facilities manager for a national New Zealand retail chain when the Christchurch earthquake struck. Suddenly the question was: where are our people?
It took weeks to find out. Some contractors and staff had left the city. Some were injured. Some could have been in the rubble, or had passed away. There was no process to know who had even been on site. That experience shaped everything that came next.
After the Pike River tragedy and the review that followed, New Zealand's health and safety law changed with the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. That same year, Kevin founded his first technology business, building health and safety technology for workplaces across New Zealand and Australia.
Leading large workforces showed Kevin the suicide and mental health challenges facing the people he was responsible for. He wanted to help. When he later went his own way, he founded WellbeingSolutions to do exactly that. Kevin also founded the IT business WISMS, and WellbeingSolutions is a product of WISMS Limited.
Thinking differently
Over the years, Kevin worked alongside many psychologists and wellbeing professionals. He saw how much good they do, and also where traditional approaches weren't reaching everyone who needed help. So he built a simple matrix of what works and what doesn't in wellbeing support, then asked where technology could fill the gaps.
Two gaps stood out. First, not everyone can afford a phone subscription or a data plan, and many people who are struggling with their mental health are also under financial stress. An app can miss the very people you're trying to help. Second, most apps ask for your details before they help you, and that puts people off. Kevin's principle is simple: help first, details later. If a stranger asked you for help, you'd help them first and ask their name afterwards.
Starting young
Kevin believes wellbeing starts well before work, so he co-founded Project KickStart, a resilience programme that goes into schools through football. Working with schools across South and East Auckland, Project KickStart offers free football sessions and mentoring that build mental resilience alongside football skills. It teaches kids that it's okay to make mistakes, that what matters is what you do next, and that the people around you will pick you back up.
Giving back
New Zealand has been good to Kevin, and he wanted to give something back. Australia holds a special place for him too. It's where WellbeingSolutions first took root and grew, and where many of our earliest supporters are. Today we work with organisations on both sides of the Tasman, with the same purpose in each: help people first.
What WellbeingSolutions does
- Personalised SMS check-ins. Organisations send their own check-in questions, by name, to a whole workforce, one site or one team. Staff reply by text. There's no app to download and no login. Every reply gets an acknowledgement.
- Triage to professional support. When someone replies that they need help, the professional support chosen by their organisation (for example its EAP, counsellors or in-house support) is alerted and gets in touch.
- Employee profiles and case history (CRM). With the person's consent to be named, conversations are kept against their profile, so the professional who calls them can see their history. Only approved professional support can see personal case details. Every action is logged.
- Leadership reporting. Leaders see anonymised trends, not names.
- Psychosocial risk assessment. A confidential assessment informed by ISO 45003 guidance. It takes 8 to 12 minutes and is sent by text, email or QR code. ISO 45003 is voluntary guidance, and the assessment is a practical review, not an audit against a standard.
- AI-4U support navigation. An in-house AI web chat. It guides people to helplines and to their organisation's professional support. It is navigational only: it doesn't provide counselling, diagnosis, treatment or an emergency response.
- Free 2-week pilot for up to 10 staff. In New Zealand: SMS check-ins and AI-4U. In Australia: SMS check-ins only.
What WISMS does
WISMS (Wise Management Systems) is the technology company behind WellbeingSolutions. Its other products are separate from WellbeingSolutions and cover physical safety and site management:
- Access+: employee, visitor and contractor sign-in across sites, including pre-registration, inductions and licence expiry checks.
- eRMS: risk reporting, audits and registers.
- GRACE lone worker: alerts for people working alone or after hours, such as timed check-ins, an emergency button, fall detection and a safe word alert.
More about WISMS: www.wis-ms.com
How we work
- Help first, details later.
- Check-ins sit alongside an organisation's EAP and its own support. We are not counselling, a clinical service or an emergency service.
- Our platform is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the Asia Pacific (Sydney) region.
Questions people ask about us
Who owns WellbeingSolutions?
WellbeingSolutions is a product of WISMS Limited (NZBN 9429053225405), a New Zealand company based in Auckland. Kevin Mc Afee is the founder.
Is WellbeingSolutions the same as the UK company "Wellbeing Solutions"?
No. We are a separate business with no connection to UK-based companies with a similar name.
Do you work in Australia?
Yes. We work with organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Australian organisations can start with a free 2-week SMS check-in pilot for up to 10 staff.
Do staff need an app?
No. Check-ins arrive by SMS and staff reply by text.
Is AI-4U a counselling service?
No. AI-4U is an AI support-navigation tool. It guides people to professional support and helplines. Professional support comes from the organisation's own provider.
WellbeingSolutions is owned and operated by WISMS Limited (NZBN 9429053225405), Auckland, New Zealand.