In an initiative to increase the holistic well-being—and retention—of Mesa’s more than 9,000 educators, administrators and staff, Mesa Public Schools has entered a contract with corporate well-being company Grokker.
Grokker’s AI-guided platform provides wrap-around programming to address not only stress, burnout, anxiety and other common mental health challenges but also nutrition, sleep, fitness and financial well-being—everything that teachers, staff and administrators need to feel refreshed and more resilient.
“We wanted a well-being solution that can help relieve educators’ stress, improve work-life balance, and provide fitness, cooking, mindfulness and other well-being content,” says Rocio Sosa, Mesa Employee Benefits Director.
“But we also wanted something that will help us be more connected as a district. We’re a family, but we’re spread out among 85 schools that are not all close to one another. Grokker’s challenges give us ways to feel connected and to strengthen ties among educators in different locations.”
Grokker CEO Lorna Borenstein says, “We know that nationally, a shocking 44% of K-12 educators routinely feel burned out at work and that poor teacher wellness and mental health can affect the quality of learning environments. It’s a painful problem that often leads to turnover.”
Arizona’s educational ecosystem is under particular pressure to retain educators, with 13.1% actively planning in 2023 to leave the profession, a rate more than 50% higher than the national average.
Compounding the problem, attrition can drain schools of experienced teachers, who are widely acknowledged as the most effective. Right now, 33% of Arizona’s educators have four or fewer years of experience.
Retaining new teachers as they mature is important across disciplines, and attracting and retaining instructors is particularly urgent in special education and STEM.
Borenstein says, “We’re delighted that Grokker can be part of the solution to increasing the holistic well-being of and retaining Arizona’s educators. Our dynamically tailored content, including more than 4,000 visually immersive videos and numerous wellness guides, provides each educator with the fitness, pre-clinical mental health, and financial programming and community to support well-being inside and out.
“In addition to the deep intrinsic value of feeling well, we know that employees who have greater well-being are far less likely to leave their jobs.”
Actuarial data confirm that Grokker’s platform reduces users’ attrition by up to 68%.
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