Kepler Interactive is a global publisher and game developer built on a unique co‑ownership model. Kepler gives studios a stake in the business and a leadership role in strategic decision-making, at the same time as preserving their creative independence, enabling them to make fun and commercially successful games appealing to a wide audience.
Kepler cares a lot about employees’ wellbeing, and wanted to offer mental health benefits to everyone. There was one complication though — Kepler has a distributed team that spans across four continents and eight countries, and there are also a number of employees for which English is not their first language. While a lot of countries have local employee assistance programmes available, the leadership team wanted to find a global solution that can truly help everyone.
Initially it was the global and multi-lingual aspect of Spill’s support that attracted Kepler, but they were also excited by the other support on offer such as the personal growth exercises, the ability to send written messages to therapists, and the much-loved opportunity to gift a session to others.
Normalising conversations around mental health
“Starting with Spill has encouraged the team to be more transparent about discussing their mental health and be more open about how they're feeling. It has sparked some positive conversation between the team,” says Jess Pearce, People Advisor at Kepler Interactive
”I think it has given employees a space to go to when they are feeling overwhelmed, and by having it as an integrated tool it serves as a reminder to check in on their mental wellbeing and also with each other.”
“At Kepler, we care deeply about everyone’s wellbeing. We want to be able to support our employees when they are facing issues, whether the issues are from the workplace or from their personal lives.
I was quite excited when Spill was introduced. Prior to signing up, I had a trial therapy call. I was pleasantly surprised at how simple it was to book an appointment and how many time-slots were available (my trial therapy call happened within three days). During the call the counsellor came across as friendly, knowledgeable, and experienced. By the end of that call I was convinced that our colleagues could benefit from Spill.
The reception after our introduction of Spill has been very positive. Since we’ve implemented it the service has been rated very highly by our users. Personally, earlier this year I was going through some tough times, and I signed up for the full six-session counselling course. It made a huge difference to me having the counsellor to talk to regularly during that period.
The fact that we are offering Spill is a clear message to our colleagues that we care about everyone's mental health. It is OK if someone feels mentally unwell, and we are here to help. Spill has been helpful so far and we are definitely keeping it at Kepler.
During recruitment we mention to candidates that we offer Spill as a staff benefit. Many have been impressed that as a young company that started in 2020, we already consider mental health as an important topic and offer such valuable benefits.
In hindsight, it was a no-brainer for us to implement Spill. It is very rewarding when an employee tells you how grateful they are that you have introduced a service that has really helped them out when they needed it the most.”
An accessible tool with transparent usage stats
“I regularly check on the stats of how many people are taking courses or asking a therapist questions. We also use the team check-ins to keep an eye on the teams’ wellbeing.
The team have been more open to discussing mental health and wellbeing, and I think the accessibility to Spill has helped with this massively.
The advice I would give to other companies wanting to implement mental health support is to do it!”
"There are no drawbacks and looking after your teams’ mental health and wellbeing is so important in putting the care of your team first.”
