SAN FRANCISCO — August 14, 2018 — BetterUp, the first digital platform to bring personalized development through one-to-one coaching for employees at all levels of a company, today announced the launch of BetterUp Labs to drive research to help people thrive as human beings and, in so doing, optimize their workplace performance and help their companies grow.
Over the next five years, BetterUp will invest $15-$20 million in BetterUp Labs, a first-of-its-kind behavioral research lab bringing together business, academia and science to fund research to enable people to be their best selves, and to arm companies with insights and tactics to assist.
BetterUp has already funded a longitudinal study of 5,000 American employees, investigating topics like meaning and purpose, and producing widely cited research on the impact of loneliness in the workplace. For BetterUp Labs, planned future research will include investigations into what separates flourishing employees from others, what best practices support the most productive corporate cultures, and how individuals and corporations can better plan for the future. Through this research, BetterUp Labs will provide companies and employees with the scientific findings they need to drive human transformation.
“The world of work has changed,” says Alexi Robichaux, Co-Founder and CEO of BetterUp. “Leading companies are eager to transform to better align their strategy and culture with the changing talent landscape, but they want proven approaches that drive business outcomes. BetterUp Labs will help companies worldwide link purpose and performance, producing actionable techniques and playbooks that promote human flourishing and drive business results at the same time.”
Headed by BetterUp Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman, a Harvard-trained physician and behavioral science researcher, BetterUp Labs will also break down barriers between business and academia. Such barriers have hindered meaningful progress on long standing industry issues, including widespread employee disengagement and stagnating productivity growth.
Professor Martin E.P. Seligman, the founder of positive psychology and author of the best-selling book, “Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being,” is joining the Science Board at BetterUp Labs. He will help BetterUp Labs in designing cutting edge research programs about flourishing at work. These will be done in collaboration with the world’s leading research scientists and with the world’s leading academic institutions.
“The science of human flourishing has now emerged from childhood into adolescence,” said Professor Seligman. “There are enormously promising scientific findings on how to measure and build deep mental health, a sense of mattering, of life satisfaction, and of an optimal balance of work and family. These new findings call for new collaborations between academia and corporations and it is my privilege to work with BetterUp Labs to sponsor such work. Our joint aim is to design the workplace of the future as the centerpiece of human flourishing.”
BetterUp Labs will be THE science backed institute to deliver accurate data and insights about the whole person, and knowledge and strategies to enable transformation while studying how it impacts both personal and organizational performance. It will also inform BetterUp’s integrated coaching methodologies to help workers develop the mindsets, skill-sets and behaviors to use work as a platform for personal fulfillment.
These topics and others will take center stage at the BetterUp Shift Conference in Philadelphia on October 23 – 24, 2018, where innovators will address the future of work, the employee experience, and the potential of the human spirit.
About BetterUp
Founded in 2013, BetterUp is a mobile-based leadership development platform used by Fortune 500 companies. With a holistic, science-backed methodology, BetterUp develops new behaviors and mindsets that enable high performance amid constant and accelerating change. Through on-demand, virtual coaching sessions, users practice and reinforce new behaviors and skills. Individual growth is measured and tracked. With a diverse range of customers, including LinkedIn, Genentech and Logitech, BetterUp inspires employees to build the skills to thrive personally and professionally. To learn more, visit www.betterup.co
