IWD – Q&A with Emma-Louise Fusari, In-House Health

To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March, we’ll be shining a spotlight on some of our own members making a difference in the creative, digital and tech industries. THIS FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS Emma-Louise Fusari, FOUNDER OF IN-HOUSE HEALTH.

In-House Health work with ambitious digital tech organisations, using a data-first approach to establish and eliminate the root cause of issues such as work-related stress and employee burnout.

How inclusive would you say your industry is?

Although there have been some improvements, there’s still a long way to go for women in the UK tech sector. Women make up 49% of the UK workforce yet only account for 19% of tech jobs. There’s also a disparity in senior leadership roles and in the boardroom, with women making up only 23% of tech directors; a statistic that sadly hasn’t changed much since 2000 and that is lagging behind the 29% of the wider economy.

What changes or progression do you hope to see in your industry?

I’d like to see STEM subjects introduced to girls at an earlier stage and shown that a career in these sectors is possible. As a nurse of 20 years, I fell into the role of a tech founder. It was never on my radar and I think a lack of promotion and role modelling contributed to that. HealthTech startups are three times more likely to be founded by men, despite the fact that around 80% of healthcare professionals are women. The lack of investment for female founders needs to be addressed too, to ensure equity is achieved.

What or who inspired you to make the move into the tech industry?

As I said earlier, I fell into the role of a tech founder. In-House Health was born out of a drive to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for employees and business outcomes for organisations. In my nursing role, I was seeing people when it was too late when they’d already had a long-term condition diagnosed or suffered a mental health breakdown often due to stress at work. It was all very reactive and current workplace wellbeing initiatives are the same. Reactive, fluffy, unmeasured, not tackling any problems at the root cause. I want to change that, I believe that prevention is key to maximising potential for both people and businesses.

What projects are you currently working on?

I’ve just finished (well you’ve never finished) the MVP build of our M.E.T.A products/services. The first is the M.E.T.A Wellbeing Audit, this is the first step in assessing and benchmarking the quality and effectiveness of Workplace Health Promotion within an organisation so that they have demonstrable evidence that the initiatives they implement show tangible improvements in organisational outcomes, growth and increased bottom-line profits. The second is the M.E.T.A Programme®, a data-informed health and wellbeing programme that provides insightful data and actionable strategies so that organisations can identify current problems and prevent future risks to reduce the risk of burnout and maintain a high-performance culture and create a positive impact on innovation and growth. We’re just about to start our early adopter programme, which is exciting.

What’s your ultimate career goal?

The aim is to transform workplace health and wellbeing in the digital tech sector and beyond (try not saying that in a Buzz Lightyear voice).

What’s your proudest achievement to date?

It’s got to be winning a TalkTalk NW Women in Tech Award. I won the Tech for Good category. To be recognised for my achievements so far and for the judges to see my vision and mission is incredible.

What does being part of a social community mean to you?

Being a founder is difficult on many levels. To have a community that can support you in many different ways is so valuable. I also like to support others too, especially when it comes to their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and I’m looking forward to playing my part in the community.

To find out more about In-House Health, visit https://inhousehealth.co.uk/