Teachers in the United States are notoriously time-poor. They work an average of 53 hours a week, compared with 46 hours for other professionals, according to a 2023 nationally representative survey. RAND Corp. K-12 Public School Teachers
According to 2022 data, they spend 200 more hours at work each year than their fellow teachers around the world. From the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). And of the more than 1,800 K-12 educators surveyed by EdWeek Research Center last December, 86% said they were considering a career change, with about half citing “workload” as the reason.
Long, demanding work hours and little flexibility in when to take time off during the school year leave teachers with little time to do even some of the basic things that are important to their personal health and wellness, such as maintaining a daily exercise routine. Or, getting an annual doctor's checkup and preventative checkup.
But some schools are trying to ease this burden in creative ways, and not only during National Teacher Appreciation Week, May 6-10 this year.
The Lovett School, an independent K-12 coeducational school located in Atlanta, is working to get ahead of the cumulative impact of stress on its teachers by offering employees several important benefits designed to save them time and keep them healthy. . And well-being is necessary. Funding for the benefit comes primarily from the school's general budget (rather than ESSER funds, grants, or other less permanent sources of revenue), which represents the school's commitment.
Many public and private schools may scoff at the notion of paying for outside benefits out of their general budget or simply feel they cannot afford it financially. Or, you may feel that it is a lower budget priority than student-centered planning to improve reading and other academic skills.
Still, some estimate Unmanaged teacher stress, which negatively impacts personal health and educational performance, costs American schools billions of dollars each year. Viewed that way, the upfront cost of time-saving health and wellness employee benefits may be worth considering, experts say.
“We try to understand what benefits meet the needs of our employees,” said Chorlana Francis, the school’s director of human resources. “And we know that teachers try to manage their time once they get out of school for the day.”
Here's how Lovett gets employee input on benefits and some of the time-saving benefits for teachers it's implemented so far:
Teacher feedback drives decisions about benefits.
At Lovett, employee feedback guides many of our decisions regarding perks, especially health and wellness, beyond the typical medical, dental and vision benefits offered by employers. “We make decisions based on staff feedback, not on what other schools are doing,” Francis said. “Employees are constantly telling us not to change their benefits.”
Schools receive feedback in a few different ways. Administer engagement and wellness surveys. We also host benefit fairs on campus during school hours. This allows employees to learn more about current services offered, such as TextCare, a service that connects employees to health care providers via text message within five minutes for minor illnesses.
During these fairs, schools sometimes visit vendors to gauge employee interest in adopting new benefits. Recently, employees tested the services of Stretchlab, a one-on-one support stretch studio.
![The Lovett School in Atlanta offers on-site in-seat massage services to its employees.](https://epe.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5ad3880/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x1440+0+0/resize/223x335!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fepe-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Ffa%2F0f%2Fd6b97c814393a4226b03512855d3%2F051024-lovett-massage-bs.jpg)
Complimentary on-site massage and yoga zoom
The school also offers free on-site massage services to its employees. Given the popularity of the 15-minute massages, the school recently increased the frequency from quarterly to monthly. After class, free on-site wellness classes (including yoga and Pilates) help teachers worry less about when and how to incorporate exercise into their schedules.
Scheduling medical appointments poses an especially big challenge for teachers, whose work hours tend to be similar to those of many health care providers.
At Lovett, we take the stress out of scheduling these important services with twice-yearly on-site dental and mobile mammography clinics (hosted by companies that accept employee insurance plans).
“It’s really useful for people who don’t have to run to the dentist,” said Heidi Gray, who teaches ninth- and 11th-grade history at Lovett and has worked at the school for 23 years. “Educators have very specific needs related to convenience because of their schedules,” she said. And I think Lovett has a good grasp of what employees want.”