We’re on a mission to build mentally healthy workplaces
Helder enables leaders and practitioners to take a preventative approach to improving workplace culture and employee wellbeing - reducing burnout, enhancing performance and helping to retain talent.
Culture speaks in signals
Identifying and acting on cultural signals leads to safety, and safety leads to improved performance.
Deep preventative insights
Helder provides insight not just about what the issues are, but also, why it is happening and how to address it.
The research
behind Helder
Our founding partner, Dr Emma Clarke, conducted PhD research using surveys and interviews with an extensive group of leaders, employees, and former employees of professional services firms. From these insights, she developed The Three-Factor Model of Psychological Safety™ which helps to:
- identify barriers and blind spots
- understand leader behaviours that influence psychological safety, and
- assess the availability and access to resources which help employees cope in high-stress working environments.
High psychological safety exists in high performing teams like Google, Pixar Animations, Team Emirates NZ and Navy Seals.
Low psychological safety was identified as a major contributor in high-profile failures at Boeing, Volkswagen, Uber, PWC Australia, ACC NZ, and the UK’s NHS.
Podcast
Legal off the Leash
Emma speaks with Legal off the Leash in the UK about her research findings, the three-factor model™ and the Helder platform
Meet the team
Emma Clarke
Co-founder | Psychologist NIP®
More about Emma
Emma is a New Zealander living and working in Amsterdam with her husband and co-founder Andy. Emma has worked across a wide range of industries and professions across multiple countries. Early in her career, she worked in marketing roles for BNP Paribas in London, Belkin in Amsterdam, Macmillan Publishers and Microsoft New Zealand, before establishing two marketing agencies.
After 20+ years working as a marketing consultant across the industry spectrum, Emma completed a PhD in Industrial and Organisational Psychology at University of Canterbury.
Emma combines her consulting expertise with critical thinking and data analysis skills, to drive actionable insights for positive change. Emma is a member of the Netherlands Institute of Psychology (NIP) and the European Association of Work and Organisational Psychology (EAWOP).
Andy Hamilton
Co-founder
More about Andy
Andy is a commercially focused change & delivery leader, with broad business and FinTech change experience in New Zealand, the UK and The Netherlands.
Andy brings energy and drive to his work, building strong working relationships with key stakeholders at all levels. Andy excels at bringing the right people together to make key decisions.
Andy classifies himself as a generalist - able to apply proven delivery capability, while embracing intellectual challenges. Andy believes that AI will transform our lives and the way we work by automating the mundane, increasing productivity and efficiency.
Matthew Polson
CTO
More about Matthew
Matthew is a data & AI strategist with extensive international experience across a broad range of industries. An architect at heart, Matthew has spent the last few years developing and implementing successful organisational strategies around analytics and AI.
Matthew's career includes extended stints in Melbourne, London and Stockholm. He moved home to New Zealand in 2018 to join Datacom as CTO of Data & Analytics, before founding his company Visualized in 2024.
While data tech has continuously evolved, Matthew sees the technological and cultural shift brought about by AI as unprecedented, creating immense opportunity for those ready to embrace it.