From the time when employees were considered expendable and terms like ‘revolving doors’, and ‘hire & fire’ did the rounds, the world of HR has come a long way. Today’s HR has evolved into a tech-driven ecosystem where the best talent is sought, hired, and nurtured. Today, organizations are focusing to create an environment where employees can meaningfully contribute and become the best versions of themselves.
As HR shifted from personnel management to people management, focus on holistic well-being has moved from ‘good to have’ to ‘must have’.
According to World Health Organization, more than half the world’s population is currently working and 15% of working-age adults live with a mental disorder. Without effective support, mental disorders and other mental health conditions can affect a person’s confidence & identity at work, and capacity to work productively. Twelve billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety alone. Hence, focus on employee well-being is undoubtedly critical —one that organizations can’t afford to ignore!
At Tech Mahindra, back in 2017, we actively initiated conversations around the need to ensure wellness at the workplace. We took a conscious decision to move the needle from wellness of business to wellness before business. This idea encapsulated not just the physical but mental, emotional, and financial well-being of associates as well. Accordingly, new offerings to implement them were curated with care.
During the pandemic, our belief of “Wellness before Business” was put to test, and we asked all our people managers to first ensure the wellbeing and safety of employees and subsequently maintain business continuity for clients and partner ecosystem.
#WellnessFirst initiatives for a happier, healthier, and more productive workforce
We launched our ‘Wealth of Wellness’ (WoW) program to ensure preventive, personalized, and proactive holistic wellness across all 8 dimensions of wellness - physical, emotional, financial, occupational, intellectual, social, spiritual, and environmental. In addition, we launched Mhealthy app, an AI and ML-based application to enable data-driven digital diagnostics that helped generate real-time reports. The solution seamlessly connected health providers with employees while tracking and monitoring their overall well-being. We also collaborated with leading hospitals to roll-out vaccination drives for safeguarding associates and their dependent family members. We were also amongst the first in the industry to appoint a ‘wellness officer’, to institutionalize holistic wellness of all associates, and to ensure access to medicine, hospitals, and other medical supplies.
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work” - Aristotle
We truly believe that organizations that focus on employee well-being and employee happiness are more productive. According to Harvard Business Review, a positive environment leads to dramatic benefits for employers, employees, and the bottom line.
As we march forward, it is critical for organizations as well as governments across the world to acknowledge that with the wealth of well-being, businesses around the globe can achieve better results and increase productive capacity which can in turn boost the economy.
Author: Harshvendra Soin, Global Chief People Officer & Head – Marketing, Tech Mahindra.