Steps Taken by Companies to Ensure Mental Wellbeing & Longevity of the Employees

Employee well-being is described as a set of characteristics that influence job quality, motivation, team composition, responsibilities, and associated outcomes. It is a level of balance in which the employees are offered with a work-setting that maximizes their feeling of well-being and contribution to the organization. Employees spend a significant percentage of their waking hours at work. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the employer to take steps to improve the health and welfare of the workforce. Although prioritizing employees’ mental health is important, the major outbreak of Covid 19 has proved that it is no longer an option; it is a vital necessity. As a result, more organizations are prioritizing employee health initiatives.

Workplace wellness has surged to the top of the company’s agenda in the last two years and is now a company-wide priority and goal for all business leaders, after formerly being seen as solely an HR responsibility. Many businesses prioritize health benefits when it comes to employee well-being. Following the pandemic, Organizations are now concentrating on the quality of life as a whole rather than only the employees’ health. The employees’ quality of life is now our primary precedence at Walkaroo Group.

The Most Effective Ways to Promote Employee Wellbeing in Your Organization

Start by seeing the employees in their shoes to boost employee well-being. Empathy is critical when it comes to meeting the needs of employees and ensuring their well-being. One has to remember that each employee is an individual with unique professional and personal challenges that may necessitate the use of different techniques to ensure their well-being.

The techniques listed below are those used by Walkaroo Group of Companies to assist our employees in overcoming such challenges while also improving employee well-being and retention.

Maintaining Emotional and Mental Health.

Emotional well-being is an essential component of overall health. Emotionally healthy people are in command of their thoughts and actions.  They can put problems into context and recover from setbacks. They are ones with self-confidence and have healthy relationships. With a flat organizational structure, we have fewer management levels, which promotes open communication and team coordination. We practice human-centric leadership, which entails being willing to maximize the potential of every employee in our organization. As a result, we tend to maintain rapport while focusing on individual and collective impact, growth, and innovation. Moreover, giving employees a chance to speak up and making them feel heard also helps them to reduce stress and remain calm.

Promoting Physical Fitness.

“Healthy Mind Breeds A Healthy Body.”  In today’s world, the burden of maintaining a healthy physique is becoming increasingly difficult. This is where we concentrate on the interplay of work and fitness. We organize various sports events such as football, volleyball, cricket and badminton tournaments, hold yoga classes, and offer recreational facilities such as a gym. We encourage sports events that also contribute to building physical fitness.

Offering Financial Benefits.

An employees’ personal financial security has a significant impact on their physical and mental wellbeing, which in turn affects their personal and professional performance. Being a people-oriented company, we maintain an open door so that our employees can contact us in the event of any financial emergency. We also ensure from our end that none of our employees are overlooked or excluded from receiving any type of financial assistance through our various programs, including medical insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, productivity-linked incentives, bonuses, paid leaves, loans and advances.

Socially Inclusive approach towards Human Resources.

The degree to which the contributions, presence, and viewpoints of other groups of individuals are appreciated and incorporated into a single setting is referred to as inclusion. We take into account the needs for inclusion across all organizational segments and roles. As a result, we distinguish ourselves as an Equitable Employer by respecting the individual requirements, viewpoints, and capabilities of each employee and providing them equal consideration in all types of duties, thereby enabling them to collaborate easily and comfortably.   The practice of celebrating even the cultural events with an active participation across employees help in fostering a deeper sense of bonding among all employees.  That apart, we also encourage our employees to get involved in various CSR activities that also help nurture within the team a responsible attitude towards society.

Easy Accessibility to Therapeutic Assistance.

“Our employees’ health is our prime responsibility”. No matter where they are – at home or at work – we take effort in ensuring that our employees may have access to therapeutic solutions. We have tie-ups with renowned hospitals, laboratories, and nursing and medical staff that help a long way in ensuring ready availability of medical support when needed..

We also make an effort to bring awareness among our employees by conducting frequent awareness sessions; and to find their disease burden and help them avail assistance through medical camps.  Our camps are many times open to external stakeholders as well which is quite a boon for people in rural areas.

Employee and Familial Engagements.

Engaged employees are more likely to show up to work, care about the success of their team, increase productivity, and build a stronger relationship network. Due to this fact, we carry out many fun-filled activities that include and lay down opportunities to captivate and energize all the employees. To name a few, we have Family Outing, Thrilling Thursday, Fun Friday, Service Anniversary Celebrations, Birthday Celebrations, Kaizen Appreciations, and many more rewards and recognitions.  Offlate, we have also devised programs that promote a family level engagement among our employees too and have been well received.

(The author is Mr. Binu Rajendran, Director, Walkaroo International Pvt. Ltd and the views expressed in this article are his own)