What companies do around health benefits for their employees?

With a mission to spread awareness about health and well-being, the first-ever World Health Day was observed in 1948 by the WHO. Since that day, 7th April is observed as the World Health Day every year. World Health Day can also be a time to look at how we can help improve the world in a more holistic way. 

Healthcare benefits are the No. 2 benefit U.S. employees rated as “very important to their job satisfaction” (62%), according to a recent study from the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). Providing health care benefits is one of the most powerful attractions and retention factors on the planet. Nowadays companies consider its employees’ health as a top priority. Workplace health and well-being programs not only have a positive impact on your employees’ wellness, they can also lead to a significant increase in your team’s engagement, cohesiveness, and overall productivity. 

According to Shraddhanjali Rao, Head of Human Resources, SAP India said, “Healthy, thriving employees are key to creating sustainable, profitable organizations. At SAP, helping the world run better and improving people’s lives has been our consistent mission. An extension of this is our employees and customers being at the core of the business. Creating an agile and flexible workforce has been an important pillar of our people strategy.” 

“As workforce is becoming more diverse and negligence of health a real concern, it has become crucial for the organizations to design wellness programs that engage employees across ages. Acer is one the few companies who started undertaking such initiatives for employee wellbeing in the beginning. At Acer office, we have a well-equipped exercise and wellness types of equipment, along with this we also conduct fortnightly heath camps in the office where employees can enroll and we keep regular track of their health. We believe that employees’ health is the most important aspect of overall wellbeing, thus it is equally important to motivate and support them to stay fit.” said, Bhasker Bhandary, Senior Director – Human Resource, Acer India

“The 24X7 digital world puts a lot of pressure on people, sometimes making it hard to balance personal and professional needs. A large part of our teams’ days is spent at a desk, and commuting across all cities adds to the stress. We recognize this and have put in place a comprehensive program to ensure that our people remain energised and can bring the best of their whole self to work. The program looks at the four dimensions of Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul. Our investments here spans training, workshops, and policies. An employee assistance program focuses on mental health, we offer healthy food in our cafeterias, and have unique initiatives such as the Digital Health Wallet - a 24X7 service which helps employees identify and manage risks via ongoing health assessments and advice, and digitizing medical records,” shared Rohit Thakur, Managing Director and Lead, Human Resources, Accenture, India.

“At Fujitsu, we value the importance of our people and firmly believe that ‘Healthy employees are productive employees’. In order to implement this and promote a positive health culture, we have undertaken a couple of initiatives for our employees. The Well-being program is one of the key initiatives that look at all aspects of employee well-being. Under this initiative, we conduct frequent check-ups along with regular sessions by expert doctors from reputed hospitals at all our locations. Recently, we organized a Wellness Week with a focus on activities such as CHAIR YOGA, and ZUMBA. Also, for now, two years in a row we have organized an activity titled the ‘The Global Challenge’ wherein employees are given pedometers to achieve at least 10,000 steps every day within a stipulated time frame. We have received an overwhelming response from our employees, which has resulted in weight loss followed by a decrease in stress levels thus resulting in the team working in a more focused and productive manner. Initiatives like these make a big difference and ultimately prove that employees’ well-being is our priority. We want our employees to be healthy and happy and we will continue doing our best to support them. Our aim is to enable each individual to feel more resilient and cope successfully with both their personal and professional life. It is important for every organization to encourage healthy living because the employees are the key pillars of our organization.” added Sumit Sabharwal, Head of Human Resource, Fujitsu India.

A Spokesperson from Microsoft shared that “With more than 8000 employees (45% of the population being millennials) in various profiles spread across 15+ locations, Microsoft strongly believes that health and wellness related investments are meant for long-term benefits in terms of employee satisfaction and an overall healthy & productive workforce. Hence the employee wellness benefits at Microsoft, are an amalgam of thoughtfully crafted practices around flexible work arrangements, time off, wellness programs and other benefits. Microsoft’s Employee Health and Wellness Hub - Live Well 365, integrates health and fitness policies and well-being programs that have been created keeping in mind the demands of employees. The objective of this program is to influence and change employee behaviors so that they proactively start focusing on their well-being. The Live Well365 program aims to systematically change the culture by moving from being event-based to a comprehensive long-term plan and follows a multi-pronged approach to motivate employees to proactively become a part of the program.”

Gopinath Pullaihgari, General Manager- Human Resources, Verizon India shared, “At Verizon, employee health is accorded utmost priority and is thought of as holistic wellness of each member of our employee community. We have a series of measures aimed at keeping our employees healthy in body, mind, and spirit. From employee committees overseeing the food quality in our cafeteria to a 6-week long annual sports fest, the activities we have ranged from themed short-term programs to round the year attention paid to health and well-being. Our annual Wellness Week includes health check-ups, awareness sessions from health experts, meditation, Yoga, Zumba and initiation into a healthy food menu for lunch and snacks.Our employees can also avail financial benefits through our tie-ups with hospitals for multiple health check-ups. All our office buildings have an in-house gym that is run in a tie-up with professional establishments and recreation zones for employees to take a break playing a game or two of some indoor sport.A robust Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offers counseling and solutions to those who are facing a personal, financial, legal or work-related issue in an atmosphere ensuring total privacy. The services are available to employees as well as their immediate family members free of cost. To top it all, we have a comprehensive group medical insurance extended to employees, their family and parents.”

Millennial expect a workplace that treats them well as a person and as an employee. Therefore companies who have put creative, unusual, or extensive workplace wellness programs into practice and reaped real rewards as a result.