At Welspun, the conversation around employee wellbeing has really picked up. Bidisha Banerjee, chief – talent, culture & employer branding, Welspun, for the last one year, says that the Company’s focus has been to build a culture of employee wellbeing. As a result, the mental and physical health of the employees at the firm is at the core of the Company’s culture. It was last year that the conversation around employee wellbeing started to take some heat at Welspun, as the whole world was fighting against COVID-19.
On June 2, 2021, Welspun has taken a healthy step towards building a culture of safety and employee wellbeing by launching a wellness mobile app. The Company has collaborated with another wellness and tech partner to make this possible.
As mentioned earlier, when Welspun undertook the mission of transforming the culture, it started with the process of analysing the problems and difficulties the employees were facing during these challenging times. The Company found that in every region of the country, employees were mentally exhausted and hardly paying attention to their physical fitness.
“When the focus is on building a culture, mere introduction of something like a wellness app will not suffice. We now want to build wellbeing icons or leaders within the organisation, especially from the senior leadership ranks, so that the message of living a healthy lifestyle cascades down to each and every employee.”
Bidisha Banerjee, chief – talent, culture & employer branding, Welspun
After collecting all the data and identifying the problems related to their employee’s health, Welspun decided to launch this wellness app under their employee assistance programme. With the introduction of this app, the Company is now hoping to tackle employee wellbeing issues more holistically.
All employees at Welspun have access to this app, which comes with useful features.
Some features the wellness app offers to Welspun employees
The Company claims that through this app, problems related to the mental wellbeing of employees can be addressed. Problems caused by grief and loss, workplace issues and challenges, relationship and family matters, personal development, bullying and harassment and stress can be solved through this wellness app.
Employees can also book yoga, meditation and zumba classes at their own time through the app to maintain physical fitness.
There is provision for employees to consult a dietitian about healthy eating habits.
The app has an ‘India fights corona’ tab, where employees can book vaccination slots and order COVID – 19 care packages. Under this tab, employees can also book a COVID-19 RTPCR test where medical technicians will visit their homes and the report will be given via mail.
If required, employees have the option to get in touch with doctors and medical experts for COVID-related information.
The app allows employees to order medicines and healthcare products, such as home vaccinations, wearables, fitness bands, healthcare monitoring devices, ayurveda and homeopathic medicines, women’s care products, nutritional drinks, diabetes care products, nebulisers, vaporisers, heating aids, protein supplements, health drinks, sanitisers and hand washes.
Additionally, employees can access guides, reports and knowledge circles through the wellness app and take part in ongoing wellness challenges.
Banerjee informs that most of the services offered on the app can be availed by the employees free of cost. For instance, if an employee wants to book a counselling session with a psychologist, it is available for free and also extended to three of employee’s family members.
The app facilitates tracking of some essential information and data, including:
• Number of steps taken
• Calorie tracker
• Water intake
• Calories burnt tracker
• Sleeping time
• Habit tracker
• Body weight
• Mindful minutes tracker
The wellness app helps an employee in health-risk assessment by answering certain questions and providing a full report at the end of the questionnaire. Also, employees will be able to set wellness goals for themselves through the app. These goals can vary from managing health disorders, weight, healthy eating, managing emotional wellbeing and boosting immunity.
Banerjee rightly points out that when the focus is on building a culture, mere introduction of something like a wellness app will not suffice. The Company wants to build wellbeing icons or leaders within the organisation, especially from the senior leadership ranks, so that the message of living a healthy lifestyle cascades down to each and every employee.
As the Company has various sets of employees working in their corporate offices and shop floor as well, the wellness app will be more meaningful and appealing to white-collared employees rather than the blue-collared ones working in the Company. However, Banerjee reveals that there is equal access to the app for every member of the Welspun staff.
According to Banerjee, the app has been well received. “We have received ‘thank you’ notes and messages filled with gratitude from our employees after the launch of the wellness app,” shares Banerjee with HRKatha.
She also tells HRKatha that there will be many other such initiatives in the future, which will help Welspun build a wellness culture within the organisation.