From Tech Mahindra launching a virtual yoga assistant to desktop yoga adopted by Markelytics Solutions, companies are promoting healthy lifestyle in a big way.
With employees working long hours and stress adding to their daily lives it’s time companies start embracing wellness programmes. On International Yoga Day, organisations have taken a step ahead in this direction. To address this peculiar challenge being faced by the growing IT workforce of today, the Wealth of Wellness (WoW) Team of Tech Mahindra—a group of TechMighty wellness enthusiasts—has developed a concept of ‘virtual yoga assistance’ to give prime importance to the health and well-being of associates. For Tech Mahindra, ‘Wellness before Business’ has been a mantra.
A few weeks away from the third International Yoga Day (IYD), the Pune WoW team worked with the team at Makers Lab, Tech Mahindra’s R&D arm, to make this long-desired application a reality. Called ‘Aasana’, the virtual yoga assistant was launched on 21 June, the International Day of Yoga. It will share automated Yoga reminders to enable stretching, while employees remain seated at their workstations.
Employees at American Express started their day by practising yoga at their workstations with a certified yoga specialist teaching them relaxing yoga postures.
Employees logged onto their systems will find Aasana popping-up at the lower right hand corner of the desktop. The application will greet the employees and guide them through yoga routines. Its various in-built yogic postures (asanas) will encourage the employees to perform them at regular intervals. Starting with Sukshamayoga and Chair Suryanamaskar, followed by stretching for cervical spondylitis and lower back pain, everything will be led by the bot. The bot will also help answer yoga-related queries and provide additional information about postures too. Also, there are guided meditation and health videos from certified trainers. It can even be customised as per individual requirements. WoW on mobile, featuring Aasana, can keep employees updated on sessions within the campus.
Today providers like Vantage Circle provide employers an easy and cost-effective manner to run their wellness programs with tools like Vantage Fit
Even Markelytics Solutions, a global Market Research agency, celebrated International Yoga Day by pledging Yoga in their daily routine through Desktop Yoga, a modern form of yoga for the office goer. The Company is supporting the Government’s initiative of adopting a physically active, healthy lifestyle by registering more than 200 pledges on the Ministry of Ayush’s website and by introducing desktop yoga as an absolute part of its daily nine to five schedule.
Aasana encourages the employees to perform Yoga at regular intervals. Starting with Sukshamayoga and Chair Suryanamaskar, followed by stretching for cervical spondylitis and lower back pain, everything will be led by the bot.
In order to achieve the desired results, Markelytics has collaborated with a certified yoga instructor for a week to educate employees on the benefits of yoga, the ideal postures, best practices in daily work routine for an ideal mind and body balance, and so on. All employees at Markelytics have been divided into groups, with each group being assigned a time slot of 15 minutes daily, for their desktop yoga practice under expert guidance. The idea is to get the staff habituated to desktop yoga and other best practices so that they can continue this improved lifestyle even at work.
Rachan K A, head of HR, Markelytics Solutions, shared, “Due to limited physical activity, these days a significant number of desk-bound workers are known to complain about being overstressed, overburdened or overworked most of the time. This makes holistic practices—such as yoga, which not only promotes our physical health but also helps improve our mental, as well as, emotional health— an essential in our fast-paced lives.”
Employees at American Express started their day by practising yoga at their workstations with a certified yoga specialist teaching them relaxing yoga postures.
All employees at Markelytics have been divided into groups, with each group being assigned a time slot of 15 minutes daily, for their desktop yoga practice under expert guidance.
Employees of Orient Electric kick-started the day with an energising yoga session by certified yoga guru, Pawan Mishra. He demonstrated various forms of yoga—at the Company’s newly-launched open space corporate office in Delhi— which can be performed during work hours to take care of many new-age lifestyle diseases.
Orient Electric’s open space office design is aimed at fostering a collaborative work culture, which makes way for more creative and productive exchange. The cafeteria in the new office building has a solar panel rooftop for generating green energy. The architecture and interiors ensure collaborative working and provide for space where employees can stretch out. The entire building is fitted with HVAC systems capable of filtering PM 2.5 pollutant matter and maintaining its level to the acceptable limits.