“We know exactly when we need to recharge our mobile battery, but we don’t know when our own batteries are down,” said a participant at Thrive Global’s Masterclass for CEOs and CMOs in Gurugram. Thrive Global, the brainchild of Arianna Huffington, helps companies prioritise well-being, thereby upping productivity and the bottomline. The thought resonated with most participants at the workshop, who echoed that stress and burnout were almost a norm in today’s workplace. “Recovery can’t be chocolate cake at night,” reiterates the trainer at the session, Joey Hubbard.
Last month, the University of Pennsylvania appointed its first Chief Wellness Officer, Dr Benoit Dube, an associate professor of Clinical Psychiatry. The job description said the person would undertake “initiatives that promote the physical, psychological, emotional, intellectual, and social well-being” of Penn’s student population. Meanwhile, at Stanford Medicine WellMD Center, there is a week-long Chief Wellness Officer course, meant for “wellness leaders”.
We have finally realised that the HR department’s episodic or reactive measures aren’t going to work in the long run. The odd yoga session at work is not a fix for long-term stress that’s almost baked into our work systems. And that it’s hard to change poor lifestyle habits when people’s jobs involve sitting for a large part of the day. “The corporate structure is not built for care; it’s difficult to scale. But that’s exactly what human beings need,” says Sairee Chahal, founder-CEO, Sheroes, Delhi. “Care is not going to happen because it’s on HR’s list.”
In fact, that is how it will be different from an HR role, because it’s not just about looking at human resources, but also about company culture and infrastructure. Where a Chief Medical Officer is a doctor who primarily looks at curative measures, diagnosis and treatment, a CWO will be focussed on preventive measures, says Dr Arun Chaudhary, CMO at Maruti Suzuki India. He says that things are already going the wellness way, even in his own organisation, where food at the canteen is customised for those with special dietary needs. How then will the post of a Chief Wellness Officer evolve, and what is the environment she will bring to the office? We asked people who work across industries.
The CWO will be a facilitator of radical change
“The design of the company, the language used, what is valued, all this will be a part of the agenda,” says Sairee. And the change is usually driven by the CEO. At her own company, she says, “We’ve done away with Monday meetings, changing them to a once-a-month reflection, where we sit on the floor and have chai . The idea is to diffuse built-up stress, and see ourselves as a community.” Sairee’s company has also put in place corporate counselling helplines.
“Empathy is our core value, because you can’t pour from an empty cup,” she says. Health ‘coverage’ is not restricted to a top-up plan on insurance. “There’s 100% OPD coverage and both sets of parents are covered, and at any given point, about 30% of the staff is on a remote working arrangement,” she says. “Living in cities is a perennial challenge, and teams should be cushioned; they should feel supported.” By extension, the CWO will not be a ‘support’ function, but will be key to how operations are managed, businesses are run, not limited to a smoking cessation programme or a group walking challenge, or even putting in a gym. She will look deeper. She may, for instance, find that many in the organisation have a lower-back problem, from sitting too many hours, and so look at how to minimise that.
So while the CWO may or may not be a doctor, the key is for the person to have the ability and experience to work with large teams and run large-scale programmes. She should have worked at a senior management level and have the passion for health, living the life herself, says Vijayalakshmi S, a life coach in Chennai.
The individual’s health will be linked with the company’s
It’s quite clear that the CWO’s role can come into being only if it has the board’s approval and their conviction that it can be held accountable. At one level, boards will examine whether employee well-being endeavours genuinely reduce cost burden and increase productivity. “The role will have a P&L (profit and loss) responsibility, linked to certain KPIs (key performance indicators),” says Vijay Raaghavan, Associate Director – Management Consulting, Healthcare, PwC, Bengaluru.
“As Indians, we’re very data-centric and analytical; we like seeing logic,” says Dr Marcus Ranney, who heads Thrive Global’s India operations. “Not sleeping seven hours a day leads to a 29% drop in productivity, for instance.” He talks about certain specific RoIs that companies look at, that can be improved by better employee well-being. “JP Morgan wanted to look at millennial retention, Safaricom wanted to look at road traffic accidents, Hilton wanted to look at the enhancement of revenues per room by night, and we put employees through the programme, and people got better service,” he says. “Adoption will increase because leadership is mission-driven.”
At another level, they will also see it as risk mitigation — the prevention of an untoward incident. No one wants an employee collapsing under stress. On a more positive note though, companies will see what they put into well-being as an investment, rather than expenditure, with long-term goals in mind.
“Look at the three stakeholders: the provider of mind-body-soul services, senior leadership, the employee who will benefit. Just as life insurance has a top-up scheme, the CWO can bring programmes into the company with a base offering, and see how many are pushing top-up packages. “It becomes a way of the CWO saying, ‘We are not only delivering, but employees think it is worth spending on’,” says Vijay. This care may become the second-most important reason for people choosing it, attracting better talent. There’s likely to be less absenteeism, higher retention.
Wellness will be redefined
Wellness is seen in terms of comprehensive well-being. Thrive Global has ‘nine pathways to thrive’, including well-being, wisdom, connection, purpose, recharge, productivity, resilience, innovation.
The welfare officer was a common portfolio during the 1920s and 30s, when industry was being set up in India, says Pankaj Bansal, Co-founder-CEO, PeopleStrong, Delhi. “He was at the forefront of basic safety and amenities, like lighting or leave. It was a proactive role that helped both individuals and the company.” Pankaj says that the role of the CWO will help align the person with the work they do, so they see it as an extension of themselves and their values.
Pankaj hopes to see an office connected via technology to form communities. So there may be a space for a group of employees to cook together. Or another may cycle to work together.
Communication plays a huge role, whether to the board, about looking at it as an investment, or to employees. “They need to be given the comfort that this is not short-term, that it is holistic, and exactly how it will work for the individual,” says Praful Akali, Founder-MD, Medulla Communications. The CWO then is the caretaker of the company’s health.
