Wellbeing Can Be Strong Differentiator For Any Organisation, Only If Done Right: Lipika Verma, India & Pacific at Schneider Electric

'Changing Workforce Dynamics' is a critical concern across startups in India. As more millennials join the ecosystem, understanding and deciphering this new age workforce becomes not only critical but also imperative. Millennials think and work differently. Their value set is different and tying them in the organization is definitely a challenge faced by most startups. Most millennials are driven by purpose and value, a balanced professional & personal life. Without a doubt, when evaluating an organization to work for, millennials look for the 'Wellbeing Quotient' in an organization. But what exactly is 'Wellbeing' in an organizational context?

 The common interpretation of 'Wellbeing' in an organization is health and wellness of employees. But we all know that it is the need of the hour, to approach wellbeing holistically and extend its scope across Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Social sphere. Wellbeing is defined as 'The state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous '. In an organization context, wellbeing translates into happy, healthy and satisfied employees. The way Wellbeing is approached can turn out to be a strong differentiator for any organization. However, the tricky part is to instill wellbeing in the DNA of an organization.

Culturro's team was in conversation with Lipika Verma, Director Rewards - India & Pacific at Schneider Electric, an organization recognized as an employer of choice in addition to be recognized as an employer with the Best Health & Wellness Initiatives. Schneider very simply defines Wellbeing as "Being Healthy, Happy and make the most of your energy at work and at home".

Lipika is a huge proponent of wellbeing and says, "We strongly believe that Wellbeing creates performance and performance creates Wellbeing. This in turn ensures engaged and positive employees, and these work together to lead to the overall business growth of an organization. Our well-being program acknowledges this and firmly places our people at the heart of our business." This philosophy is further supported by below 5 pillars which is based on a solid foundation

1.    Health & Wellness - The objective is to facilitate an environment in office and at home that invites and inspires healthy behaviors, healthy lifestyles, and wellbeing

2.    Flexibility at Work - To enable work in flexible ways to adapt more to individuals' needs, for a better work-life integration and efficiency @work

3.    Workplace Environment - To improve employee experience at work which include safety, security, services, social events to connect & collaborate

4.    Leaders - To make leaders as role models and the primary drivers of well-being for their teams by inspiring, caring, supporting and investing in people's core needs.

5.    Organization Culture - ensuring building an organizational culture that really cares about the wellbeing of its employees, a culture of appreciation, a culture where employees feel proud to work at Schneider and give their best at all times and see Schneider as an org that cares about their well-being, about the planet and the society

Schneider has moved from just focusing on Health interventions to a more holistic approach to Wellbeing. It is important to understand the employee challenges at the grass root level and also take into consideration of the different needs of gen X,Y and Z. At Schneider, they ensure all the initiatives cater to holistic Wellbeing and are not just constrained to a surface level thus going deep into the organization and forming part of culture. This, thereby works for the different needs and pockets of the organization which is so vast and multi-dimensional.

Employees, through a 100-day crowd sourcing campaign co-created the Wellbeing offers at Schneider. This lead to empowerment and ownership at each level. The offers are well balanced between, Social, Mental, Emotional and Physical Well-Being. The breakthrough approach of involving employees along with leaders enhanced the shift in organization culture.

The best way to implement wellbeing programs in any organization is to build a strong community and create a network of wellbeing champions to ensure that the WB initiatives are further cascaded and implemented at all levels of the organization. This also leaves enough room for customization according to the location/cultural needs. This is augmented by an animation system that has communities, webinars, etc. bringing the message and clarity of Wellbeing to the larger employee base.

To drive engagement and empowerment, employees through a bottoms-up approach are creating a wave of cultural change in the organization by coming together and experimenting actions that enhance their wellbeing. Lipika also adds, "If you want your wellbeing initiatives to be successful they should be driven by employees. In fact, HR should just be the mediator and employees should feel empowered to create a strong community feeling in the organization".
 
However, instilling wellbeing in the DNA of an organization is a daunting task. The most common challenge is aligning leaders to the cause. Lipika advises, "It is very important that leaders walk the talk. So, if you want wellbeing to become an important part of your organization, leaders have to be onboard and need to embody wellbeing in every aspect".  Good way to achieve this is to make leaders accountable for wellbeing through WB trainings and awareness sessions. Manager sensitization workshops for wellbeing and evaluating leaders through wellbeing KPA are just some ways to achieve this.

Impact of wellbeing is multi-fold and can have a direct bearing on reducing the attrition in any organization. The right intent and contribution by everyone in an organization and at all levels can make it a strong differentiator.

Workplace Experience™ Ranking 2017 is a digital initiative conceptualized by Culturro and co-branded with BW BusinessWorld. This is first of its kind initiative for the startup ecosystem in India to promote and recognize startups who create the best experiences for their employees.
To know more about the initiative and to participate, visit here