Stories help encapsulate the best of our journeys and help remind us of the challenges we overcame. When it comes to wellness stories, the journey companies have embarked upon in the past few years has been pivotal in maintaining performance and productivity. While the past few years have been full of ups and downs, they have shifted in how companies have addressed employee well-being concerns and have paved the way for better engagement and healthcare solutions. 

That is what we want to know as part of our Buddies of Wellness: The Wellness Hero Recognition Program. A People Matters and MediBuddy initiative, the recognition program aims to identify and recognise companies that have pushed the envelope in employee wellness and create sustainable impact through their holistic approach to wellness. We are looking for stories showing how companies have stepped up the challenge and provided their employees with impactful healthcare and wellness solutions. 

Looking back and chronicling the journey, one will see how the focus has shifted from addressing physical needs to taking a holistic approach. Dimensions of wellness today include emotional, financial, and social aspects of an employee's life. In a time when remote work was on the rise, companies are taking significant steps to improve their employees' overall health and well-being by helping them develop healthier lifestyles and providing them with tools to fight mental health issues, burnout, and digital exhaustion. 

Companies have also sought to develop impactful wellness programs to address the growing concern of employee turnover. Across the globe, burnt out workers are quitting, changing jobs, or are disengaged. It was this way before the pandemic, but Covid-19 considerably exacerbated the situation with the turn of the decade. But some have remained impervious to this shift, while others have been able to attract new employees and retain talented individuals. A similar sentiment was echoed by the recently released People Matters and MediBuddy Wellness 360 research study. Over 78% of companies stated employee engagement as the top priority for their wellness programs. 

Yet while part of the post-pandemic corporate wellness story dealt with pressing and emerging concerns, other portions are poised to be devoted to how companies hoped to translate efforts into sustainable change.

"Efforts to prioritise wellness cannot be a one-off activity," noted Mayukh Maiti, Executive Vice President (HR), Tata Capital, who spoke to People Matters as part of the Wellness 360 Research Study. "Companies have to work constantly towards creating awareness and behavioural shifts to make their wellness programs a success," he added. Companies seeking to shift the marker on employee wellness genuinely need to know it is about the more significant cultural shift in how companies approach health. 

A recent Aon report on employee wellness stated that a "culture of well-being is not an 'initiative', but a permanent change in how work is conducted." This rings true for HR leaders across the board who today look at wellness programs as a way to create long-term shifts. For many, it also proves to be a vital way of assessing how impactful wellness programs have been. "Companies need to remember that wellness is a journey," noted Sayan Bandyopadhyay, AVP-HR, HDFC Life, as part of the Wellness 360 Research Study. "While certain indicators like retention and engagement scores prove valuable metrics, companies need to be in it for the long run."

With a growing focus on enabling employees to take better care of themselves and ensure they are engaged with their work, the Wellness 360 research study noted that over 70% of companies today have dedicated employee wellness strategies. Additionally, over 45% of companies had built a structured body overseeing the proper execution of the wellness strategy.  

With such a rise in wellness efforts, we must pause and look back and assess how our wellness initiatives have turned into stories of impact and change. With the Buddies of Wellness: The Wellness Hero Recognition Program, People Matters and Medibuddy are creating one of its kind and India's first wellness recognition program. To know more about your story and understand how you brought about a measurable impact on your organisation's overall health, we welcome you to fill out our form and send us your nominations. 

For more details, head over to our nomination form.