The 10 best performing corporate wellness companies 2018

™ www.insightssuccess.in MARCH 2018

The

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Editor’s Pick Wellness Program An Effective Tool for the Enhancement of Corporate Companies

B E S T

PERFORMING

CORPORATE

wellness Trending Now

COMPANIES

Redefining Corporate Wellness Trends for a Lively Future

Sreejith Nadukkandy Founder & CMD

® ‘Say No to Lifestyle Diseases’ with prognostic based Sustainable Preventive Healthcare Solution

YOUR RECOVERY IS ALL THE REWARD WE NEED www.sanchetihospital.org

Editorial

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mployee wellness programs have become increasingly popular and are being adopted by many companies because of the employer and employee benefits. These corporate wellness programs are a set of organized activities and systematic interventions. The primary purpose is to provide health education, identify modifiable health risks, influence health behavior changes and facilitate a happy life at workplace and beyond. These programs provide constant and deliberate effort to stay healthy and achieve the highest potential for total wellbeing. Employers benefit with reduced tangible cost in the area of healthcare, disability, absenteeism, worker’s compensation and productivity while employees benefit by learning how to lead a healthy lifestyle, be safe at work and maintaining a balanced life.

Corporate Wellness Programs Assisting People in Adopting Positive Behaviors to Lead Healthier Lifestyles

In today’s dynamic business environment, organizations are concerned with gaining competitive advantage and increasing positive organizational outcomes.

Employees are more likely to be attracted to, remain with, and value a business that appreciates them. With the growing popularity of wellness, coupled with the rise in health issues and costs, companies are investing more time and money today in corporate wellness programs and understand the importance of preventative health for employees over the long term.

The goal of a wellness program is to assist people in adopting positive behaviors to lead healthier lifestyles and integrate social, mental, emotional, spiritual and physical wellness. Such programs include physical and lifestyle assessments, health education, activities that enhance behavioral change and methods to chart individual progress. Many of today’s major health problems are related to lifestyle and these ailments are preventable or minimized by developing positive health habits. Health education reaches people about lifestyle choices that positively impact wellbeing. These choices relate to physical activity, nutrition, weight management, stress management, smoking cessation and screenings as well as chronic disease management for those living with conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

The decision to implement the program is consistent with arguments that improve competitiveness and requires increased investment in human capital. Spurred by promising research results, wellness programs are becoming an important element of human resource management strategies designed to attract, retain, and motivate high quality employees thus, may be a strategic advantage firms can exploit. Worksite health promotion presents a positive orientation toward health by empowering individuals. Its orientation is promotive and preventative rather than restorative and rehabilitative and provides a general strategy aimed at all potential beneficiaries, not only those with problems.

This makes participation in wellness easy for employees; participants may be seen as self-actualizing and exemplary. The ideology of health promotion suggests that people are responsible for their health that they are or ought to be able to do something about it. This may convey a sense of urgency to people’s relation with health, by seeing it as something over which individuals can have some personal control. Positive experience with these kinds of activities can be empowering and fill employees with a sense that they are able to effect changes in their lives. Hence, adoption of employee wellness programs is an investment in a corporation’s most important asset as workers are more likely to come to work and perform well when they are in optimal physical and psychological health.

Shweta Priyadarshini Shweta Priyadarshini

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Shraddha Deshpande Managing Editor

Shweta Priyadarshini

Co-Editors Sachin Bhandare Poulami Das Art & Design Director Amol Kamble Co-designer Sapana Shinde Picture Editor Alex Noel Art Editor Aparna, Priyanka Visualiser Shweta Shinde Business Development Manager Akansha Garewal Marketing Manager Dhruv Apte Business Development Executives Tejaswini, Ashwini, Meera Research Analyst David Circulation Manager Vivek Database Management Prashant Technology Consultant Swapnil Patil sales@insightssuccess.com

March, 2018 Corporate Ofď€ ces: Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. th

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CONTENTS ‘Say No to Lifestyle Diseases’ with prognostic based Sustainable Preventive Healthcare Solution

OUTLOOK OF WELLNESS

corporate wellness - current scenario

CXO STANDPOINT

Mental and Emotional Wellness of Millennials: Myths & Realities

Trending Now

Editor’s pick

I N T E R V I E W

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Indus Health Plus: Improving Employee’s Morale and Productivity

by Preventive Health Checkup

Akshar Yoga : Reconnecting with Humanity through the Divine Art of Yoga

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TALWALKARS: Providing Expert Advice and Result-oriented Approach to Wellness

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True Elements : Driving a Healthy Lifestyle through Health Supplements

Gold’s Gym : Providing a Comprehensive Approach to the Health and Well-being of its Members

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Executing a Successful Workplace Wellness Program

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he current competitive corporate scenario does not allow companies the luxury of their employees performing poorly or being absent due to sickness and health issues caused by poor lifestyles. To avoid such situations, corporates are now following the trend of wellness at workplace and offering corporate health checkups. These health check-ups are in the form of preventive healthcare packages to employees and conducting various educative sessions to maintain good health. While some health promotion activities in the workplace tend to focus on a single illness or risk factor (e.g. prevention of heart disease) or on changing personal health practices and behaviors (e.g. smoking, diet), there is a growing appreciation that there are multiple determinants of workers' health.

Insights Success Magazine, we have introduced The 10 Best Performing Corporate Wellness Companies, in order to assist businesses to choose their right Corporate Wellness Companies. Assessing the scenario in versatile perceptions our magazine has brought into light the companies, who have flaunted some excellent Corporate Wellness Programs.

This examined list will lessen the search of organizations that have perfect Corporate Wellness Programs.

In this issue, we have specially featured Urjjaa Preventive Health Care Solutions as Cover Story. They are quite known for promoting innovative and technology driven sustainable preventive healthcare solutions which is scientifically designed and structured to ensure easy accessibility, affordability and scalability.

We have listed Akshar Power Yoga Academy which is known for creating clarity, discipline and transparency in life through yoga. HW Wellness Solutions Private Limited is focusing on healthier food and lifestyle through two platforms, Healthyworld.in and True-Elements.com. Gold’s Gym which is acknowledged for its unrivalled success in providing the finest equipment and fitness knowledge available to help its members achieve their individual potential. ABS Fitness Center which is involved in promoting fitness and wellness with ABS Fitness Clubs throughout India. 2mpower Health Management Services Pvt. Ltd. develops a fitness activity device and offers an easy-to-carry device that tracks the statistics of daily activities of the customer. Foods and Nutrition Clinic evaluates both objective and subjective data related to an individual’s food and nutrient intake, lifestyle, and medical history. WorkPlace Options is a company that provides emotional, physical, and practical support services to employees and their family members across the world. The Fuller Life is an employee health and engagement company offerings span health and wellness initiatives, sports calendars, corporate runs, performing arts and digital engagements.

Also, we have Interview with Insights Success with Indus Health Plus which has created special health check-up packages for prevention of diseases which ultimately improves the health infrastructure and Talwalkars, which is providing expert advice and result-oriented approach to wellness.

Our in-house editors have come up with some adroitly written articles such as Redefining Corporate Wellness Trends for a Lively Future and Wellness Program - An Effective Tool for the Enhancement of Corporate Companies.

Also, we have included articles of Mental and Emotional Wellness of Millennials: Myths & Realities, written by Archana Bisht, Founder 1to1Help.net. and Corporate Wellness – Current Scenario, written by Kavita Mathur, director of Wellness Associates.

So, flip through our magazine and explore interesting insights into the world of Corporate Wellness Programs.

Cover Story

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Sustainable Preventive Healthcare

‘Say No to Lifestyle Diseases’ with prognostic based Sustainable Preventive Healthcare Solution

Helping deliver impactful and measureable solution to a person’s proactive healthcare needs

Sreejith Nadukkandy Founder & CMD

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he notion of ‘managing one’s health’ or ‘staying healthy’ often translates to maintain a healthy diet and regular exercise, while going to the doctor is often associated with being sick. There is a growing consciousness about health related issues among people, giving a boost to preventive health checkups in hospitals. Annual health check-ups, which were largely the privilege of corporate executives, are now being sought after by the middle class as well. The Indian Healthcare industry is growing presently at close to 17% CAGR and is expected to be around 22 -23% in the near future. There has to be a focused shift from reactive intervention to proactive solutions and that’s where preventive healthcare sector has to play a critical role. This shift will not impact the industry growth negatively. While the hospital industry focuses only on ‘patient population’ Preventive Healthcare has the entire population as its target audience. Hence, in the long run, this will not only help the industry to grow at a faster pace but will also bring positive impact on the productivity of the population in the country.

Educate, Enable & Empower!“Enhancing Health Literacy is the primary key to a successful preventive care program”

In today’s rapidly changing society, life is getting more and more challenging each day. The lifestyle diseases are penetrating at an alarming pace coupled with the increase of the cost of medication and treatments. Apart from the ‘physical’ impact, the direct and indirect fiscal impacts arising out of such situations are also becoming a much bigger concern. This is apparently worse for the people of those countries where health insurance penetration is also very low. Urjjaa Preventive Health Care Solutions is the World’s first “Sustainable Preventive Healthcare Solution” built on a robust technology platform based on the proprietary “Proactive Health Prognosis” concept as against the conventional ‘Diagnostic Approach’. It conducts indepth analysis of one's lifestyle, behavioral and genetic aspects along with the medical/lab reports and helps identify and eradicate the potential lifestyle disease risks such as Heart attack, Diabetes Stroke, Kidney ailments and

Cancer, proactive advice in the right intervention process and helps to sustain the process using the unique and highly personalized engagement process ‘Personal Health Secretary Service’.

Urjjaa is committed to the noble mission of EDUCATE, ENABLE & EMPOWER one to lead a disease-free, healthy and happy life.

Committed to Excellence and a Contributor in HealthCare Sreejith Nadukkandy, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director is a Chartered Accountant by qualification who is more inclined towards a perspective of delivering highly innovative and creative solutions to profitably integrate business objectives with societal welfare aspects. Sreejith Nadukkandy has over 20 years of corporate and institutional experience at senior positions. He quit his job as National Vice President from HDFC Life, (one of India’s largest Life Insurance providers) to set up his dream venture – ‘IBSC India’ – A Socio-entrepreneurship research organization to promote innovations mainly in the field of ‘Healthcare & Social Security’.

According to Sreejith Nadukkandy “Being aware, being educated, having your core-health numbers at your fingertips and the will to sustain the recommended right proactive intervention process is the only solution to effectively tackle this crisis”.

Project “Urjjaa” was one of his key patent published innovations initiated with a clear focus to prevent Noncommunicable / Lifestyle diseases’, which is indisputably a major cause of concern of the world today. IBSC India Wellness Ltd was thus incorporated exclusively to promote this concept. Urjjaa is the first of its kind in the world to offer scientifically structured comprehensive & sustainable preventive healthcare solution enabled through a cloud based technology platform. The project is actively supported by the Kerala Government through its first seed fund equity program in the year 2015. A passionate researcher in the field of ‘Socio-Entrepreneurship’, Sreejith

has in his credit IPR for 3 of his major project innovations in the field of preventive healthcare, and social security systems.

Strategizing the Growth and Tackling the Challenges Preventive healthcare space is open to the entire population as opposed to hospital or treatment services. But even today, the solution is not an easy ‘pull’ product. Spending for “something which apparently doesn’t seem to be an immediate botheration” is still a major challenge for the average middle class customers. Hence, there is a need to build lot more awareness. This is possible only if more number of companies target preventive healthcare space.

Urjjaa’s solution is not competing with Labs or Clinics.

The solution is built with the capability to aggregate with various existing service providers. The organization is looking at complimenting their solution rather than posing as a potential competitor and provides equal opportunities to labs, hospitals, clinics and other paramedical services.

Moreover, Urjjaa has excellent strength in the core expertise and a focus on constant innovation both in product development as well as in service delivery, which will surely give Urjjaa a clear cutting edge in the industry.

Urjjaa believes in ‘impactful preventive healthcare’ and is clearly focused on delivering a highly sustainable and measureable preventive healthcare solution unlike the conventional process of ‘one time check-up’. Urjjaa has revolutionalised the way an organization has to look at the employees’ health as one of the most productive assets of the organization. Through the solution, Urjjaa has addressed major gaps in this segment which contribute to the ‘indifferent attitude’ of the employees and employers towards preventive healthcare. Preventive healthcare has to be driven on an educative process; Urjjaa imparts health literacy to the customers using their own health and lifestyle data. These analytics are presented in a manner that helps the customer understand the full implication to get personally committed to the action plan.

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Offering scientifically structured comprehensive & sustainable preventive healthcare solution enabled through a cloud based technology platform.

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Team Urjjaa with Dr.A Velumani, Chairman,Thyrocare

“We have excellent strength in our core expertise and focus on constant innovation both in product development as well as in service delivery” Unique Wellness Programs with Corporate Solutions and Service With the constant innovation and state of the art technology interface, Urjjaa has moved from a conventional HIGHcost, LOW-impact diagnostic approach to a LOW-cost, HIGH-impact prognostic approach and to help them live a healthy and happy life and thus become more productive and committed to the organization.

IBSC India Wellness Limited is a closely held public Limited company supported and co-invested by Government of Kerala through its industrial development arm- KSIDC. IBSC India Wellness Limited, with its most unique and proprietary concept – ‘Urjjaa –Sustainable Preventive Healthcare’ has set up a real new bench mark in the healthcare industry.

The most unique corporate solution, known as ‘Urjaa eCLMAP’ (Employee Comprehensive Lifestyle Monitoring & Health Audit Program) has been a major breakthrough for the Corporate and Institutional clients. The product worth has been hugely acknowledged by this sector. Ease of implementation, hassle-free process, zero to minimal productive time loss (Intervention happens at the office premises and through online portal), impactful sustenance process (through engaging personal health secretary to each customers) are some of the key differentiator of Urjjaa

e-Clamp which is making it the most preferred service provider of the segment.

Awards and Accolades Among the few accolades, Urjjaa has been recognized as ‘One of the most promising start-ups in Kerala’ by the Government of Kerala. Twin awards at the India Health & Wellness Summits & Awards, (IHWS), co-hosted by ‘Times Now’ for the titles “Preventive Healthcare Brand of the Year” and Best E-Health brand of the year in 2015.Urjaa has participated in the world’s largest start-up investor conference –“Collision” at Las Vegas, US, in the year 2015 these testimonies show the inherent strength of Urjjaa to become the unchallengeable global leader in its segment.

Futuristic Approach in Preventive HealthCare In the year 2018-19 Urjjaa will witness a lot more expansion for the project both vertically and horizontally.

The organization will be launching products in the Middle East countries starting with UAE, Oman and Bahrain in this period. At the product level, Urjjaa is in the process of launching specific proactive solution for Adolescence and also for Senior Citizens. Setting up of specialized Preventive Healthcare Centers across the length and breadth of the country is very much on the card and will have few pilot centers rolled out in the coming financial year.

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Management

Brief

Murtaza Beawerwala Director

2mpower Health Management Services Pvt. Ltd. develops a fitness activity device. The company offers an easy-to-carry device that tracks the statistics of daily activities of the customer.

Its device tracks various data, such as sleep hours, calories burnt, and distance travelled.

ABS Fitness Center absfitness.in

Abhimanyu Sable Founder MD & CEO

ABS Fitness Pvt Ltd. is an organization focused on promoting fitness and wellness with ABS Fitness Clubs throughout India.

The organization is educating, motivating and helping Indians reach their fitness goals.

Akshar Power Yoga Academy aksharyoga.com

Akshar Founder, Chairman & Course Director

Akshar Power Yoga Academy is known for creating clarity, discipline and transparency in life through yoga.

Foods and Nutrition Clinic foodsandnutrition.in

Silky Mahajan Director Nutrition Clinics

Foods and Nutrition Clinic evaluates both objective and subjective data related to an individual’s food and nutrient intake, lifestyle, and medical history. Once the data on an individual is collected and organized, assess and evaluate the nutritional status of that person.

Gold’s Gym GoldsGym.in

Jagdish K Valecha Co-founder & Chairman

Gold’s Gym is acknowledged for its unrivalled success in providing the finest equipment and fitness knowledge available to help its members achieve their individual potential.

HW Wellness Solutions Private Limited healthyworld.in

Puru Gupta CEO & Co-founder Sreejith Moolayil COO & Co-founder

HW WellnessSolution Private Limited offers a range of highquality snacks and natural supplements that are inspired by natural foods consumed by our ancestors and Healthy World is a marketplace and provides pure, potent and effective wellness products and services online at your fingertips.

The Fuller Life thefullerlife.com

Arvind Krishnan Founder & CEO

The Fuller Life is an employee health and engagement company offerings span health and wellness initiatives, sports calendars, corporate runs, performing arts and digital engagements. It manages the entire cycle of the program from ideation, communication, program management, operations and logistics to reporting and analytics and deploy these programs across India.

Urjjaa Preventive Health Care Solutions urjjaa.com

Sreejith Nadukkandy Founder, Chairman & Managing Director

Promoting innovative and technology driven sustainable preventive healthcare solutions which is scientifically designed and structured to ensure easy accessibility, affordability and scalability

Work & Wellness Corporate Health Services workandwellness.org

Rao Founder

Work & wellness is committed to quality service and high value return for our customers. The goal is to improve human efficiency; comfort and the quality of life in the workplace.

Workplace Options India Pvt Ltd workplaceoptions.com

C. Dean Debnam CEO

WorkPlace Options is a company that provides emotional, physical, and practical support services to employees and their family members across the world. Through clinical services, work-life support, and employee wellness programs.

Company Name 2mpower Health Management Services Pvt. Limited getactive.co

Indus Health Plus: Improving Employee’s Morale and Productivity by Preventive Health Checkup

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he healthcare industry is undergoing some enormous alterations across all segments like hospitals, diagnostics, pharmaceutical, medical equipment, preventive care, and insurance, thereby generating a huge chance of growth. Diseases these days are not limited to only the higher age groups; the younger age groups are also developing disease risk factors due to the changing environment and lifestyle. Indus Health Plus has created special health check-up packages for prevention of diseases which ultimately improves the health infrastructure.

In an interview with Insights Success, Kanchan Naikawadi, Founder of Indus Health Plus gave some insightful answers highlighting the influences made by her company to take wellness programs to a new level.

Kindly brief us about the company and what kind of wellness programs does the company provide to their employees/clients.

Indus Health Plus is the pioneer in the preventive healthcare sector and our motto is making quality healthcare Available, Accessible and Affordable, each and every day. We facilitate comprehensive preventive health checkups at affordable prices across nation through tie ups with stateof–the-art hospitals. Our network has reached pan India through our delivery partners who have helped us cater to the checkup needs and convenience of our clientele. Indus is consistent in spreading the word of timely checkup which

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not only saves an individual from asymptomatic diseases but effectively saves their families from mental and physical trauma, and financial distress. Indus drives the cause of prevention and is creating a successful framework for the government to effectively tackle the burden of noncommunicable diseases, and in turn help in reducing the future burden on India’s already weak health infrastructure.

Kanchan Naikawadi, Founder of Indus Health Plus says, “When I lost my father due to late detection of an advanced cancer, it struck me real hard that maybe we could have saved him if we got to know of it early. In spite of having all possible resources, we could not save him and I realized that technology, money, or for that matter even health insurance cannot help you stay away from the lethal grip of lifestyle diseases like cancers, heart attack and diabetes. That huge blow in my life impelled me to take a step further and create awareness in the society towards the path of prevention - a road less travelled.”

INDUS’ USPS 1.Delivery partners in 78 cities across 122 centers in 17 states 2.An outreach to more than 80 lakh people 3.6 lakh+satisfied families have availed our preventive health checkups countrywide 4.Tie-ups with state-of-the-art hospitals and diagnostic centers to ensure the best healthcare facilities for our clients 5.Comprehensively designed preventive health checkup

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packages, with exhaustive and high end deliverables 6.Felicitated with more than 30 national/international awards 1. Tell us something about the CEO/founder/MD of the company?

Ms Kanchan Naikawadi: Founder & Director-in-Charge Operations.She continuously tracks, revisits, improvises the existing processes, and guides the operations of the company. Kanchan has bagged several international and national prestigious industry awards like Women Leadership and Innovation Awards 2014, Stevie Award for Women in Business, 2013 & 2012 (New York), IWEC (International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge) Award, 2012, Asia’s Leading Women in Healthcare for Women In Leadership award and Leading Woman in Healthcare Award in 2011, to name a few.

effectively charted and mapped Indus’ journey and swiftly drove it not only pan India, but successfully steered it globally as well. Amol is the proud recipient of the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards 2009, an award dedicated to top achievers who believe in ‘making a difference’. He was also honoured by the Bharat Gaurav Award at National Unity and Industrial Growth Conference in 2009.

Parnal Dekhane: Joint Managing Director Parnal specializes in facts and figures. He is also a gifted orator who often vows his audience with his expertise on various subjects. He firmly believes in motivating and training the foundation (the employees) so as to build a strong superstructure (the organization). His vision is what has ensured Indus to be established as one of the most credible providers of preventive healthcare nationally with a highly-motivated foundation of employees.

Amol Naikawadi: Joint Managing Director A Chartered Accountant by profession, Amol has

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2.How has wellness programs proven to be an excellent device of change and life enhancement beginning right at work?

Diseases these days are not limited to only the higher age groups; the younger age groups are also developing disease risk factors due to the changing environment and lifestyle.

Keeping in mind the rising number of ailments caused due to the deranged lifestyle, we have created special health checkup packages for prevention of diseases. We have kept in mind the requirements and trends of the market and designed packages according to the needs of the users.

Considering the need of the hour, we have made customized test packages for pre-pregnancy, family, pre-marital, couples, and even adolescents. Many risk factors can be controlled, if detected early in life, lowering the risk of diseases later in life. That is why regular preventive screening so important for all age groups.

To add more value to this ever evolving industry, we are aiming to inform and educate the masses about the concept of prevention and wellness, and extensively working on creating acceptance of early diagnosis. Since a major part of the Indian population is youth, we are propagating the concept of being healthy and prevention of diseases at their workplaces. The HRs are making health of employees an important part of the organization culture. We have shaped up packages for corporates so that they can increase their productivity by investing in healthy employees. We have created an outreach of more than 80 lakh people through our packages and activities.

3.How do you work on your long-term relationship with your clients? Kindly brief us about the most satisfactory experience with a client.

For a business, it is important to see what the market is demanding. For us, our market is our customers and the delivery partners where the services would be made available. When Indus Health Plus was started in 2000, healthcare wasn’t as evolved as it is today. We had to brainstorm a lot to penetrate the market and mindsets. We started utilizing Sahayadri Hospital’s diagnostic facility at night due to low patient footfall at that time. We called it ‘happy hours’ and provided 50% discount on MRI and CT Scans. We have a record of 200 CT Angiography tests in a single day, at 48 centres, across 26 cities! We invested a lot of time in data analysis to show the requirement of preventive health checkups and the benefits of it to the doctors.We always think of what a customer needs, and what the delivery partner/partner hospital or diagnostic ™

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centre expects from us. At an early stage, we realized technology plays an integral part in the business. We have strong and integrated back-end processes, in-house Call Center and Electronic Health Record system that encompasses and leverages digital progress and can transform the way care is delivered and compensated. We also have ‘Live Doctor Chat’ to enable the availability of doctor’s consultation. We make the use of a mix of technology and human-touch to create a memorable experience for all our clients.

4.Share your point of view on the current scenario of the Industry and its future.

The healthcare industry is undergoing some enormous alterations across all segments like hospitals, diagnostics, pharmaceutical, medical equipment, preventive care, and insurance, thereby generating a huge chance of growth. The introduction of National Health Protection Scheme by the government has added more scope to this industry.

5.Kindly brief us about your strategies to tackle the competition in your sector. What steps are you taking to ensure that you continue to grow and develop?

As we have no direct competitors, we are taking our own time to develop methodologies to reach each and every one so that we can create awareness about prevention. Every person needs to be healthy and therefore go for preventive health checkup once a year. Instead of looking at monetary benefits, we are focusing on creating a culture of prevention amongst the society.

6.What can be expected from your company in the upcoming years?

In the next 3-5 years we want to facilitate the screening program to many more places, thereby reaching out on a macro level. With a focus on the high end preventive health checkups, we are always trying to adopt new technologies for early detection mechanism. We are concentrating on a geographical expansion in stages with a vision to service not just Tier II and Tier III cities but other smaller towns as well. With the edge in preventive health care that we are embarking on, even international bodies have started recognizing us and in times to come we look forward to extend our services in the international market also. We have already created a presence in the UAE and GCC countries.

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Akshar Yoga: Reconnecting with Humanity through the Divine Art of Yoga

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nlike the trend couple of years ago, wellness programs aren’t just for weight loss. The fitness industry has seen a positive growth in the past.

Fitness or wellness programs can be for mental wellness or just to tone their bodies or even increase flexibility. Yoga has found its preference in the corporate world as a comprehensive wellness prerogative, replacing all other healthcare investments. A growing number of businesses are finding that offering Yoga to their employees is a lowcost, preventive and holistic healthcare measure, making the discipline a resonating success with human resource teams looking for strategic returns on their wellness investments.

With an aim to provide a holistic approach towards fitness and wellness, Akshar Yoga was started by the Himalayan Yogi, Grand Master Akshar. Regardless of whether one is just a beginner in this field or someone who is looking forward to taking up yoga as a profession, Akshar Yoga has carefully curated educational modules to take one through his necessary expectation. Akshar Yoga is not just a yoga school; it is also the experience that comes with it. Akshar Yoga has trained over 2000 professionally trained teachers who are teaching yoga across the world and has trained over 3,00,000 students globally.

Leading Yoga Practitioners Akshar, Founder, Chairman & Course Director of Akshar Yoga hailing from the oldest school of Himalayas, is an internationally acclaimed Yogic Master and visionary.

He has carved a unique niche in the global wellness map by innovating with Yoga, and weaving together his ancestral wisdom from the oldest form of Himalayan yoga with the most advanced forms of fitness regimes. He is also the Founder and President of World Yoga Organization and is also an established tutor of this advanced form of Yoga and conducts Master level Yoga Teachers Training courses

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across the globe. Akshar Yoga’s Power Yoga is renowned globally and their structure is well received from all walks of life and from all industries. Akshar is noted amongst the leading yoga practitioners of the world; he travels extensively, learning and spreading the art of yoga, builds new forms and creates opportunities for yogis all around the world.

Grand Master Akshar’s journey of yoga began at a very early stage of his life. He acquired the faculty of philosophy and yoga from his divine Masters situated in the steep mountains of the Himalayas. In a quest to hone his spiritual skills, Grand Master Akshar acquired a phenomenal amount of Yogic knowledge from his Gurus, impressing a number of Holy Saints and Teachers by his already existing intuitive powers and philosophical bend of mind. Furthermore, Grand Master Akshar has had the opportunity to learn and propagate yoga in its true form- he belongs to the oldest lineage of yoga. Akshar and his team have trained more than 3,00,000 students all over the world via both online and offline platforms. He now has twenty schools in the country under the Akshar Yoga banner and he is further expanding it all over the globe. Also, Akshar Yoga is collaborating with many International organisations and Universities for Higher Educational and Professional Programs for Yoga to uplift yoga to a higher platform. He has also started companies like Punya Organics, Brhajaga and Swaayur. His mission is to spread the message of Health, Peace and Happiness through his work.

Launching Yoga in Corporate World Started in 2010, Akshar Yoga is the first institute that started Yoga in an academy. Akshar Yoga today is a trend settler in the field of yoga. It has around 1 million followers on social media and a global presence. It has more than 2000 teachers who are provided with placements and are teaching in different centers internationally. Akshar Yoga regularly

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10 PERFORMING CORPORATEWellness e

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Spreading Health, Peace and Happiness through Yoga

Akshar Founder, Chairman & Course Director

represents the culture of Yoga in countries like China, US, Europe and France and creates a discipline, clarity and transparency when it comes to the knowledge of yoga. All the services that are provided at Akshar Yoga are ISO certified services.

Yoga is not just about being able to perform complicated poses and movements but it is a holistic approach to physical and mental health, as well as a person’s well-being and personal growth. Corporate Yoga is the extended concept of working peacefully in the midst of a hectic corporate environment. Akshar Yoga is the largest yoga chain in the countries with 20 centers in Bangalore alone. It has launched the Aerial yoga, wheel yoga and other forms of Yoga in India. These are the ISO certified services that are scientifically designed by experts using modern sciences. Akshar Yoga believes in providing every individual with a unique experience.

Awards, Achievements, and Recognitions Akshar Yoga has been awarded with Entrepreneur IndiaClass of 2018- Ranked 6th in 35 Under 35 Entrepreneurs in

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India. It has won Arab Chambers of Commerce Awards 2018. Akshar holds the position of President & International Representative, World Yoga Organization. He is the “Grand Master of Yoga” by Vishwa Kalyan Samiti (Puri Jagannath). It has also received “Award of Excellence” and “Yoga Acharya” by Sri Chaitanya Institute of Vaishnavic Culture.

Global Future of Akshar Yoga There is conclusive evidence supporting the fact that offering Yoga session brings about noted changes in employee behavior by helping them manage stress better, enhance clarity and creative thinking, improve communication skills, cultivate leadership and teamwork, and increase overall effectiveness in the workplace. Akshar yoga encourages its employees to take up Yoga classes on a daily basis. Akshar Yoga is multiplying in number by expanding in different cities in India and internationally as well. It aims at having 100 centers globally. By mid-2019, Akshar Yoga is opening an International Yoga University.

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Trending Now

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ood health is good business”, says Paul Dreschler, Chairman, Bibby Line Group. Employment is the backbone of any company. Considering the impact of the health condition of an employee, various corporate companies are offering innovative wellness programs which can motivate or boost their employees to work with more efficiency.

These corporate wellness programs impact positively on employees’ health, and help them to avoid various health issues such as sleep deprivation, obesity, stress, etc. and improve work quality and productivity.

The article focuses on current and future trends in corporate wellness programs conducted by various companies which encourage their employees’ live healthy life.

Involvement of Technology in Employee Engagement Involvement of new technologies in corporate wellness program helps to motivate company employees to achieve and maintain a healthy life. As a part of corporate wellness program, companies are offering use of various wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness bands which assist in monitoring step count, distance, heart rate, and sleep patterns.

Mobile wellness application is a great gimmick which assists in tracking daily calorie intake and helps in creating personalized exercise plans. Some companies have created mobile wellness applications exclusively to cater health needs of their staffs. These specially designed mobile applications offer health assessments, coaching, biometric management, selfhelp programs, challenges, and incentives, etc.

Promotion of corporate wellness programs on the company website is a very impactful technique which is used to host health-related activities by companies and engage their employees in health activities.

Personalizing Wellness Programs The concept of personalization is not just limited to customer strategy. Employers in the health and wellness space are increasingly tailoring their health and wellness initiatives to increase employee engagement, and have a greater impact on overall employee population health. Many employers appreciate the benefits of personalized wellness programs and are integrating different strategizes to familiarize the initiatives to their employees. These initiatives include a wide range of programs targeting the specific health needs of the population, offering wellness coaching, involving families and building reward programs.

Introducing Sleep Pods and Sleep Awareness Programs A person can work with full productivity if they have a complete sleep of 8 to 9 hours. Lack of sufficient sleep can lead to

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health issues of an employee, which outcomes in lower productivity levels. Taking this point under consideration, various corporate wellness programs are introducing sleep awareness and education to company staffs. In future, one can expect companies offering incentive programs that will track an employee’s health and reward them with points of achieving their sleep goals. Do not get surprised to see a company creating nap rooms and sleep pods allowing their staff members to take a break and sleep for some time at the workplace.

Proposing Health Risk Assessment A study conducted by World Health Organization has proved that there is a link between mental illness and obesity. Focusing on the mental aspect of health, corporate wellness program offers on-site resources to company staffs for stress management and promotes healthy living.

Corporate wellness program encourages the company staff for social interaction, gives them education about stress and to know how to recognize stress, and the signs of mental stress or illness affecting on person’s body and mind.

Corporate wellness programs provide health benefits to company staff members including various assistance programs which can provide them referrals to mental health professionals and other services maintaining strict confidentiality standards. Company employees are offered health risk assessment consisting questions related to mental health. Peer-to-peer support groups are the best

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option given by corporate wellness programs to handle mental health conditions of the company staffs.

Appealing and Productive Future Though corporate wellness programs are on rising today, many staff members of various companies avoid active participation in these programs because of the complexity of tasks. Addressing this issue, corporate wellness programs may focus to introduce simple wellness activities which will attract and motivate employees towards corporate wellness programs resulting in an increase in their attendance.

Besides all these activities, many corporate wellness programs include office-friendly fitness classes such as yoga and pilates, tai chi, kickboxing, zumba, barre etc. This will help prevent serious illness, decrease the risk of diseases, help in stress management, and improve physical strength, stamina, contributing to the total health of an employee.

On the other hand, companies will also get aided by corporate wellness programs due to the reduction in staff absenteeism and increase the productivity of an employee.

The corporate wellness program will help companies to attract and retain their staff. To sum up, the future of corporate wellness programs appeals for a win-win situation for both, the companies and their staff members, leading to a successful business.

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Interview with Insights Success

Prashant Talwalkar Founder

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TALWALKARS: Providing Expert Advice and Result-oriented Approach to Wellness

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ellness programs create an energetic, positive and productive workplace while assisting employees with improving their health.

Employers face numerous challenges when developing a wellness strategy:understanding sensitivities in engaging with employees around lifestyle behaviours, sifting through studies and examples to identify evidence-based interventions that can keep employees motivated over time, and navigating an evolving regulatory landscape. As interest in wellness programs continues to grow, employers may find that seeking employee input and giving employees several options for participating may increase employee satisfaction, long-term engagement, and overall program success. Given consumer willingness to participate in wellness programs, employees may stay more engaged in the long term if they feel the program is not intrusive or mandated. At Talwalkars, one can choose from a range of health solutions including Gym, Personal Training, Nutrition Counselling, Spa, Yoga, Zumba, Aerobics, Nuform and Reduce.

In an interview with Insights Success, Prashant Talwalkar, Founder of Talwalkars gave some insightful answers highlighting the influences made by his company to take wellness programmes to a new level.

Kindly brief us about the company and what kind of wellness programs does the company provide to their employees/ clients.

Talwalkars today is one stop fitness and wellness solution.

In terms of Fitness it is No.1 player across India and Sri Lanka and the first listed entity in the industry. Apart from multiple gym models like Talwalkars Premium, Talwalkars, Hi Fi, PWG the company also offer value added services with a vision to cater to the lifestyle churn across the country. The acquisition of Zorba-The renaissance studio enabled company to incorporate Yoga services in its

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existing portfolio of services. Further the company also was one of the first to introduce electrical muscle stimulation based program in India through its service called NuForm, a service that enables tone muscle and reduce inches providing overall fitness. The company through Reduce provides low calorie, high fibre ready to cook and ready eat products with convenience of doorstep and online services.

Further the company is the sole distributor of Zumba merchandise across the country. The company along with its joint venture partners is in process of launching its first recreation and sports club in Pune, Wakad. This club is expected to roll out membership in middle of this year. The company’s recent tie-up with Dr Mickey Mehta enables it to cater to all the age groups.

1. Tell us something about the CEO/founder/MD of the company?

With a Bachelor’s degree in Science from University of Mumbai and over 25 years of experience in health club marketing, Mr. Prashant Talwalkar has spearheaded the Talwalkars brand evolution as our Managing Director & CEO. He spearheads gym expansions across India and Sri Lanka. Handling corporate tie ups and other promotional activities, he has brought recognition to Talwalkars at events such as the Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2009 and the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2008 and 2009 & Pinkathon 2012. He has been honoured as one of the Top 30 Most Innovative CEOs of the country by Inc Magazine, 2015. Under his leadership Talwalkars has also been awarded as the “Best Under A Billion” by Forbes Asia, 2013.

2. How has wellness programs proven to be an excellent device of change and life enhancement beginning right at work?

As evident, wellness encompasses several key dimensions that include physical, emotional, psychological and social

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attributes. These factors contribute to wellness in a series of complex and interacting ways. Wellness, unlike health, is more than absence of diseases and involves a holistic perspective of an individual. It involves wide range of human experience such as personal growth, family, education, community. With the advent of sedentary lifestyle, population growth, youth proportion increasing the demand for a complete wellness programs are on a spurge. Awareness regarding fitness and preventive healthcare are growing more than ever before. Programs that Talwalkars offer in weight loss management like Reduce, irrespective of the age has helped clients become fit without a diet. NuForm an innovative fitness offering comprises of weight loss, muscle development, back pain relief etc. On other hand programs like Zorba goes beyond fitness and promotes overall wellness of mind plus body.

Programs that are offered by Mickey Mehta carters to age group that starts from age 4 years right upto age 90 years.The programs like Spa, Massage delivering proven health benefits, mental relaxation, lowering stress thus providing enhanced wellness. Thus the wellness programs have proven to be just beyond fitness and leading to a way of life.

3. How do you work on your long-term relationship with your clients? Kindly brief us about the most satisfactory experience with a client.

The company’s retention rate has been above 75% . Usually majority members who leave the gym for another gym, rejoin our services after a year or two . This is mainly due to the quality of services provided by the Talwalkars to the trainers and also the other value added services provided to keep the customer engaged. Other than this Talwalkars offer schemes like the Annual August Scheme where usually most of the renewals happen. Under these schemes we offer all inclusive package where all the services are available under one roof and one package which enables customer to experience plethora of value added services along with regular fitness solution. Talwalkars receive positive feedback from its clients that are not just limited to losing weight or being fit but also appreciations for its trainers and personalized services provided.

4. Share your point of view on the current scenario of the Industry and its future.

The fitness market in India is highly under penetrated in India. The IHRSA2015 report states that the fitness centre penetration in India is less than 0.13%. If we compare with the US and UK the penetration rate continues to be 14-16% back in the 1980’s the penetration was about 2%. The fitness market has enormous potential not just for growth

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across India but other Asian countries having similar economies and growth potential. The fitness market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 18-20% or more with growing awareness of preventive healthcare and higher disposable income.

5. Kindly brief us about your strategies to tackle the competition in your sector. What steps are you taking to ensure that you continue to grow and develop The company today is No 1 in India and Sri Lanka with over 220 fitness centers.In past the company expanded across PAN India by opening one or two gyms per city and pick up more than 5-10 cities in proposed expansion. The company would set up one or two gyms in a particular city hence bringing in new staff to Mumbai where in academy and key management of the company present was more logical and economical.The company has now adopted city centric approach i.e. Opening cluster of 20-25 gyms in a city and penetrate in each corner of the city with the target to become largest brand in that city creating and entry barrier for the competitor. In view of this expansion plan; Talwalkars management decided to shift the training of staffs to locations where in expansion is expected to happen in immediate future.As a result of this Talwalkars has decided to shift training equipments to these respective locations to cater to training requirements. This enables to create a common pool of administration block and staff leading to cost effective management. The company also has introduced multiple gym models to cover all the price points. The value added services like Nuform and Reduce has an added advantage of being time effective. The company through Zorba is one of the largest yoga player across the country. The company continues to expand horizons through organic and inorganic way through engaging in value alliances.

6. What can be expected from your company in the upcoming years?

The Company is the market leader in gym India and Sri Lanka and is expected through its brand, partners and associates go to countries across Asia. The company plans to increase its presence and foothold targeting top 10-12 cities. The value added services have gained traction in last couple of years, the company plans to promote these products nationally and internationally using best distribution channels both online and offline. Further the company will continue to make innovations and improvement of its centers meeting the international standards. The company is working on unleashing value of its existing centers and also plans to grow through adding new centers. |MARCH 2018|

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Gold’s Gym Providing a Comprehensive Approach to the Health and Well-being of its Members

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mployees spend a lot of time in the workplace, and correlating wellness goals with work life balance is mission critical to driving business outcomes.

Having a corporate wellness program is imperative to the foundation of any business. Building a successful corporate wellness program takes time, and includes a wellness solution that is embedded in the culture of the organization.

Employee wellbeing programs should continually evolve to meet the needs of employees striving to achieve their wellness goals, thereby supporting the goals of the business.

There is a realization of the need to stay fit in order to be more productive and have a greater emphasis on overall well-being. With stress increasing in employees, Gold’s Gym has mastered and designed wellness programs which are stress busters and corporate employees cherish them. It gives online as well as offline fitness solutions ensuring overall wellbeing. Gold’s Gym also appreciates employers to take up initiatives to improve wellness, leading to employee productivity and retention. It is the largest co-ed gym chain in the world recognized for its passion, unique heritage, and experience as the final authority in fitness and lifestyle.

Originator of Gold’s Gym Jagdish K Valecha, Co-founder and Chairman of F2 Fun and Fitness India Pvt Ltd (Gold’s Gym India), soon after graduation, was at the helm of affairs and got involved in the infrastructure/construction business. He is the prime powerhouse in bringing GOLD'S GYM to India with a mission– “When Indians think of Fitness, they think of GOLD’S GYM.” Introduced by Valecha, Gold’s Gym brand has slowly and steadily carved its name in the Indian market and built a reputation to reckon with.

In a dynamic global business environment, Valecha is always looking to fuel newer ideas that could shape the future contours of business in India. His vision has

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contributed to ‘Making India Fit’ by providing fitness to 10, 00,000 members across the country. Gold’s Gym is acknowledged for its unrivalled success in providing the finest equipment and fitness knowledge available to help its members achieve their individual potential. It follows a globally proven fitness training module with state-of-the-art infrastructure and delivery methodology and continuous upgradation through training programs.

The Most Preferred Gym With certified trainers and nutritional counseling, Gold’s Gym provides a comprehensive approach to the health and well-being of its member. Whether the goal is to burn fat, tone or add muscle, build strength, increase flexibility or improve one’s cardiovascular health, only Gold’s Gym has the atmosphere and experience one needs. From that first gym in Venice, (1965) Gold’s Gym has become the largest co-ed gym chain in the world with over 701+ facilities in 30 countries. The India chapter of Gold’s Gym started in 2002, when the first Gold’s Gym India branch was set up in Mumbai. Today, Gold’s Gym has cut out for itself 130+ gyms in India across 88 cities and a few more ready to operate in the near future. Gold’s Gym lives up to its reputation to give results. Gold’s Gym has become the preferred gym of celebrities, athletes, bodybuilders, the military and fitness enthusiasts all over the world and continues to change lives by helping people achieve their individual potential.

Providing Unique Facilities and Training Gold’s Gym offers complementary unlimited group exercise classes and spinning classes. They have a unique Quick Result Program. Gold’s Gym has also mastered spreading wellness in the corporate sector. Through Gold’s Gym Fitness Institute, which is its education platform that provides a continuous education upgrade for the employees and in return gives the best results to the members. GGFI is India’s first International Fitness Management Institute and

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Providing the finest equipment and fitness knowledge with certified trainers and nutritional counselors

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Karan Valecha, Rajesh Advani, G Ramachandran Director

Jagdish K Valecha Chairman offers certificate course in Advanced Personal Training.

GGFI offers the most exciting and up-to-date education pathway to gain industry leading qualifications as well as ongoing training in all aspects of the fitness industry.

Fitness trainers at Gold’s Gym are thorough professionals who know how to keep people motivated to follow the fitness programs. They plan the fitness program according to the individual needs. They constantly keep trainees inspired and stimulated by keeping them involved in interesting activities.

Apart from the conventional gym set-up they also have add on programs like Quick Result Goal Driven Program, functional training, high intensity workouts and the trainers specialize in rehab & special population exercises as well.

Awards, Achievements and Recognitions From winning the Best Debutant Master Franchisee in the year 2003 to achieving accolades such as Excellence in Marketing, Best Fitness Chain, Best Turnaround Gym, Visionary of the Year, Best community engagement, Best personal training program, National Fitness Chain of the Year & the President’s Award and most recently the Economic Times Champions of fitness award for advancements and achievements in the gym and fitness

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category 2017-18. Gold’s Gym have made sure to contribute as much as possible to reach out to the people through the #GoldsFitIndia Movement and #MakeIndiaFit. “If you can’t come to the gym, the gym will come to you.”

Gold’s Gym is successful at imparting fitness to more than 50,000 corporates through its Corporate Wellness Programs.

With the outdoor activities Gold’s Gym makes sure that they are instrumental in spreading fitness awareness. It also conducts a lot of member engagement activities inside the gym and keeps members motivated with their workout.

Bringing a Positive Change in the Upcoming Future The purpose of Gold’ Gym is to bring a positive change in the behavior pattern and lifestyle of every Indian. In terms of employee engagement, Gold’s Gym conducts wellness programs for the employees and insures that they become fit. It currently has 3500+ happy and fit employees and is undertaking continuous initiatives to make fitness a fun activity and make more people fit. Currently Gold,s Gym holds more than 130 clubs and the mission is to penetrate in the interiors of the country like tier 3 & 4 cites to spread fitness and health.

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About The Author

Kavita Mathur Director

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Kavita Mathur, trained Indian classical and folk dancer, Kavita’s passion for aerobics and tness stemmed from her love for dance.

Her 18 years of abundant working experience in varied organizations and business began as a PR Executive with the Diner’s Club (presently Citi Credit Card) for about 4 years. With a thriving desire to set up something on her own, she joined her brother's business of Corporate Gifts. However, her love for tness soon pulled her into the industry of health and tness. She began her wellness journey with Talwalkars Fitness Club, wherein she headed their largest branch in Mumbai. After 5 years with Talwalkars, Kavita brought her desire of setting up a business and her passion for tness together, by forming Wellness Associates along with Sudhir Patkar.

A people’s person and full of life, she is extremely active and passionate about work and personal tness. |MARCH 2018|

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Outlook of Wellness

CORPORATE WELLNESS – CURRENT SCENARIO

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fundamental shift is happening as far as the Corporate Wellness in India is concerned, though it’s a real slow one but the corporate India has started treating Employee Wellness as “Must have” and not just a “Nice to have”. It’s no more just limited to doing routine annual health analysis and handing over the reports to employees and to organization for managing the insurance process. It goes much beyond that, having well equipped in-house gyms, organizing group classes like yoga, zumba etc, mental wellness is given far more importance to keep stress levels in check, counsellors, online helplines are introduced, even music and other hobby classes are conducted, social wellness taken care through community services, even financial wellness is looked into.

Wellness programmes are also now on the technology platforms, wearables, trackers, smart watches are the latest to enter this segment. A lot of apps are now on offer to manage personal fitness and wellness, gamification to make it more fun has also added to the millennials and the younger generations taking interest and making use of the offerings. Some of the leading corporate wellness organizations have introduced customized programmes that employers can offer to their employees which include apps, wearables, personal fitness and nutrition coaches, fun activities, online challenges and to top it all assured results!

Even an international poll this year has said that Wellbeing will be one of the top employee engagement priorities for HR professionals in 2018 but some of the challenges also remain which they will have to overcome, the top most being driving more participation in these programmes.

Giving easy access, making the activities more fun, continuous communications, introducing variety and to top it all leadership owning and driving these initiatives remains the key here. It has been proven time and again that wherever the leaders have got involved, the participation and outcomes have been more encouraging.

the new generations who are mostly connected through out, be it their phones, social media etc. Being connected all the time, leads to lack of sleep or disturbed sleep leading to disengagement and being less productive in both personal and professional life, end result being not happy. Happiness is another factor of total wellbeing which corporates across global are focusing on.

Holistic Wellbeing is what is the need of the hour, just focusing on physical and mental is not enough, as described

by WHO - Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness; it is a “dynamic process of change and growth.”...a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

So mere focus on wellness is not going to be cutting it, it has to be Total Wellbeing, More are shifting away from the idea of “wellness” as a rarely promoted, HR-owned benefits program to a more multi-faceted approach, implementing organizational-wide initiatives. This shift results in an increased awareness that wellness and wellbeing are simply not the same thing. In a nutshell, considering the wellbeing of employees provides a more holistic solution to managing the employee-life experience, whereas focusing solely on wellness potentially limits the solution to physical health alone.

A recent survey (by ASSOCHAM)revealed that India Inc. can save upto US$20 billion by 2018 through just a 1% reduction in absenteeism and on an average for every rupee spent on employee wellness programme, employers get to save Rs.132.33 as saving on absenteeism and Rs.6.62 back as reduced healthcare costs.

Wellbeing should be embedded in the culture of the organization, so move over mere Wellness, creating an engaged culture through wellbeing is here to stay.

Some other new trends in this space are around sleep, happiness, mindfulness etc. Sleep has become an issue for

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WellnessProgram W

An Effective Tool for the Enhancement of Corporate Companies

ith growing focus on employee health, corporate wellness programs are increasingly becoming popular. It is a prevalent program in the corporate world which is treated as an employee perk for large corporations. The corporate fitness programs have become an integral part of the company’s benefit package and provide the employees with incentives, tools, social support, strategies and privacy to maintain healthy behaviors.

The workplace has changed due to globalization and technology advancement, which is making a great impact on the lives of the employees. Jobs in IT industry are knowledge-driven and stress is existent in reality. The reason can be pressure from seniors, target oriented approach, relationship with coworkers, lack of personal time, spouse stress, children stress and the list goes on. This stress can create many mental and health weaknesses which would affect the performance and productivity of the employee. The personal weaknesses of employees due to stress may be due to lack of time management, relationships, assertiveness, goals, lack of confidence etc.

Corporate Wellness programs impose a wide range of benefits for the employees and apparently enhancing the well-being of the corporations.

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Editor’s Pick

Early Identification of Disease Any disease when detected early can be cured effectively in less time under proper medical supervision. For an instance, consider a company which organizes a cancer check-up drive where employees can be called up for the check-up. This will help the employees to detect their disease at an early stage and hence, reduce the complexity of the disease in the future.

Building Productivity of Employees When employees are inspired to live a better lifestyle, they feel motivated resulting in increased concentration, optimism, and high energy. Thus, company’s healthy work culture gets deep-rooted into the system which can become a rock support in the later stage.

A recent study has revealed that the employees who participated in the wellness program have improved their health by retrieving an average 10.3 hours of additional productivity annually as compared to the non-participants. The study has also stated that incorporating wellness programs in the company leads to the reduction in sick-leaves, worker’s compensation, and disability insurance costs by approximately 25 percent.

Boosting Employee Education The corporate companies ensure that their employees hold essential medical knowledge and act accordingly in emergency cases. The certified sessions which provide training in CPR, First-Aid, and Automated External Defibrillation (AED) ensure that the employees can assist each other in critical situations until a medical professional is available. Hence, educating employees with these sessions has become essential for every company.

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Developing Communication among the Peers The wellness programs at the workplace are organized in teams which develops an opportunity for the employees to interact with each other on the professional and personal front. The team activities which focus on fitness and health are a great way to promote employee engagement program. They can develop a bond and strengthen the work relationships among the peers by conversing professionally and personally through health programs like walking clubs, sports, and etc.

Healthy Employees Incur Low Health Expenditure Employees prefer those companies which promote health and fitness strategies which assist in reducing health expenses and thus eliminating the medical claims. Lower health costs are beneficial to both the employer and the employee. A recent case study has revealed that the companies have experienced low health costs due to incorporating wellness campaigns and the employees have also seen significant reductions in chronic diseases.

Improving Employee Focus and Managing Stress In order to get a good outcome, one needs to have the right focus towards the work. The wellness program relieves employees from stress and pressure and assists them in developing a healthy and stress-free mind. These programs also suggest that taking a break from the work routine can enhance the employee’s productivity with complete focus.

It is observed that employees feel stressful and drained-out at the workplace which makes them less productive. The productivity of the employees can be enhanced by their active participation in different physical activities and sports. These activities allow them to have fun at work by complete removal of the stress. The wellness programs emphasize on trying out new things which is great for the mind and is a fun way to improve health and fitness.

Great Job Satisfaction Employee centered companies enjoy high retention ratio due to the optimistic attitude of the employees. A high retention ratio results in a low percentage of resignations. A happy environment keeps the employees highly motivated which results in a great performance in the workplace. Thus, the wellness programs create a WIN-WIN situation for the company and its employees.

According to a recent wellness report, the employees who participate in health and wellness programs are happier among its peers and hold a great job satisfaction. A healthy lifestyle generates a feel-good factor, increases self-optimism and confidence, and increases employee’s self-esteem.

The strong idea behind incorporating wellness programs is to encourage the employees to take protective measures to prevent the worsening of an illness and adopt a healthy lifestyle. Thus, the wellness programs have a financial and mental impact on the companies and rejuvenate the employee’s work performance. Through these initiatives the corporate companies will always have financial gains with a focused and healthy work culture.

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True Elements: Driving a Healthy Lifestyle through Health Supplements

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oday, there is an increasing demand in choosing natural foods over chemically impacted eateries.

While they are more flexible to experiment with new innovations, they prefer transparency and consistency.

As consumers look for healthier and natural options, they would also be conscious of the value they seek out of them.

Health would gradually move from being a fad to a regular component of common lifestyle.

HW Wellness Solutions Private Limited is driving focus on healthier food and lifestyle through its two platforms, Healthyworld.in and True-Elements.com.

delivery, what happens when you eat less sugar, interesting workout tips to improve body shape, foods that one must eat or avoid on an empty stomach, Reasons why you should eat breakfast in the morning and ways to lose weight and get in shape after having baby, among many others.

The company offers an online gateway to the world of healthy food supplements including snacks, beverages, wellness products and services, preventive health care, health marketing, preventive health services and wellness partnerships among various other products.

Entrepreneurs Leading the World to Live Healthy

True Elements is a functional food company, aiming to be the most trusted brand of health foods.

While Healthy World is a marketplace that sells health food by various brands and helps individuals to identify and purchase functional food which reduces the risk of diseases.

Products and Services which are offered by Healthy World To establish the product line, the company claims that “Our products are natural, cost effective and tasty. We are conscious of what we provide to the consumers - and believe in genuine offerings than something that would “sell” well.” It cares on diseases, body care and weight gain by delivering several products such as coffee and tea, snacks foods, healthy juices, nuts and bars, oil and vinegars and health kits.

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”- Mahatma Gandhi, known as Father of the Nation.

The company also provides tips on health & wellness that includes - Simple Pregnancy tips to help to have a normal

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With the passion of driving healthier lifestyle, Puru Gupta and Sreejith Moolayil, Co –Founders of True Elements together made their ideas come true with their innovative company. Puru loves to take up challenges and has a corporate experience spanning across multinationals, including P&G, ITC and CSC & Cognizant. He is an alumni of FMS, Delhi (MBA, Marketing) and Pune University (BE, E&TC). He even has a diverse experience across India and China including consulting engagements with local companies from China and Africa and other nonprofit organizations, MNCs and Government organizations.

Further, he has been rated as a top expert in marketing, who helps various brands in India entry and GTM strategies for India.

On the other hand, Sreejith Moolayil with a diverse experience of more than 12 years in HR and Law has worked previously with Cognizant, Tata Motors and Delphi TVS. His last assignment was working as a Head HR Cognizant, Pune. He is an alumni of Symbiosis IMS (MBA, HR) with Masters in Labour Law from Pune University and LLB from Mangalore, his focus areas are IT &

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10 PERFORMING CORPORATEWellness e

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Startup is challenging, rough, tiring, humbling and a

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fight of survival - it makes you experience the entire spectrum of life’s ups and downs in a very short span of time

Sreejith Moolayil Puru Gupta Co-founder Co-founder

Manufacturing. He is also headed the HR operations for Cognizant, China.

Awards and Achievements Accomplished by the Company True Elements has made a major impact all-throughout its illustrious journey and has also gathered certain noteworthy achievements. It has recently received many awards including - Part of the first set of Amazon Launchpad startups representing India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, shortlisted as one of the ‘Six Startups’ in Unilever-IDG Startup program, awarded for Innovation by World Innovation Congress.

While discussing about the unique part of the company that has led to success, Puru Gupta said “Our focus on natural foods while ensuring health and taste is what gives us the edge. On top of this, our driver of cost-efficiently serving the market is what makes us different. We are also the first brand to use 100% whole grains in all our products.”

| MM 2018

The Three Prime Views of Healthy World The three primary views of healthy world are represented as Value, Purpose & Direction.

Firstly, the products are devoid of unwanted elements and are closer to what it used to be centuries ago. Secondly, this communicates the innate quest & hunt for practical and alternative solutions relevant to the modern world. Thirdly, to promote and popularize and is the only solution to current day health issues.

Healthy World Future Perspectives Sreejith states, “Our aim is to be known as one of the most loved health foods brand in the country by driving everyone to adopt a healthier lifestyle, without compromising taste or price.” He further added “We are a Health Foods Company aiming to be the most credible / trusted source for Health Foods and have a dream of making this world a healthier place”.

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Mental and Emotional Wellness of Millennials: Myths & Realities

Archana Bisht Founder

About the Author Archana Bisht is the founder of 1to1Help.net, India’s leading professional counselling and wellness services firm. Archana was instrumental in pioneering the concept of Online Counselling in India which found a wider acceptance, especially in the IT & ITES industry in India.

She is a passionate longdistance runner and is also involved in multiple initiatives, across Bangalore, focused on ensuring a better environment.

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CXO Standpoint

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ts not an exaggeration to say that different generations may see the same behaviours or dynamics in the workplace and perceive completely different things, whether positive or negative “-Crystal Kadakia (Writer, The Millennial Myth)

The term ‘Millennials’ refers broadly to those individuals who were born in the 1980s until the turn of the millennium in 2000. The number of millennials in the workforce has increased gradually over the years, and today, more millennials than ever before are a part of the workforce.

A growing body of literature suggests that millennials are distinctly different from previous generations. While this could be in part be attributed to generational differences, a significant amount of commentary suggests that millennials are inherently flawed, emotionally fragile, disloyal in relationships, and closed to feedback. Moreover, all millennials are considered to be alike. These notions, however, are unsubstantiated hypotheses at best.

At 1to1help.net, we have a vast experience of interacting with millennial employees in the corporate world, across industries, and different parts of the country for over 17 years. Using our data for the last 3 years (2014-17), we tried to evaluate the myths and realities related to ‘counselling and behaviour’ in the millennial population and check whether the following popular opinions held about millennials hold true in the Indian context: • All Millennials are alike • Millennial are self-centred and do not value relationships • Millennials have an inflated sense of self and think they’re perfect • Millennials are closed to feedback The key findings suggest that • Millennials, across gender and age, are a heterogeneous group, with significant differences in the level of seeking help and issues/concerns related to mental health • Female millennials have significantly different concerns and a higher risk of suicidal ideation as compared to male millennials • In the digital age of friendships, millennials are increasingly feeling ‘more lonely’ and vulnerable and are looking for stable relationships • Millennials continuously want to improve themselves and are actively looking for feedback on improving self.

We also evaluated the managerial perspective providing key insights into what they believe are the biggest stressors for millennials at the workplace, the impact of these stressors, and the strategies employed by them to address ™

|MARCH 2018|

these stressors.

Though, it is widely believed that millennial employees desire greater validation and feedback from their managers, and the lack of the same is often the reason why they may feel dissatisfied at the workplace, managers themselves believe that well-defined roles and goals, and clearer working priorities are the answer.

Response to the question on the key ‘Go-to strategy’ to address employee distress, Managers recognize EAP as the option, but more than half the managers have a one-on-one conversation with a distressed employee as the first response. Only 1 out of 10 managers mentioned that they make a referral to EAP in such cases.

Managers are still looking at only work-performance, and workplace solutions to address distress amongst millennials at the workplace; while our data shows that the 85% of the concerns according to millennials are personal in nature, and most millennials having an elevated level of distress, thereby warranting professional attention.

Given the trends, organizations need to take cognizance of the changes in policy formulation to ensure a differential focus on mental wellness, leading to higher engagement and productivity at workplace. Some of the key focus areas for organizations leading to a positive change at the workplace can be: 1. Spread awareness about mental wellness at workplace through ‘Walk the Talk’ sessions and enable response mechanisms like EAP, wellness sessions.

2. Identify wellness trends in groups and subgroups specifically based on gender, age, location, business units etc. Plan and conduct Group & subgroup level intervention.

3. Train Managers to provide feedback in the ‘right’ way leading to positive change.

4. Train Managers on basic skills of counselling to enable them to provide an adequate first response in case of a distressed employee.

5. Provide adequate opportunities to an employee to manage his/her personal wellbeing.

Through this article (and a detailed published white paper) we do wish to highlight gaps, if any, between the popular understanding of millennials, and the concerns that millennials brought forth to a counselling setting. We believe this will initiate more intentional, objective attempts to understand the concerns related to mental health of working millennials and will enable organizations and managers to identify strategies for their overall well-being.

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