India Inc has increased its budgets for employee wellness as people struggle to cope with the stress of new modes of work, longer work hours with added commute time, rising cost of living, and physical health issues stemming from Covid-related illnesses.
The pandemic exacerbated a mental health crisis that has shown no sign of letting up, making wellness a top priority for companies across sectors even as employees have started working from office some days of the week.
More than 70% of the companies have introduced or increased financial assistance in the form of mental wellness and stress management programmes, insurance, paid time-off, and home relocation assistance, among others, data from HR solutions company Aon shows. The data, shared exclusively with ET, covers 1,300 companies across 40 sectors and was collated in August 2022.
Companies including RPG Group, IBM India, ICICI Lombard, Microsoft, PwC India, Colgate-Palmolive
(India), L'oreal India, PayU and Fi Money have all stepped up focus on employee wellness.
To reduce the stress of the return to work, 69% companies are providing creche and day-care help through in-house facilities, external tie-ups or reimbursements. Companies are also providing relocation assistance to employees returning to the office.
RPG Group, for example, has invested in mental wellness company Juno Clinic and group employees and their families have access to some of the best mental health practitioners at zero cost. "The issue of mental wellness and employee well-being is taken very seriously at RPG Group," said S Venkatesh, group president - HR at RPG Enterprises. "The senior leadership is personally involved in assessing the initiatives and keeping abreast of global best practices."
PwC India has rolled out wellness initiatives including a people wellness portal, and increased health and insurance benefits. "The interventions have dedicatedly focused on driving various aspects of employee well-being - physical, emotional, spiritual and lifestyle-related," its chief people officer Padmaja Alaganandan said.
Time off or extra leave has emerged as key to employee well-being. One in three companies has implemented additional leaves including sick leaves, or bereavement leaves.
Microsoft has added mental health to its sick leave policy, renaming it sick and mental health leave.
Read More at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/india-inc-rethinks-employee-wellness/articleshow/94713742.cms
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