Altada

ALTADA TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Work Life Balance

Altada Technology Solutions’ Self-care Initiative gave their employees a three-day weekend to provide a better work-life balance

With a belief that sustainable workplaces are those that support employee wellbeing and inclusion, Altada Technology Solutions brought in a fourday week/three-day weekend to embed self-care into the company culture.

Start-ups are fast paced working environments, so the goal of this initiative was to prioritise self-care by supporting the mental, physical and social pillars of their employees’ wellbeing, and create a happy and supportive environment for its employees.

The reasons for beginning the pilot of the four-day week initiative, which started in December 2021, were threefold. Firstly, the company was conscious of its employees’ wellbeing and wanted to provide them with a practical way to ‘make time’ by giving them time back so that they could increase their wellbeing by having a three-day weekend to participate

in health-improving activities.

Secondly, it allowed employees to enable a better distribution of caring responsibilities at home, whether as parents or caregivers. It also helped families reduce childcare costs.

Thirdly, this initiative had a positive impact on the environment as it helped Altada employees play their part in reducing carbon created by commuting less to the workplace.

The first phase of the pilot ended at the end of February 2022, at which point the senior leadership team assessed how it was going, and it was agreed to continue the initiative until at least June 2022, given the benefits the three-day weekend had provided to employees.

The short-term impact was already obvious with increased productivity and reduced absenteeism, and it was hoped the long-term impact would follow.

With very few companies in Ireland who have yet adopted a four-day working week or taken the practical approach of giving back vital time to employees, the team at Altada saw the initiative as aligning with their vales of Fun and Future-focused.

Along with this initiative, Altada’s partners Spectrum Optimise provide mental health and physical health assessments, as well as ergonomic

ALTADA’S FOUR-DAY WEEK EMBEDDED SELFCARE INTO THEIR CULTURE. THIS INITIATIVE PRIORITISES SELF-CARE BY SUPPORTING THE MENTAL, PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL PILLARS OF THEIR EMPLOYEES’ WELLBEING

assessments for remote-working employees to ensure that their working wellbeing is catered for physically.

The company partners with VHI Healthcare and offer health insurance benefits to employees, including an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), which they or the dependants living in their homes aged 16 or under can avail of.

Cognate Health provide occupational health services should managers or employees require any wellbeing assistance, and Workvivo drives Altada’s social wellbeing pillar to ensure its employees can connect and network no matter where they are located in the world. The company’s centralised ‘Social, Health and Wellbeing’ Space allows employees drive much of the content themselves, sharing wellbeing tips and ideas.

Altada also rolled out a wellbeing app, called Empeal, which allows employees monitor their step count, hydration, nutrition etc, as well as avail of a variety of personal coaching services, and content tailored to their wellbeing objectives. The app is used to promote interdepartmental physical health challenges, such as a hydration challenge, or to push out virtual coffee connects between employees.