INSIGHTS KATHY CATTON
Employees at the heart Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, employee wellbeing has been thrust into the spotlight. Human Resources magazine editor, Kathy Catton, spoke with three organisations that are taking wellbeing seriously. We share their advice on how to integrate wellbeing into the workplace.
Unisys: promoting holistic wellbeing
It took Unisys, the global IT services company, just 48 hours to move 98 per cent of its 18,000-strong global workforce to working from home in March last year. But, as many of us experienced, after working from home for several months, some negative aspects of the experience started to arise. Staying healthy and getting the same amount of exercise as they had before the pandemic restrictions kicked in was difficult for some. “We wanted to give our people a tool to put their own wellbeing first,” says Andrew Whelan, Vice-President – Client Management, Unisys AsiaPacific. “So the HR and internal communications team developed an Asia-Pacific-wide voluntary step 40
HUMAN RESOURCES
WINTER 2021
challenge, called ‘U-Move’, that ran throughout September 2020.”
Step challenge
The objective was to get people moving away from their desks and to begin socialising again with their teammates. To implement the programme quickly (three weeks from concept to launch), the Unisys team used the 10,000 Steps mobile app, created by CQUniversity in Rockhampton, Queensland, to log daily step activity. The app also allowed other types of activity, such as yoga, to be converted into steps. Participants were encouraged to form teams, both cross-functionally and
cross-geographically, using a ‘find a team’ service to help connect not only with people in the office but also new people in other locations. “For some, that meant connecting virtually to train together, while others involved their families in extra physical activity,” says Andrew. “We had 368 people from 8 countries (including New Zealand) form 46 teams. Interestingly, 40 per cent of New Zealand participants opted to be in international teams.” The results were very encouraging. Polling after the challenge found that 77 per cent of participants said the U-Move programme had helped them be more active. In fact, the
