Leadership teams and managers should set an example for “work-life balance” for their teams:
Prioritizing associate wellbeing should be a value lived by everyone on staff, and leadership teams should lead the charge. Leaders set the example (whether implicitly or explicitly) for associates in terms of hours worked in a day (or night), vacation days, and whether they log in during the weekend.
The pandemic pause brought us to a moment of collective reckoning about what it means to live well and to work well. As a result, employees are sending employers an urgent signal that they are no longer willing to choose one — life or work — at the cost of the other. Working from home brought life literally into our work. And as the world now goes hybrid, employees are drawing firmer boundaries about how much of their work comes into their life. Where does this leave employers? And which perspectives and programs contribute most to progress? In our newest interview series, Working Well: How Companies Are Creating Cultures That Support & Sustain Mental, Emotional, Social, Physical & Financial Wellness, we are talking to successful executives, entrepreneurs, managers, leaders, and thought leaders across all industries to share ideas about how to shift company cultures in light of this new expectation. We’re discovering strategies and steps employers and employees can take together to live well and to work well.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ritesh Daryani.
As Vice President of People & Culture at Edifecs, Ritesh leads the global HR and talent acquisition teams. Ritesh’s role entails partnering with senior leaders to provide innovative ideas and solutions to ensure that the organization maintains its innovative and supportive culture. Prior to Edifecs, Ritesh spent three years as the Director of Human Resources for Expedia’s eCommerce Platform Organization, and he earned a Ph.D. (ABD) and an MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Seattle Pacific University, Washington and MBA in Human Resources from India.
Thank you for making time to visit with us about the topic of our time. Our readers would like to get to know you better. Tell us about a formative experience that prompted you to change your relationship with work and how work shows up in your life.
From the very beginning, I realized that to be a good worker or a leader for an organization, it is very important to be a humble and genuine human being. Many of my characteristics and attributes are a reflection of what I learned from my parents, teachers, and friends during the early stages of my life. Understanding the importance of hard work, caring for others first, doing the right thing, and giving back to the community in any small way I can are some of the fundamental behaviors I learned very early in my life. This shows in what I do in my role at Edifecs. I believe that doing the right things for our people at Edifecs helps our customers. Happy customers will make our associates feel proud of their work and the technology we are building to make our customers’ lives easier.
Harvard Business Review predicts that wellness will become the newest metric employers will use to analyze and to assess their employees’ mental, physical and financial health. How does your organization define wellness, and how does your organization measure wellness?
Edifecs, a global health IT company, is committed to a holistic wellbeing approach for our associates. Through this approach, we consider every aspect of an associate’s wellbeing, including their physical, emotional, financial, social, and professional wellbeing. Our programming and benefits are centered around this philosophy, and we are continuously expanding our offerings to care for both our associates’ and their families’ wellbeing.
To measure the success of our program, we regularly survey our associates to ensure we are not just meeting but exceeding their workplace wellness expectations. Positive associate feedback through these surveys has earned Edifecs recognition as a top place to work by Seattle Business Magazine, GeekWire, Best in Biz, Puget Sound Business Journal, and Great Place to Work® (in the United States and India).
Based on your experience or research, how do you correlate and quantify the impact of a well workforce on your organization’s productivity and profitability?
We believe that when our associates are healthy and happy, our customers are also happy. As a result of our investment in associate wellness initiatives, Edifecs has experienced incredible corporate growth. In 2021 alone, Edifecs acquired two companies (Talix and Health Fidelity) and announced a new CEO to carry on this momentum.
The impact of associate wellbeing also reflects on the overall financial and people measurements of the company.
Even though most leaders have good intentions when it comes to employee wellness, programs that require funding are beholden to business cases like any other initiative. The World Health Organization estimates for every $1 invested into treatment for common mental health disorders, there is a return of $4 in improved health and productivity. That sounds like a great ROI. And, yet many employers struggle to fund wellness programs that seem to come “at the cost of the business.” What advice do you have to offer to other organizations and leaders who feel stuck between intention and impact?
An investment in our associates is a direct investment in the business. I’d encourage leaders to rethink associate wellbeing programs as opportunities to increase retention, empower a happy and healthy workforce, and invite top talent to join in on your company’s innovation. Associate wellbeing programs are bound to have incredible impact both short and long-term. The investment is well worth it, this is not a fad but a true differentiator for Edifecs to attract and retain talent.
Speaking of money matters, a recent Gallup study reveals employees of all generations rank wellbeing as one of their top three employer search criteria. How are you incorporating wellness programs into your talent recruitment and hiring processes?
We know top talent wants to hear about our wellbeing offerings that set us apart from our competitors. In the recruitment and hiring process, we tout our wellness programs through our website, job descriptions, and in our interviews with candidates. If candidates are able to come onsite for an interview, we give them a tour of our office — including the Wellbeing Center. If the candidate has time, we also treat them to an offering from the center so they can experience how exceptional Edifecs is, firsthand.
We’ve all heard of the four-day work week, unlimited PTO, mental health days, and on demand mental health services. What innovative new programs and pilots are you launching to address employee wellness? And, what are you discovering? We would benefit from an example in each of these areas.
- Mental Wellness:
- Emotional Wellness:
- Social Wellness:
- Physical Wellness:
- Financial Wellness:
Edifecs is continuously offering new programs to meet associates’ health and wellness needs.
Specifically, we’ve introduced programs in the following areas:
- Mental Wellness: Edifecs offers associates a flexible work environment that allows them to work where they feel safe, supported, and productive. This model, “Highly Productive Edifecs,” is designed to eliminate the stress of commutes, doctor’s appointments, and other commitments outside of work. Over 90% of Edifecs associates indicated they “felt great” about this flexible model.
- Emotional Wellness: In addition to providing a flexible work environment, we offer yoga, meditation, and massages to our associates who may need additional emotional support.
- Social Wellness: We want all associates to feel like they belong at Edifecs and can grow in their careers. Recently, we’ve implemented several new programs that specifically address the need to elevate women in leadership roles within the health IT industry, where they are historically underrepresented. For example, we launched the Alliance for Women in Edifecs (AWE), designed to create an inclusive community for women that promotes professional growth, mentorship, and opportunities to learn. We also offer associates one fully paid day off to volunteer at the organizations they feel passionate about and serve their communities.
- Physical Wellness: Whether associates work remotely or in person, we offer a suite of physical wellness offerings. Associates who work in the office have access to our 23,000 square foot Wellbeing Center, which includes a 24-hour fitness center available to associates and their families. For associates who work remotely, we offer virtual physical wellness classes like yoga, meditation, and dance aerobics.
- Financial Wellness: Through our Wellbeing Center, we connect associates with life coaches who can help talk through associates’ financial wellbeing. We also offer educational events and workshops throughout the year to support associates who may have finance-related questions.
Can you please tell us more about a couple of specific ways workplaces would benefit from investing in your ideas above to improve employee wellness?
By investing in these wellbeing programs, associates will feel more empowered to do their best work and best serve customers. We believe our rapid growth is a direct result of our associates feeling well-supported by Edifecs. Additionally, in an era of the “Great Resignation,” associates who feel well-supported are more likely to stay and encourage others to join their team.
How are you reskilling leaders in your organization to support a “Work Well” culture?
Our learning and development programs are geared to allow leaders to grow within the company and ensure that we have a robust talent pool and pipeline filled with promising future leaders. We view development as a ‘one size fits one’ approach and have therefore designed programs that are self-directed and allow associates to help themselves to develop their careers. We also offer LinkedIn Learning to all our associates.
For our leadership team, we brought in a renowned micro-inequities trainer and an expert in remote team management to lead interactive courses in their respective areas of expertise.
Ideas take time to implement. What is one small step every individual, team or organization can take to get started on these ideas — to get well?
I’d encourage individuals, teams, or organizations to start with establishing “associate wellbeing” as a core cultural value that is infused throughout the company. For example, for Edifecs, one of our core values is “Collaboration,” which includes respect for one another, trusting one another, and creating a workplace that embraces diversity.
What are your “Top 5 Trends To Track In the Future of Workplace Wellness?”
- Associate wellness will be increasingly delivered in remote environments:
There will be an increasing need to ensure all associates — whether they work remotely, in-office, or on a hybrid schedule — have access to wellbeing programs. This is why we’ve implemented virtual and in-person wellbeing offerings for Edifecs associates. - Employers should be intentional about inviting women back to the workplace who left during the pandemic:
The pandemic led many women and caregivers to leave the workforce to care for children at home as schools closed. Companies have a responsibility to help invite women back into the workforce and create reentry programs that work for their schedules. This is why we have our spousal internship program. The goal of the program is to help a spouse that left the workforce make a soft re-entry by providing them the opportunity to brush up on their skills and technical knowledge. - Mental health will be a top priority for associates:
While the U.S. is technically out of a “pandemic” state related to COVID-19, the impact of the last two years has introduced an equally dangerous pandemic — a mental health crisis. Employers should continue to educate associates about mental health resources available to them. For example, do they have access to online therapy or mental health days throughout the year? Now is the time to double down. - Leadership should have regular check-ins with associates focused on wellbeing:
Not only should managers talk to associates about career growth, they should also discuss associate wellbeing. This could look like quarterly check-ins where one of the topics is associate satisfaction and how a company can best support each associate’s individual needs. - Leadership teams and managers should set an example for “work-life balance” for their teams:
Prioritizing associate wellbeing should be a value lived by everyone on staff, and leadership teams should lead the charge. Leaders set the example (whether implicitly or explicitly) for associates in terms of hours worked in a day (or night), vacation days, and whether they log in during the weekend.
What is your greatest source of optimism about the future of workplace wellness?
For over 15 years, Edifecs has set a new standard for associate wellness with our Wellbeing Center and innovative wellness offerings. I am excited to build on this momentum and expand our program even further with new offerings that challenge the status quo of what “work” should look and feel like.
Our readers often like to continue the conversation with our featured interviewees. How can they best connect with you and stay current on what you’re discovering?
Readers can connect with me on LinkedIn here and follow Edifecs workplace innovation here.
Thank you for sharing your insights and predictions. We appreciate the gift of your time and wish you continued success and wellness.