Corporate Social Responsibility: Employee Health and Wellness

Company #1: American Express

Healthy living initiative

• American Express invests in their employees' physical and mental well-being through their award-winning corporate health and wellness initiative called Healthy Living.
• Healthy Living provides employees with enhanced access to care, supportive resources, and incentives for a healthier lifestyle.
• Healthy Living has been launched for over 7 years, encouraging employees to have increased physical activity and to understand the consequences of poor health and stress at work.
•  96% of American Express workers had access to at least one Healthy Living program or services worldwide.
• There are currently 21 on-site Healthy Living Wellness Centers that are open around the world.

healthy minds program

• The Healthy Minds program of American Express is a free, confidential counseling service that provides employees with help on planning life events, address personal issues, or managing everyday events that can eventually affect their work, health and family.
• The Healthy Minds program has won multiple awards including two major American Psychological Association awards, the Phoenix Workplace Excellence Award, the inaugural national Organizational Excellence Award, and the Employee Assistance Society of North America's Corporate Excellence Award.

Family responsibilities

• American Express increased the amount of parental leave to 20 weeks for their US-based regular full-time and part-time employees in 2017, where both fathers and mothers receive full base pay.
• American Express employees who will grow their family through adoption or surrogacy are able to reimburse for expenses of up to $35,000 per child with a maximum of 2 events per lifetime. Employees who will undergo reproductive treatments are also eligible for medical assistance of up to $35,000.
• American Express launched their "Families at American Express Employee Network" in 2005, with over 5,000 members across 8 chapters, to provide support for families that need help to balance their professional and personal priorities.
• American Express employees in the US, UK, France and Canada have access to in-home or center-based child care. US-based employees have 20 days of subsidized back up dependent care, either in-home or through child care centers, while France employees have the benefit of 30 days of nursery care for children up to 3 years old.
• US-based employees are provided with resources and programs for taking care of special needs children, including free webinars on related topics.

Financial wellness

• American Express provides their employees with global Smart Saving programs, which include financial education toward specific life stages: from new employees that recently graduated, to new families, parents planning for college and more.
• Smart Saving program in the US includes the 401(k) program, financial planning coaching and workshops, on-demand access to financial education resources, and deals and discounts.
• Last 2017, American Express increased their match for their 401(k) retirement savings account from 5% to 6% of total pay for US employees.
•  88% of US employees were filling their 401(k) program, as of December 31, 2017.
• American Express celebrates their Global Smart Saving Month, with events and workshops about financial wellness education, including a personalized financial wellness assessment by over 4,000 colleagues in 2017.

Company #2: BCD Travel

compensation and benefits

• BCD Travel offers employee benefits and compensation programs that are appropriate and competitive for the markets in which they operate.

Work-life balance

• BCD Travel provides their workers with work-life fit that's best for them by creating a flexible workplace. 

Health, safety, and environmental protection

• BCD Travel provides employee protection against unreasonable health and safety risks, including taking care of their well-being on their job.

Company #3: Carlson wagonlit travel inc. (CWT Travel)

Global health and safety charter

• CWT has their Global Health and Safety Charter in order to ensure they conduct their business in accordance with applicable health and safety laws and regulations and have a working environment that will contribute to their employee wellbeing.

Repetitive strain injury (RSI)

• Local teams provide support, identification, and rehabilitation to any employees affected by RSI, like ergonomic office furniture or work from home for employees, in order to ensure that they return to work healthy as quickly as possible.
• The Canada team offers an ergonomic guide in setting up equipment to prevent RSI; UK and Ireland have their Display Screen Equipment Assessors to assist individual needs; in Belgium and Luxembourg, they offer ergonomic furniture to employees suffering RSI.

Stress management

• CWT teams have different ways to prevent stress and promoting ways to manage stress in the workplace is one of them.
• The Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands teams have "chill rooms" for employees to take time away from their work.
• The UK and Ireland teams have their wellbeing policy and self-assessment survey mirroring the HSE Management Standards Stress Indicator Tool.
• Canada has their voluntary Employee Assistance Program, which is a confidential counseling and information service for CWT employees and their families.
• CWT India has their regular yoga sessions to prevent stress.
• CWT France has their 20-minute massages during work hours to prevent stress.

Work-life balance and well-being

• CWT promotes work-life balance and employee well-being through different programs such as the Quality of Life at Work action plan in France offering a variety of measures to improve work-life balance.
• Some of the measures include a "listening cell" where employees can seek professional support for help with sensitive situations in confidence.
• The CWT employee well-being is managed globally by their Development and Performance Management process.

Safe travel

• CWT provides safety travel plans for its employees by partnering with International SOS, a leading provider of emergency medical, travel, and security assistance globally, and by offering extended medical and safety/security protection for employees traveling personally or for business.

Workplace health

• CWT received a certificate of recognition at the Singapore HEALTH Awards for promoting workplace health and enhancing their employees' well-being.
• Health activities included encouraging their employees to stay healthy by eating well, doing regular exercise, and providing additional annual leave rewards for employees who did not take their medical leave.

Company #4: Hyatt Hotels Corporation

• According to World Atlas, Hyatt Hotels Corporation is the 15th largest hotel chain worldwide, with over 667 properties.

Promoting holistic well-being

• Hyatt Hotels provide tools to support continual learning, such as tuition reimbursements and travel perks.
• The company promotes the employees well-being by providing spaces to relax, exercise options, and low-cost or free healthy foods in the cafeterias.
• Hyatt Hotels also allow their employees to nurture relationships and connect with communities through networking opportunities, flexible work arrangements, volunteerism, and other similar channels.
• Hyatt Hotels' Colleague Well-Being Council helps them evaluate and shape how they can energize their employees through colleague well-being discovery work feedback.

Offering leading benefits

• Hyatt Hotels provide employee health care, competitive wages, retirement savings, performance-based incentives, and additional industry-leading perks such as complimentary hotel stays.
• US-based employee benefits include coaches to help quit tobacco, employer-paid short-term disability, free expert medical guidance for health conditions, and easy, low-cost access to doctors for employees and their families.

Supporting families

• Hyatt Hotels is one of the first companies in the industry to provide a Global Family Assistance Policy, offering primary caregivers or domestic partners paid time-off and financial assistance after giving birth to their children or adopting a child.

ACCENTURE

• Accenture developed the Truly Human workshop, based on scientific health and well-being research, in partnership with Thrive Global, a wellness company. Accessible to all of their employees, the workshop includes self-assessments and science to help the employees think about how they work in order to improve their working routines by making small changes.
• They also launched the global Stop:Start campaign, which encourages their employees to share what micro-changes they are making to be at their best and creates a forum for them to publicly commit so others will listen and keep them accountable.
• Accenture teamed with Potential Project, a global leader in corporate mindfulness, to create the Accenture Mindfulness Program, which helps employees learn how to train their minds to become more mentally focused.
• They are also working to create unique experiences across their office locations, introducing different workspace configurations for sitting, standing and lounging, healthy snack options, and providing spaces for prayer and meditation.

CIGNA

• To advance employee wellness, Cigna has a multi-year plan that involves an evolving global strategy targeting top US and global health risks and site-specific employee health dashboards.
• They provide a robust incentives platform to reward employees for healthy actions.
• Cigna also executes a communications campaign to promote education on available programs, incentives and services both on site and virtually. This makes Cigna a healthier, more productive organization, and also a more attractive employer to our current and prospective employees.
• Each year, employees are asked to participate in the Healthy Life Post Benefits Enrollment Survey. The 2017 results show very positive feedback from its employees, with 93% of employees stating that they believe that Cigna shows concern for their health, well=being, and security and (96%) that Cigna’s culture is supportive of their efforts to pursue a healthy lifestyle.

• Building and evolving a workplace culture of health;
• Leveraging Cigna’s leading products and services ;
• Driving employees and their families to take greater personal accountability for their health ;
• Managing company costs and employee cost sharing;
• Improving workforce productivity while positively impacting business results.

•  Get preventive care 
• Work with a personal coach to make progress towards their goals ;
• Receive support to quit tobacco, lose weight and replace stress with resiliency;
• Learn how to choose energy boosting meals and be more physically active ;
• Better manage chronic health conditions such as heart disease, asthma, diabetes, depression and many more ;
• Engage in global campaigns focused on key health priorities including resiliency, nutrition and physical activity.

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