'Companies adopting initiatives to promote healthy workplace'

NEW DELHI: Organisations in India and the world over are adopting various initiatives to improve the quality of life of employees, panelists at a symposium said.

The 5th International Healthy Lifestyle Symposium (HLS) focused on the topic Workplace Wellbeing: Ideas for India, noted that workplace health promotion programmes are gaining popularity and companies are adopting such initiatives to promote a healthy workforce.

The symposium was organised by the Delegation of the European Union to India, the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in New Delhi, the European Business Group, All India Management Association and 24alife.

Sanjay Singh of Tata Sons said, in order to promote a healthy workforce, companies should focus on value creation in the personal space and opportunities for skilling, training and continuous learning.

He further noted that there should be effective system of feedback to identify opportunities for improvement.

"It's critical to have a credible appraisal system as nepotism, favouritism and promoting the incompetent erodes trust and destroys motivation," Singh said.

"Only by ensuring that our employees and those around them have a healthy lifestyle and environment to operate in, we can as a company attain sustainable growth," Solomon Ravikumar Vice President & Head- Human Resources, Volvo Group in India, said.

The various initiatives that Volvo India takes to promote healthy workplace include, health awareness event and campaigns, annual and periodic medical check ups, health screening of employee's family, among others.