Sangeeta is a Safety and Wellbeing professional and is Global Head of TCS Cares, the Mental Health and Well-being program at TCS. She is a certified Integrative Counselling Therapist and Founder of WITHIN, an advocacy initiative to promote mental and emotional health awareness and support. Her weekly newsletter #OneforWithin is read by over 30,000 subscribers. In her over 20 years of experience, she has worked across industries like Telecom, Education, Hospitality, BPS and Technology. She has a span of experience in Corporate Communications, CSR, Diversity, Ethics and Safety & Well-being.
We are delighted to share that Sangeeta will be speaking in Mumbai as part of our India summit. We caught up with her to see how she’s feeling in the runup to the event.
Hi Sangeeta, we are thrilled that you will be speaking at the Wellbeing at Work India Summit this week. Our first and most important question is, how are you doing today?
I’m equally thrilled to be part of the India edition of the Summit! I am doing great enjoying the Indian summers here.
As a leader based in the region, what are the main challenges you are facing when it comes to employee wellbeing and mental health?
The current challenge in an organisation such as TCS, the main challenge we face is ensuring we attain the last mile reach. We believe that each and every associate within the organisation should have access to a psychological safe workplace and all the necessary resources which can aid mental wellbeing, however with the vast workforce this becomes a challenge.
Another challenge is the generation wise changing needs of the employees which calls for a blended yet tailored approach for each age group. Today a 25 year old employee may see coping very differently to a 50 year old one. How do we bring value to both these age groups? That has been a significant challenge as well, with the diverse generational workforce .
What strategies have you seen developing over the past 6 months, both internally and externally, that are moving the dial on wellbeing in the workplace?
The entire wellness wellbeing model is shifting from the classic ROI to the VOI model, where the more subtle yet impactful aspects of wellbeing which bring long term value to organizations are being included in the wellbeing strategies.
From Empathetic leadership to sensitized managers, there has been a shift in the leadership virtues as well. Leadership today is more attuned to the wellbeing of their teams, and that has created a top down prioritization of wellbeing.
Leaders are sharing stories, engaging in conversations around mental wellbeing which sets the tone for a safe workspace dynamics.
Also another transformative change is the aspect of holistic wellbeing where our framework ties up not only mental, but physical , social, mind-body and financial wellbeing in collaborative wellbeing offerings.
Also analytics and insights based on the wellbeing offerings’ utilization data are becoming key inputs to move beyond reactive support to proactive identification and early interventions.
Why is employee wellbeing so important to you personally?
Isn’t Wellbeing more than just happiness? Is is how we feel about ourselves, and that also means how we feel about others. And that itself becomes the crux for all life experiences, is what I believe.
So wellbeing is not just a great dinner table conversation starter, but its something personal for each one of us, and I am no exception.
In my role as the Wellbeing Global head, I have experienced potent moments of employees taking charge of their wellbeing and completely transforming their lives. This continues to amaze me each day, and so employee wellbeing is not only important but it brings a lot of value to my own personal sense of self each day in my role here.
What impact is AI having in your organisation and how are you managing that?
AI has a huge role in creating the Last Mile reach impact and we are exploring it, specially in creating support and safety for the younger generation within our workforce. From CBT Chatbots to integrated AI interventions, we are looking at bringing in the AI to aid our human networks to create a 360 degree wellbeing support network for each and every associate with us.
Other than AI, are there any challenges that you are seeing for the first time and how are you addressing them?
Post pandemic, there has been a significant shift in the coping capabilities of humans in general. This has subsequently resulted in more employees feeling vulnerable and needing support in managing their mental and emotional wellbeing.
This requires us as an organisation to rapidly upscale our wellbeing policies, frameworks , offerings to meet the continuously evolving wellbeing needs of our employees.
This called for the Last mile reach focus where we utilized each and every medium, may it be Leadership messaging, social media, broadcast mailers, Expert columns, Wall posters across facilities, SMS communications, Counsellors in office Premises Emotional first Aider networks, and many other avenues to ensure every employee has access to the relevant resource when they need it.
What areas do you think employers should be focused on over the next 12 months?
Measuring Wellbeing with clear performance indicators definitely needs attention. It helps organisations assess the impact of their wellbeing policies and also measure behaviour change.
We need to integrate Wellbeing scorecards in the Business goal sheets rather than treating it as a nice-to-have initiative
Tailored curated offerings for diverse needs is another important focus shift. With wellbeing needs evolving rapidly in the post pandemic era, associates today respond better to solutions created for their specific needs. One Size fits all approach may not work in the present world. Therefore having programs for different genders, personal & business roles, life stages and specific life challenges is becoming significantly essential.
Do you feel that investment in employee wellbeing in the region is increasing or decreasing and is that a direct reflection on HR leaders’ increasing ability to demonstrate effective returns of their strategies to leadership?
The good news is that definitely employee wellbeing has become a budget line item and the investments are definitely increasing. However there is also a need to take cognizance of the fact that without clear ROI indicators or metrics to show the Value on Investments, there will be more challenges in showing impact as compared to other initiatives which work on the ROI model.
However last few years, there has been a steady incline in the resources, policies and leadership focus engaged in employee wellbeing initiatives, which is a very good sign.
How has your organisation been leading the way?
One of the many ways in which TCS has been leading the way is by proactively pre-empting the wellbeing needs and creating frameworks, policies to deploy the same.
Curated wellbeing for leaders, Exclusive Sensitizations for Managers, Self Harm prevention & support protocols, formalized training courses for Mental Health, Emotional First Aiders networks , Provision for Emotional wellbeing leaves, Psychiatrists on board, are just some of the many initiatives put in place to support the growing need for wellbeing across our organisation.
Also Holistic wellbeing offerings and one stop tailored wellbeing solutions including modalities such as yoga, physical fitness, social connections for associates is another area of focus and innovation for us going forward.
Sangeeta will be speaking in Mumbai at the Wellbeing at Work Summit India which takes place in Mumbai on 8th April and Bengaluru on 10th April. Further details on the Summit and tickets can be found here.
