How Wellhub’ Digital Solutions Can Complement New Wellbeing Initiatives

Considered one of the world’s largest companies in the beverage sector, the HEINEKEN group today has over 13,000 employees in Brazil. Since 2017, with the acquisition of Brasil Kirin, the organization has continued to expand and is currently among the largest beer producers in the country.

Naturally, as a result of this growth, the People Management department at HEINEKEN has had to evolve in terms of structure and processes to support the needs of its growing workforce on all fronts; corporate, sales and distribution, and the production team. 3 years ago, in search of a way to improve the quality of life of its employees around the country, the company began a partnership with Wellhub.

In addition to Wellhub’ existing products, which already attracted very high levels of engagement among HEINEKEN employees, following the pandemic, the company began to rely on Wellhub‘ new digital solutions to address the growing concern for the mental health of its employees. According to corporate nurse Suzana Muller, from the Corporate Health department, HEINEKEN had already started working on certain initiatives, however, 2020 accelerated the program’s launch:

“The HEINEKEN Group has always held respect to be one of its core values, and mental health to be a particular focal point. The pandemic acted as a catalyst for the introduction of a number of pre-planned actions due to the growing demands in the face of this global challenge. The companies had to reinvent themselves, paying even greater attention to the question.”

About the program

HEINEKEN’s mental health program is part of a large platform called “HEINEKEN Cuida” (HEINEKEN Care), which from the beginning has been backed by the executive team and management. The program is divided into three main pillars: communication, welcoming, and training. The first pillar aims to educate employees on mental health, and to demystify it through lectures, group interactions, live lectures, support materials, short motivational messages, and posts (often with the support of Wellhub) – thereby promoting behavioral change, including the use of new technologies. Everything is shared through channels that employees engage with the most, such as the in-company social network, WhatsApp messages, and/or newsletters.

The second pillar involves working closely with professionals such as occupational physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, and psychologists. The aim is to assist employees who need mental health support. Suzana explains that the welcoming stage for an employee who enters the program begins with a simple health questionnaire.

“These questionnaires, together with employee interviews, give us guidelines to establish the best conduct for each case. The result determines the proper treatment referral of the employee; either to corporate health doctors (who are either occupational physicians or psychiatrists) or the accredited healthcare network, also supported by other tools available to the company.”

Wellhub is recommended in the welcoming pillar, and each employee receives details about the different applications on the platform and how they can help. There also are options for meditation, nutrition, and physical activity: “We understand there cannot be mental health without physical health. Sometimes, what brings about change in an individual’s mental health is a physical disorder, such as diabetes, hypertension, or obesity,” Suzana notes.

And, last but not least, is leadership training. According to her, this pillar is very important not only to ensure greater recognition of the program internally but also to represent an initial step in breaking taboos on the subject within the corporate world.

The initiative launched in September 2020; after two months, 40 employees had already been welcomed into it. They are monitored monthly by the team who assess their progress, and supported them through custom recommendations such as therapy sessions, physical and nutritional activity plans, along with guidelines for financial wellbeing.

“Wellhub Wellness introduced a new way of looking at how people can take care of themselves, and we are learning about this new world with your support.”

The project is still considered in its early stages which means the results aren’t concrete just yet as the recovery process does not occur immediately. Despite that, the engagement of HEINEKEN employees with Wellhub demonstrate how important of a role HR plays in disseminating and encouraging the use of Wellhub over the years.

It’s quite clear that the strategies implemented as part of HEINEKEN’s mental health program have had a clear impact on the use of Wellhub internally and as a result on the overall wellbeing of their employees According to Suzana, Wellhub’ new digital solutions “introduced a new way of looking at how people can take care of themselves.” We always emphasize to employees that Wellhub is much more than just a gym: it is a complete quality of life benefit.”