The art of health

Because without health, nothing else matters
By Vanessa Burkart and Pascal Schmohl

It is only possible to consistently focus our daily work on our customers’ well-being when we work in an environment shaped by team spirit, dedication and mutual appreciation. As a small, globally active company, we maintain a close-knit corporate culture that is based on a sense of teamwork. And workplace health management is an increasingly important part of this culture. We deeply value those resources that are absolutely irreplaceable – the people at swisspartners, and their physical and mental well-being.

When we pay more attention to our health, we are better able to cope with stress, crises, and exceptional challenges. It helps us to develop a steadfast resilience. That’s why, a few years ago, we carried out an internal study to evaluate the current situation and the needs of our staff as far as workplace health management goes. As a result, a few important topics emerged for us: exercise, nutrition, stress management, relaxation techniques and mental health. This study served as the spark behind our current workplace health management programme “The art of health”.

Pimp your health: promoting employee health at swisspartners

We spend two-thirds of our waking hours at work. So a good working environment is essential, as it is giving people enough freedom to look after their own health. Over the years, we have developed numerous ideas for health management and implemented them with great enthusiasm.

• Participation in the Zurich marathon as a swisspartners team
• Lunch walks: monthly lunchtime walks through Zurich. After walking for an hour, we enjoy a healthy shared lunch with superfood-to-go
• Fruit baskets and booster drinks in the office on a regular basis
• Mindfulness cards for all employees, for a little break during their day
• Training about topics like nutrition, resilience and stress management/relaxation techniques
• A day-long “Racketlon” with table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis for anyone who wants to get involved
• Enough free time during lunch breaks for activities like jogging or yoga – showers are available
• Nuts and healthy juices to everyone working from home
• Table tennis tournament as part of charity events
• Team ski weekends in the winter months
• Discounted gym memberships for all employees
• Ergonomics in the workplace: after the renovations, the new office will feature height-adjustable desks
• Wall gardens and plenty of plants for a relaxing, healthy work environment in the new office

Into the future

Covid and the increased numbers of people working from home changed the world of work for us as well. On the one hand, working from home has given people more time to take a quick walk or get some exercise during their lunch break. On the other hand, there’s a danger of not being able to switch off. Our employees miss the chance to discuss things with their colleagues – and the swisspartners team spirit we’ve mentioned so often. Not all the activities we discussed previously were possible during the pandemic. And the renovations to our offices have meant that many employees seldom have the chance to see each other, which makes it difficult to do things together.

But, for the future, one thing is certain: We want to support our employees – who have a wide age span from their mid-twenties to their mid-seventies – in their health and well-being as much as possible. And to do that, we plan to relaunch the existing health programmes and to create new ones. We want to design working life at swisspartners so that individuals, and their aptitude for change, are more at the heart of things than ever before – so we can reach our shared goals as a company.