Hemas aims for healthy workforce

The Hemas Group launched a comprehensive wellness program for its employees, aiming to have the healthiest workforce in Sri Lanka. This is a holistic approach to wellness focusing on the employees' physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

The wellness program was designed by the company benchmarking some of the globally recognized standards used by multinationals in developed countries.

"Initially we obtained the services of a research company to understand the employees' wellness needs based on health and safety at workplace, welfare, physical fitness, nutrition and stress management," Group Director, Hemas Holdings, Murtaza Esufally said.

"Based on the findings of this research and studying how some of the more progressive companies in the world are helping employees with wellness many programs were launched to address issues pertaining to wellness. We believe that a well-structured wellness program increases employee engagement," he said.

"As per the available statistics approximately 65% of deaths in Sri Lanka are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Many employees in the corporate sector are at risk of getting these complicated diseases at an early age which are difficult and costly to treat," the Group Director said.

"The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2015, recognizes NCDs as a major challenge for sustainable development. Keeping in line with this imperative, the Hemas Group has included NCD screening and education for employees as a sustainability goal in the Company's agenda. When we are successful with our wellness programs we plan to share our learnings with other stakeholders," Esufally said.