Innovative and Efficient Approaches to Improving Employee Well-Being

BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi | February 26, 2025

When the fires in Los Angeles, California sparked in January, many employees of S&P Global were impacted. In order to support its employees, the company looked into its retirement plan and offered its workers to use funds from their 401k plan to get what they needed to support themselves financially through a FEMA disaster relief withdrawal policy.

As the world sees increased natural disasters, financial pressures, health challenges and more, employee well-being is a topic that needs to be talked about now more than ever. Well-being includes mental health, physical health and finances. During a panel at From Day One’s Atlanta conference, executives joined moderator and journalist Alexis Hauk for a conversation on how corporations are taking innovative and efficient approaches to improving employee well-being.

A Focus on Flexibility

After Covid, many companies are working on having employees return to the office after years of remote and hybrid meetings. In this post-pandemic era, companies are facing the conflict of employees seeking flexibility in their work while management attempts to bring them back to work in person.

Jan Goldstein, senior vice president of human resources at Gray Media Group works with broadcast journalists who are covering stressful topics about shootings, fires and disasters all while working under a tight deadline and having to look their best while doing it, she says.

Under Gray Media Group, management and HR focuses on creating a healthy work environment and culture to encourage employees to come into the office and allow them to feel like they want to be working in person. The company currently has a hybrid model to allow time in person to build relationships and culture while also giving employees flexibility to work from home.

Vitor Hugo Cid, global head of HR for patient care informatics at Philips says his company has been in the process of impending the push to return to the office over the last six months. Philips currently has a hybrid work model as well.

It’s important to establish clear policies around hybrid, remote or in person work, he says. Some positions such as manufacturing roles simply cannot be done from home. To bring people back into the office, a change in mindset needs to occur, Vitor Cid added.

“What we’re starting to do in this new approach is really think about intentionally creating moments that matter, [like] employee experience, so employees can be in the office and they can actually have those moments of creativity, conversation, building and networking,” he said.

Philips has expanded its diversity and inclusion team to also incorporate well-being. It has implemented a mental health program that invites company employees to become mental health champions who can help others in the company. They receive training from mental health professionals to learn how to act as a guidepost for employees who may need mental health support. It currently has 500 volunteer mental health champions across 130 countries.

Supporting Women’s Health

Ovia Health is a unique family health benefits platform that offers women’s health services to employers. While in the workforce, women are impacted by very specific health challenges, including perimenopause, menopause and pregnancy.

Von Miles, head of commercial strategy and growth for Ovia Health says since the company’s inception in 2012, it has served over 22 million family journeys. Ovia Health offers women education through articles, videos and support through health coaches.

The top four areas of gap that the company identified through surveys from employers included parenting programs, flexibility and schedule, mental health and return to work programs, says Miles. “Feedback is so important, giving them the opportunity to speak to their employer to talk about what their needs and gaps are as it relates to their women's health journey,” said Miles.

Measuring the Success of Wellness Initiatives

Gray Media Group hosts a multitude of events and campaigns for its employees to engage in including gratitude and appreciation campaigns where employees nominate another person they think is awesome to work with, a water drinking challenge and a safe driving pledge. Every month they do something different.

Goldstein says she can measure how well the company’s efforts are doing by seeing how many people are actually participating and engaging in these activities. The company also matches  employee donations that go towards a financial fund that is provided to them as a grant when an employee needs financial support during an unforeseen event.

Financial Well-Being and Emergency Support

According to Tapcheck co-founder & COO Kayling Gaver, 14% of Americans are underbanked, meaning they don’t have access to traditional credit or finances. When employees are struggling with finances, it shows through absenteeism, low productivity and poor health, Gaver says.

By implementing Tapcheck, an instant pay app, employees are able to access their wages immediately when they need them, as they earn their pay. 

“It’s a gig economy,” said Goldstein. “People can drive an Uber for an hour, download their cash, get gas money to keep driving all day. So having that kind of flexibility and urgent access to their earnings, I just think they're going to start to expect from us.” At Gray Media Group, Goldstein was able to implement earned wage access as well as cover the ATM fee for withdrawals.

The executive panelists spoke about "Innovative and Efficient Approaches to Improving Employee Well-Being"

Extreme weather phenomena are increasingly impacting employees across the nation. During these times, finances along with safety might be a concern for employees. From wildfires to snowstorms, employees are facing additional stresses in addition to their work lives.

At Tapcheck, employers offered their staff an emergency fund to help them prepare for a snow storm that was approaching. The program was offered to them as a way to support employees and make sure they were able to stock their pantries and collect any necessities.

Philips also has a crisis team that was developed during Covid that focuses on how to ensure employee safety.

Using AI to Enhance Wellness

Companies carry a lot of information and data across various departments and sometimes that can be difficult and time consuming for people to navigate through. Artificial intelligence can be helpful in organizing this data and providing it to people. 

Tiffany Clark, vice president of people solutions & well-being at S&P Global says her company uses a generative AI bot to help employees find information about benefits. S&P Global has many benefit offerings that range from menopause, leave and financial support. The bots will also help employees interpret the information that is provided. 

Currently, the bot is still being monitored by an employee who is training it and reviewing its actions to make sure it’s providing accurate information. 

“I think technology is going to drive a lot that we see in the well-being space, especially when you look at those three points about, how do you educate, how do you get people direct access, and then how do you use that data to be able to drive the different decisions that you make as an organization?” said Clark. 

While AI is on the rise, it still requires human oversight. Clark clarifies that technology is meant to augment human capabilities, not displacing them. 

S&P Global has taken many steps in preparing and training the bot by testing its functions, conducting risk assessments with an AI council and forming a knowledge team that governs its AI policies, says Clark. 

“AI is nothing without the data. And so making sure that our data set is as clean as possible, that's one of the things that we've done to make sure that we're using AI responsibly,” said Clark.

Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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