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There is a wider acknowledgement, fueled by the pandemic we have been through since early 2020. In the new normal context, we need to look at employees wellbeing from an holistic perspective since wellbeing and health are crucial to keep your employees happy, supported and engaged at work. Ultimately it impacts their performance and your talent retention.
Emotional health has gained a lot of visibility over the past few years, even more since the pandemic. Because it might not be visible, and in some organizations and cultures less recognised and seen as a factor of weakness (it is not easy to say you are not doing ok), it might be harder to apprehend.
Get a clear communication that Emotional health is recognized by the company & leadership (to show that the company supports it and encourage the employees to speak up), share personal stories (so people can relate to it), and build a program to develop a few visible actions, it will help.
HR can survey employees on what would make a real difference in their daily life at work, to measure their happiness and well-being level.
Direct managers should check on their employees wellbeing on a regular basis, and try to preserve the team spirit through e-drinks or e-breakfast where chit-chatting is encouraged (like talks around the coffee machine).
Train your managers to develop their confidence and reduce temptations of micro-managing, that can lead to frustrations, disengagement and potentially harassement postures.
A few ideas below that you can implement:
Lack of WSH stewardship and good practices can lead to injuries and fatalities, especially in high risk industries such as construction. You can refer to the WSH Act in Singapore which applies to ALL workplaces and spells out the key responsibilities of various stakeholders (including employers, occupiers and employees).
Ensure a work-life balance by respecting working hours, not overlapping personal life. You can also define some internal rules, in involving your employees to agree on meetings length, use of video, no-meeting day... As they define what works best for them, you increase your chances the rules are adopted and spread across your company. Some ideas:
Depending on your industry, health at work can be an important area of focus, would it be to prevent accidents, develop ergonomy of your work stations, ensure you have the right luminosity,... Some companies can help you to conduct an audit of your security and propose some actions.
If your company has a pantry or offers some catering options, do select providers that provide healthy options and sustainable practices:
Promote healthy snacks and baskets of fruits. You can also offer the options to your employees to have baskets of veggies/fruits delivered at work for them to bring back home.
Think about sustainable practices:
See our Food & Beverage category for more ideas.
Take into account that the pantry is the occasion of informal gatherings that bring extra value: creativity, informal exchanges, team buildings, workshops...
With work from Home, employees may be deprived from corporate socialisation. Office time should be about re-connecting and sharing.
Work from office:
Work from home:
The « sustainability journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.
Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.
Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.
Claire has spent more than 20 years in the HR field working in global environments, accompanying businesses in their -always complex!- development and transformations. Working across teams and cultural boundaries, she became passionate about helping teams and leaders navigate through changes and make sustainable decisions for themselves and their teams, balancing the short-term and long-term impacts in organisations.
Back in2016, she added a coaching hat to her HR experience, got trained and certified(PCC-ICF) with the idea that most of the time what employees and leaders are missing is a space to reconnect with what is really important for them, what makes them successful, or on the contrary slows them down.
In 2021,Claire launched her own business, combining her Executive HR and Professional Coaching expertise. She is since then, helping organizations and individuals who want to do the “right thing” to develop the "S" in ESG through sustainable, human-centred HR Practices, development programs and coaching. To really be the change they want to see!
She is able to strategize, coach, train and advise in order to improve both long term executive and organizational performance, as well as ensuring that personal growth and well-being are taken care of in a sustainable and authentic manner. She is Hogan, Gallup Clifton Strengths, Individual and Team Coaching Certified.
In 2024, she also trained to become a Climate Change Coach, guiding organizations, leaders, and individuals to align business goals with social and environmental responsibility for maximum impact on their climate journey.
Mary has founded Journey Makers to support organisations in their online presence blending customer experience and employee experience. She was previously in charge of Customer Experience for Lyreco Asia and worked on accelerating Digital and Marketing activities. In 2020, she was appointed sustainability ambassador as well for the region, as the topic was becoming a strategic one for the company. Thriving to drive the change internally and externally, she launched a Green Team that she co-led with her colleague.
Prior to this role, Mary had made her career essentially in the hospitality industry at global and regional role, from trade marketing, sales to Digital marketing. Before moving to Singapore in 2015, she was based in Dubai, UAE and France.
Mun Wei is the founder and principal consultant of SustainableSG, which provides advisory and training services in sustainability, strategy, risk and entrepreneurship.
He has worked with corporate, government and non-profit clients on strategy and implementation, reviewing organizational programmes and targets related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, benchmarking and communicating sustainability and other corporate programmes and achievements, promoting inclusive hiring, developing compliance policies and reports, and formulating innovative business models.
He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
I have been working in Asia for the past 12 years (Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore since 2014) within the digital and technology space.
I have founded and run several companies in different sectors such as IT Consulting, Education, and the F&B business.
I am passionate about how to use technology as a force for good.
Most of my professional career was in Sales and Marketing for emissions-intensive sectors (automotive, telecom, oil and gas industries) to say the least…. But I always knew I had to look for a greater purpose. Covid19 slowed down my professional activities and helped me to follow my passion. I decided to open a new chapter and follow a new career path, but to do so, I had to study sustainability.
I particularly like innovation and tech, so I wish to pursue my career with a tech for good angle.
Carolin is a passionate and driven entrepreneur and sustainability advocate. She is involved in many projects and initiatives that contribute to reducing our environmental impact.
In 2020, Carolin founded the social enterprise susGain.
susGain is a rewards-based engagement app that focuses on driving behavioural change within communities (corporates, schools, NGOs etc.) whilst measuring ESG reportable data on the impact created. By better connecting the environmentally and socially conscious stakeholders, susGain hopes to accelerate the change towards more sustainable communities.
Prior to susGain, Carolin worked as Account & Project Manager in an HR consulting and change management firm, where she was responsible for business development and end-to-end project management of training and consulting projects across APAC.
In July 2021, Carolin won the Finder's Expatpreneur Sustainability Award. susGain has also been recognized by Global Initiatives at the Sustainable Business Awards Singapore 2020/21.
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As the Senior Programme Manager for Sustainability Validation and Verification at TÜV SÜD, Mei Yee helps organisations add credibility and assurance to their greenhouse gases (GHG) emission assertations and GRI reports by providing third-party verification reports to support organizational claims.
She has six years of experience in the standards development of ISO 30500 and ISO 31800, testing, and certification for non-sewered sanitation systems. Prior to that, Mei Yee spearheaded World Toilet Organization's Rainbow School Toilet projects in China and Sanishop in Cambodia. She is passionate about driving corporate social responsibility and sustainability and has spent more than 18 years in various fields working internationally across teams and cultural boundaries before turning her focus on Singapore to helping companies with their carbon reduction journey. She holds a Masters in Community Water and Sanitation and a Science Degree in Earth Science, majoring in geology and physical geography.
She is a certified WSQ Advanced Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP) Train-The-Trainer (TTT). Since then, she has facilitated many companies in the training for Green Compass – An environmental assessment framework targeted at SME/ manufacturing industries.
I was born in Vietnam and grew up in France in Paris’ low income suburbs. My parents used to bring us to the park to have some outdoor activities and that’s where my father taught my siblings and I to observe, love and respect nature. He gave us perspective on our place in a much bigger ecosystem.
At that time, we didn’t describe our family as “sustainable”. It was very pragmatic, we didn’t waste anything, we mended everything, saved and reused, because we just couldn’t afford not to :)
In 2018 in Singapore, after what felt like a long, unfulfilling professional tunnel on autopilot, I was forced to make a pause and took the opportunity to consider what I really wanted to do with my life (I know this resonates with many!)
Then I really realised how passionate I was about sustainability and for the first time, I considered making it my job. Nothing is easy when you don’t hold the right degrees or the right amount of money, so I co-created The Matcha Initiative to jump into action instead of procrastinating. That’s how you start an amazing experience with amazing people :)
Cherry on the cake: TMI helped me land my current job at Handprint, where we help businesses embrace the next step - Regeneration.
Founder of Cultivating Wholeness, a network-based global coaching and advisory firm, Sarah is a PCC ICF certified Executive Coach and acts as a catalyst for personal, cultural and organizational transformation.
She supports leaders of purpose-led start-ups or organisations to bring forth a profound shift in their strategy through regenerative principles and empower them to role model the behaviors driven by their values and purpose. Enabling their business to be a life-affirming positive force in stewarding our planet on a regenerative path.
To do so, she leverages more than 10 years of experience coaching senior leaders in MNCs through their cultural transformations across Asia, Europe, and North America combined by her rich personal development through adversity.
