Mahua Bisht, CEO, 1to1help.net is a dynamic leader with a strong background in technology and social impact. She drives innovation, enhances user experience, and leverages strategic expertise to lead industry advancements and foster long-term growth.
In an insightful interaction with Women Entrepreneurs Review Magazine, Mahua shares her insights on the evolving employee-work pressure dynamics in today’s corporate landscape with an emphasis on needs of Gen Z workforce. She emphasizes the need for creating holistic wellness strategies for Gen Z employees while also talking about how to avoid the traps of today’s ‘hustle culture’. She explores how organizations can integrate mental health and social impact initiatives to support Gen Z’s well-being.
How is employees’ relationship with work pressure evolving in today's corporate landscape? How can organizations adapt their wellness and support programmes to address these changes?
The relationship between employees and organisations has gotten increasingly more complicated and intertwined, and is a reflection of societal changes, technological advancements and changing priorities. Both seem to expect more from each other. To adapt, organisations should:
Focus on Mental Health Integration: Embed mental health resources into the overall employee experience by integrating it into the various rituals and touchpoints in an employee’s lifecycle – whether at onboarding, becoming a manager, relocation, townhalls, annual offsite, quarterly trainings etc. and similarly doing catering to every transition an employee goes through from a wellbeing standpoint. Doing this ensures that mental health and wellbeing are part and parcel of everyday life, and goes beyond celebrating mental health on globally recognized days
Offer Flexible, Personalised Solutions: One-size-fits-all well-being programmes are no longer enough. Tailoring support to the specific needs of employees, or even the same employee in different times of their life shows that the organisation is in tune with the unique challenges every change and individual faces
Promote a Culture of Open Dialogue & Psychological Safety: This can be achieved through a concerted effort by leadership to empower managers & teams through training, and programmes to ensure that employees feel valued, heard and free to express concerns and are able to take risks without fear
Focus on Prevention and Resilience: While crisis intervention is important, organisations should also focus on prevention. This includes offering training in resilience, mindfulness empathy building, psychological safety in teams, building a solution-focused thought process, adaptability and ally-ship
Wellness programs often focus on physical health. How can organizations better integrate mental and emotional wellness into the overall strategy to cater to Gen Z’s holistic health needs?
Generation (Gen Z) is more attuned to the importance of holistic health, seeking a balance that nurtures their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. To truly cater to their needs, organisations must evolve wellness programmes to integrate all aspects of health.
Create a Holistic Wellness Framework: This could involve providing a mix of resources that span physical health benefits (like health screenings), mental health support (including counselling and therapy) and emotional wellness programmes (such as stress management workshops, mindfulness training and resilience-building programmes)
Measure and Evolve Programmes: Regularly collecting feedback from employees, especially Gen Z, allows organisations to adjust and improve their offerings. This feedback loop ensures that the mental and emotional wellness initiatives remain relevant and effective
Incorporate Mental Health into Culture: Organisations can embed mental health into their culture by promoting open dialogue, regular check-ins, transparency from leadership on mental health topics, mindfulness around distinct employee needs, establish boundaries, encourage empathy and appreciate vulnerability
Leverage Technology: Meeting Gen Z in the mode that they are most comfortable in to create awareness is best. Whether this is on slack, via teams, WhatsApp, internal or external mobile apps to drive and reinforce the availability of support. In addition, investing in educative and self-paced programmes to develop skills for mental health and emotional well-being helps employees maintain a sense of control over their well-being
Establish Reer Support: Creating mentorship or peer support networks within the workplace can be an effective way to integrate emotional wellness
Gen Z is known for being socially conscious. How do you think integrating social impact initiatives within corporate wellness programmes can help alleviate work pressure for this generation?
Integrating social impact initiatives into corporate wellness programmes is a powerful way to resonate with Gen Z's values, provide a sense of fulfillment and alleviate work pressure. This generation is deeply committed to social responsibility and is looking for employers who align with their sense of purpose to make a positive difference in the world.
Purpose Driven Work Enhances Well-being: The sense of purpose not only fosters a deeper connection with the organisation but also has a positive effect on mental well-being, reducing stress and increasing job satisfaction
Building Connections Alleviates Feeling of Pressure: Social impact initiatives, such as community service days or group efforts to support local charities, provide opportunities for employees to foster meaningful connections.
Reduces Risk of Burnout: Engaging in social impact activities allows employees to step away from the daily grind and shift their focus to something greater than work. This type of engagement can act as a reset, offering a mental break and reducing the intensity of work-related stress.
Emotional Resilience: Engaging in activities that contribute to a greater cause often encourages gratitude, perspective shifts and a sense of empowerment. These emotional benefits can help alleviate the psychological pressures that often come with challenging work environments.
How can organizations foster resilience in Gen Z employees without promoting a hustle culture, and what role does wellness play in encouraging sustainable long-term performance?
Fostering resilience in Gen Z employees without promoting a hustle culture is a delicate balancing act, especially as this generation is often exposed to the pressures of a fast-paced, performance-driven environment.
- Adaptive Resilience: This can be achieved by offering training that focuses on stress management, emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility skills that help employees handle adversity without resorting to excessive work or unhealthy coping mechanisms.
- Encouraging a Growth Mindset: Organisations should encourage experimentation, support creative risk-taking and ensure that mistakes are viewed as learning experiences.
- Leadership Training: Investing in leadership training that focuses on empathy, active listening, and understanding the diverse challenges employees face, helps create a supportive environment where resilience is nurtured.
- Collaborative over Competitive: Organisations can promote team-based problem-solving and create opportunities for Gen Z to work together, sharing challenges and supporting one another. This reduces individual stress and allows employees to build resilience as a group.
- Type of recognition: Organisations can encourage resilience by recognising employees for their efforts in ways that align with their values such as acknowledging creativity, collaboration, or personal growth rather than just performance.
Wellness plays a crucial role in encouraging sustainable long-term performance by promoting physical, mental and emotional well-being, which enables employees to consistently perform at their best without experiencing burnout.
As you led advancements in the Employee Assistance Programme space, what future trends do you foresee for EAPs, especially in how they can support the work-life integration of Gen Z employees facing increased pressures in the workplace?
I foresee several key trends shaping the future of EAPs, particularly in how they support the work-life integration of Gen Z employees.
- Personalised Support: Gen Z employees will expect EAPs to offer resources that are preemptive and adapt to their specific needs, whether these needs are time-based, issue-based, demographic-based or otherwise
- Data-driven insights: By analysing usage patterns and employee feedback, EAPs can deliver targeted support that anticipates needs before they become issues
- Multi-modal & Localised Support and a Broader Care Continuum: This includes offering sessions not just across modes but in local languages and for a broader mandate whether this is substance abuse, chronic pain management, addressing sleep, serious mental health concerns and more
- Group Formats: Gen Z values connection and shared experiences, so group formats can provide a sense of community, reduce stigma around mental health, and foster collaboration among peers facing similar challenges
- Diversity/Inclusion: EAPs will offer services that are culturally sensitive and tailored to diverse groups, ensuring that employees from different backgrounds whether racial, gender, or neuro-divergent receive appropriate, stigma-free support that respects their unique challenges.
- Addressing a Multigenerational Workforce: Offering tailored advice and services that speak directly to the unique challenges of different life stages and equipping managers and leaders to also sensitively manage their multigenerational workforce will make for greater impact
