Happiest Minds Uses Wearables to Improve Staff Health

Hate your work place because it gives you no scope for any kind of physical activity? Forever tied to your workstation in that shady corner of the office? Or even worse, convinced that your occasional trip to the coffee machine is more than what your body needs? You probably don’t work at the Happiest Minds campus in Bangalore.

The IT services and consulting firm is among the first in the country to use wearable technology to ensure the physical wellness of its staffers. Today, close to half of the company’s workforce uses a wearable pedometer, produced by Bangalore-based start-up GetActive, that monitors their physical activity.

At a time when wearable tech is still largely restricted to the consumer world, Happiest Minds is nudging it into the enterprise.

The stylish device, when worn by an employee, tracks the number of steps they take, the distance they cover, and the number of calories they burn. It also tracks how much they sleep. But unlike many wearables in the market, this pedometer allows users to see their activities on an interactive dashboard. The device can be directly connected to a laptop to analyze the data.

“This unique feature allows us to do many more things with the device,” says Gaurav Saini, Associate Director of People Practice team at Happiest Minds. “We conduct ‘virtual walkathons’ for employees. Our recent 2,000 km-walkthon from Bangalore to Mumbai had many active participants. The dashboard is integrated with google maps, so people can see the places covered and compare their progress with the ‘buddies’ who are competing with them.”

The device ensures users achieve the ideal scenario of at least 10,000-12,000 steps a day. While Happiest Minds have many other initiatives to ensure the physical wellness of its people, like Yoga and Tai Chi, nothing can match the novelty and uniqueness of a wearable device. The ‘fun’ factor is the added advantage.

What’s more, walking is now an act of philanthropy at Happiest Minds. Through a tie-up with a local NGO, the company’s management converts ‘steps’ in to meals for under-privileged children. Every 1,000 steps covered by the employees is considered as one meal by the company management. All the more reason for walking!