Vismo introduces new Wellbeing feature

Accessible via tiles in the Vismo App, which is used by employees of many FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies and NGOs, and SMEs and public sector organisations to help keep staff safe in at-risk areas and at-risk situations, the new feature addresses concerns about the effects of remote working on those who struggle with it, and risks to productivity.

Wellbeing tiles in the app enable employees to press “Good”, “OK” or “Not good” in order to report how they are feeling. HR departments can provide assistance via a helpline including support from a wellbeing team or “buddy system”. Options and wording in the app are fully customisable by HR or wellbeing staff.

Apart from the option of being able to call a helpline, employees can request a follow-up and choose anonymity if they wish. A prompt can be set up by HR or wellbeing staff - every few days or by a set period of time since the last wellbeing check – to ask lone workers how they are feeling.

“The app provides organisations with the capability to understand how their employees are feeling. From there, appropriate support can be provided,” says Vismo CEO Craig Swallow.

“Since COVID-19 lockdowns started and WFH increased dramatically, feedback shows that while there are benefits to WFH from home and other remote locations, there are downsides too,” Swallow adds. “The upsides include not having to commute, a feeling of freedom and choice of which hours to work, and in some cases increased productivity.

“The downsides revolve around mental and emotional stresses associated with being isolated from colleagues, trying to work among the distractions of children- including home schooling, sharing accommodation with flatmates, having a restricted work space or being alone much or all of the time, and decreased productivity.”

Evidence that wellbeing has become a significant issue in its own right can be seen in an uptick among corporations taking steps to manage it more effectively. Capita, for example, with 62,000 staff around the world, has set up its own in-house wellbeing website for its workers.

The data from the Vismo Wellbeing feature can be fed into external HR systems through an API, providing great flexibility to organisations in their use of the feature.

For more information, visit vismo.com