A Start-Up's "12-Month Healthy Goal" For Staff Amid Pandemic

Zerodha, the financial services company, has launched an initiative to encourage its employees to get fitter and healthier

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, conversations around the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle have gained more audience. And in an example of this, Zerodha, the financial services company, has launched an initiative to encourage its employees to get fitter and healthier. Over a period of 12 months, employees at the organisation will be encouraged to make a transformation in their living patterns and will be rewarded for the same. Speaking about the initiative, Nithin Kamath, founder and CEO of Zerodha, said on Twitter that the realisation that most members of the team were at their unhealthiest version after the COVID-19 lockdown was the inspiration behind the initiative. Post the first lockdown, like everywhere, our team @zerodhaonline as a whole was probably the unhealthiest ever, due to the lack of physical activity, work-life imbalance, bad diet, & more. We thought of a way to nudge the team to get healthy and the results are phenomenal. 1/3 On our internal forum(@discourse), we asked everyone to set a 12-month get-healthy goal & update the progress every month, to create accountability. To increase participation, we said everyone who reaches the goal will get a 1-month salary as bonus & 1 lucky draw for Rs 10lks 2/3 The transformation stories are super inspiring & pushing others to take action as well. We also have proof that getting healthy improves professional performance as well. Our Get Healthy program will now run permanently.Sharing to seed the idea among fellow entrepreneurs. 3/3 Dear Nitin - it's a very good idea. Lockdown has taught all of us to value health over wealth. Whoa ! That's incentive indeed Great initiative @Nithin0dha . This is stupendous. I have rarely heard any better initiative than this for Employee Welfare. #GoodHealth Incentives can work magic! https://t.co/oCGGydgx9B This is how a company should work. https://t.co/kcTM8XK2Oy Mr Kamath said that a combination of factors, such as a sedentary lifestyle, improper diet and lack of work-life balance, had led the team to this far-from-desirable situation. In a tweet, Mr Kamath said, "Post the first lockdown, like everywhere, our team at Zerodha as a whole was probably the unhealthiest ever, due to the lack of physical activity, work-life imbalance, bad diet, and more. " "We thought of a way to nudge the team to get healthy and the results are phenomenal," Mr Kamath continued. To encourage people to switch to healthier alternatives in life, the company even offered its employees some perks. Explaining further, he said, "On our internal forum, we asked everyone to set a 12-month get-healthy goal and update the progress every month, to create accountability. To increase participation, we said everyone who reaches the goal will get a 1-month salary as a bonus and 1 lucky draw for Rs 10 lakhs."