ING Financial Markets, part of global banking organisation ING, has achieved a 95% take-up rate for its new wellbeing programme, which launched in March 2017.
The Wellbeing Quotient (WQ) programme, which is available to 350 ING Financial Markets’ sales employees across 30 countries, is designed to help staff actively manage their personal and professional wellbeing, as well as drive measurable and sustainable changes in nutrition, exercise, sleep, and relaxation.
As part of the six-month programme, all eligible employees are provided with an activity tracker, which links to a WQ app that delivers personalised data and feedback relating to the programme’s four key pillars: eat, move, sleep, and relax. The programme then provides relevant educational information and content around these areas in four, six-weekly blocks, allowing employees to focus on one component at a time.
The WQ programme also enables employees to contact individuals from an expert pool of professionals, including professors, coaches, and Olympic athletes, who they can email or call for advice in a specific subject as and when required.
E-learning and online tools for all staff taking part will be supported by face-to-face presentations in nine global locations informing employees about the programme, and a wellbeing questionnaire at the beginning and end of the programme will also help employees to monitor their progress.
The activity trackers were given to ING Financial Markets’ sales staff on 9 March 2017, with the bank extending access to the programme to interested clients, and employees’ friends and family on 3 April 2017 to help foster a culture of wellbeing. Friends, family and clients receive a €100 (£85) discount to get the device and join the programme.
The first block of the WQ programme, eat, will commence on 18 April 2017.
Participation in the wellbeing programme is optional and no personal information is shared, unless by invitation. Since the activity trackers were given to ING Financial Markets’ sales staff, 95% have signed up to the programme.
The WQ programme, provided in conjunction with Lifeguard and TomTom, follows on from ING’s Emotional Quotient (EQ) programme, which launched three years ago to help ING Financial Markets’ sales staff improve and understand their emotional intelligence. The EQ programme covers areas such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
Both programmes form part of the organisation’s next-generation professional development programme, which aims to support staff in a changing business environment.
Mark Pieter de Boer (pictured), global head of financial market sales at ING, said: “We’ve seen a lot of enthusiastic uptake of corporate health programmes, however [organisations] have generally outsourced them while focusing on metrics like sick days taken or health insurance costs.
“The focus of ING [Financial Markets’] programme is the growth of personal and professional wellbeing. As our wellbeing is influenced by our environment too, we have opened up the journey for friends, family, colleagues and interested clients, giving it a wonderful purpose.”