The importance of a corporate wellness month

What is the significance behind DRW’s “wellness month”?

Wellness has always been an important priority for our firm, as we’ve offered many opportunities for our employees to rest and unwind, even pre-pandemic. The shift in our day-to-day lives as a result of the pandemic made this awareness even more important, and we decided to dedicate a month to highlight the various ways we can support a healthy lifestyle for our employees. Because a variety of things can fall under the umbrella of ‘wellness’: mental wellness, physical wellness and financial wellness, we quickly realized that the concept of ‘wellness’ can be prioritized in different areas at DRW. Wellness can be provided in our benefit offerings, across our many department initiatives, and in the events we host on weekly basis.

What are some of the global events taking place over the course of wellness month?

With a large portion of our employees working from home, we wanted to ensure the maximum number of employees could participate, so they have been planned virtually! We’re excited that employees can get involved from their homes and even involve their family and friends.

Our facilities team organized nutrition workshops that provided tips for employees on how to improve their physical and mental health through nutrition exercises, themed meditation classes, and wellness game nights. Across the globe, we’ve been able to engage with our different benefit vendors to provide webinars and resources to promote employee's overall well-being.

Why is it important to prioritize wellness for our team members?

Going through a once in a lifetime pandemic is not only difficult personally, but professionally too. With the barrier of work and home being almost non-existent for some, Leadership has been empathetic to everyone’s different situations. DRW works hard to ensure employees feel supported through this crazy time - from virtual events to promote socialization for those who live alone, to back-up childcare benefits for families whose regular care might unexpectedly fall through. It’s important for all to feel supported, because our employees are our greatest asset.

What is an example of a Wellness Month program that stands out to you?

Our Talent Development team coordinated a “performance mindset learning pathway,” which taught me techniques to train my thoughts and emotional patterns to help reduce stress during uncertain times and improve my experience in work and at home. More than ever before, we are realizing that having a healthy mindset is so important in all areas of life.

Will the “wellness month” events take place once things “normalize” after the pandemic?

Yes! Yoga and meditation were available on a weekly basis, pre-pandemic. Our mental wellness benefits have created great webinars and learning opportunities for our employees, so we will continue to partner with those vendors consistently in the future to highlight that wellness is always important – no matter what is going on personally or professionally.

Can you tell us about DRW’s “step challenge?”

It was important to us that employees were engaged and motivated to get out and get moving since we have all been apart for so long; that’s how the idea of a team challenge came to be! Finding a way to connect people while simultaneously having to be apart is a difficult task, but this was a good work-around and we have found a lot of success in it.

With 56 teams formed, we were able to reach our 45 million step charity goal before the challenge was even over and received tons of positive feedback from multiple employees! We have loved to see the competitive spirit playing out at DRW. All we can really ask for when planning these types of events is to see everyone in good spirits and having a good time, and so far, the Step Challenge is really coming through.