"We want to improve the wellbeing of our employees within our bank"
04 July 2024 | Comment(s) |
Lise Grangier-Théoduloz
Wellbeing at work increases loyalty and productivity! Many companies have become aware of this in recent years, and have not hesitated to implement concrete measures to promote a healthier working environment within their company. This is the case of the Banque Cantonale du Valais (BCVS), which, with the support of its Human Relations department, has called on the services of Groupe Mutuel's Corporate Health Management (CHM) specialists. Here is what Yolanda Fernandez, HR Business Partner at BCVS, has to say.
Groupe Mutuel: How did you hear about our Corporate Health Management (CHM) service?
Yolanda Fernandez: It was part of the ongoing collaboration that already exists between our two companies. We met Lise Grangier-Théoduloz, a CHM specialist, because we were thinking about ways of carrying out a health survey for our employees. It turned out that the Job Stress Analysis proposed by Promotion Santé Suisse was exactly what we needed.
Why did you decide to implement the Job Stress Analysis (JSA) survey?
We regularly carry out satisfaction surveys among our employees. We wanted to combine questions on satisfaction with questions on potential stress levels, and the JSA fully meets these needs. The tool is easy to use and enables us to compare different aspects.
We also appreciate the fact that it is accredited by Promotion Santé Suisse and that we can benchmark ourselves against the Swiss average. The costs are reasonable and transparent, so there are no surprises.
In addition, Lise Grangier-Théoduloz was a great help to us in making this choice, as she is familiar with our organisation and the banking sector. We were in regular contact with her, in particular to discuss the issues we wanted to focus on. We really appreciated her help and immediately felt confident.
How did you prepare for the survey?
Once the project had been approved, the Human Resources team, in collaboration with senior managers, discussed and selected the survey modules. For example, we chose to activate the module relating to customer stress because it is very specific to our business.
We also prepared an internal communication campaign, since the JSA survey represented a major change for our staff.
We then signed an agreement with Promotion Santé Suisse certifying our commitment to implement measures within our bank following the survey.
Groupe Mutuel's support via the CHM team was very helpful. We were monitored throughout the survey right up to the moment we analysed the results.
After the survey, were you satisfied with the participation rate and the quality of the data collected?
Absolutely! We had an 80% participation rate, which is very positive. It was reassuring to know that employees had confidence in the tool. The anonymity of the data was guaranteed, and that was very important to us.
Each entity was then able to obtain its own result as well as the overall result. HR provided personalised feedback to managers and then to the business units. The tool also enabled employees to obtain the assessment of their stress levels and to receive customised advice. This is true added value!
What measures have you taken or are you going to implement?
Shortly after the results were presented, we created a new position of Wellbeing Coordinator. Following the recommendations of Groupe Mutuel, we also organised workshops to reflect on the different themes that emerged from the survey. We also asked employees to take part in these workshops so that they could have their say.
We then drew up an action plan and implemented several concrete measures:
- Mini-workshops, coffee-meetings and "Vis ma vie" (job rotation for one day) sessions between employees are under way to maintain good cross-functional collaboration and a close bond between staff members.
- Training courses on absence management will be offered to managers.
- We encourage a culture of continuous feedback to improve communication between managers and their teams. To achieve this, we support our managers with coach-leader training in line with our values and culture.
- We are stepping up our internal communication on these issues with the aim of raising awareness throughout the company.
- Training courses on ergonomics in the workplace will also be offered.
- And to top it all off, yoga classes are now offered during the lunch break.
We still have a lot of ideas, but they require a lot of thought. We won't be able to reach everyone, but we're trying to do everything we can to make a real impact within our company.
What do you think of Groupe Mutuel's support in this area?
The support was really spot-on, and Lise Grangier-Théoduloz was able to provide us with her experience and advice throughout the entire project. It's a real long-term partnership and we see the potential to increase it for the benefit of all our employees.
From now on, our main challenge will be to stick as closely as possible to our day-to-day reality and to provide the best possible support for the career development of our employees. It's a real challenge to get everyone onboard, and this goes far beyond a simple survey. It plays a major part in the development of our corporate culture. The response has been very positive, and that's what encourages us to continue down this path!
