Devinix is an IT company that offers its 35 employees a generous wellness allowance, a running group, floorball and the opportunity to train during working hours at a gym around the corner. After OneLab’s health and work environment survey among Devinix employees, it turned out that several staff members were in the risk zone for health problems. We spoke with Eric Gyllenberg, COO at Devinix, who explained why they chose to partner with OneLab and how it has affected the company.
”It doesn’t work to start saving for retirement at 63 — the same applies to your health”
Eric Gyllenberg
COO, Devinix
A company with a clear health profile
Devinix offers its employees SEK 4,500 in wellness allowance and the opportunity to play floorball once a week and run in a group twice a week. One hundred metres from the office there is also a gym where everyone can train as much as they want for just SEK 149 per month — around the clock and during working hours. In other words, Devinix is a company with a clear health profile that has created every opportunity for its employees to stay active. However, many employees do not use Devinix’s health benefits — it is usually the same people who use their wellness allowance or go out and exercise. A trend that management is actively working to change in order to promote a healthier lifestyle. With simple maths, management realised that despite all health initiatives there was significant room for improvement to promote staff health and manage work environment risks. Something else was needed. And that is where OneLab came in. ”We wanted to see how the company was really doing”, says Eric.
OneLab is not a major investment
At a smaller company, every employee matters, as they usually hold specialist roles that are indispensable to the business. This makes a smaller company more vulnerable to sick leave and ill health. A larger company with a couple of hundred employees can handle sick leave and rehabilitation, but it is harder for a smaller business. ”Investing in a health and work environment survey from OneLab was therefore not a particularly large investment in the grand scheme of things”, says Eric.
Initially there was some hesitation among a few employees about taking part in a health and work environment survey, but after a kick-off with OneLab and accessible on-site sampling, everyone eventually participated. ”The health and work environment survey worked smoothly and professionally. Plus the feedback came back quickly”, says Eric.
After the health and work environment survey, Devinix has already seen increased awareness around health. The hamburger has occasionally been swapped for salad and energy drinks are not as common.
”We chose to communicate the aggregated results and risk assessment to all employees, which showed that a large proportion were actually in the risk zone. An eye-opener for us in management, but also for the people it concerned. Since so many were in the risk zone, nobody needs to feel alone, which hopefully makes it less difficult to talk about and therefore easier to make a change together”, says Eric.
Think long term
Eric emphasises the importance of working preventively with health and taking care of your people — for the individual, the company and other companies in the industry. In the IT industry people change jobs relatively often, so Eric argues that we in the industry borrow resources from each other. If all IT companies worked continuously on their employees’ health, everyone in the industry would benefit in the long term.
”It doesn’t work to start saving for retirement at 63 — the same applies to your health”, Eric concludes.
”We want to be a company with employees who feel well — both because it benefits the individual, but also us as a company and the IT industry as a whole”
Eric Gyllenberg
COO, Devinix
