The insurance company Barmer presents the annual ‘Healthcare Award’ to companies throughout Germany for supporting health and well-being at work. Unite received this award once again in 2021, making it one of five out of about 200 companies in its territory to do so.
A holistic approach to a healthy workplace
“The award goes to companies with a high-quality, sustainable health management according to our regional consultants”, says Matthias Ritter-Böhlmann, Health Management Consultant at Barmer. “Never having lost its commitment or holistic approach to health management, Unite deserved to win this award again in 2021”, Ritter-Böhlmann continues.
New mental health measures
Fresh fruit, exercise sessions and ergonomic office equipment are already standard at Unite. But the Leipzig-based company takes health management a step further than legally required: its recently introduced ‘Counselling Chat’ service provides mental support during challenging times. External consultants help Unite employees cope with stress via MS Teams or WhatsApp. Especially in times of war and COVID, this anonymous chat service is well-received.
Unite has its own Occupational Health Management team
A dedicated Occupational Health Management team at Unite has been looking after its employees’ health for many years. Alongside the annual flu jab, they also arranged for three COVID vaccinations, eye examinations and skin check-ups. Unite also held three mindfulness workshops in 2021 and introduced the mindfulness app 7mind as another source of mental health support.
The health team also organised all-day sessions on back health and ergonomics in the workplace. For this purpose, Unite had staff members specially trained. These ‘ergonomics guides’ taught their colleagues about healthy posture and workstation tweaks.