Sodexo’s Global Workplace Offers Leadership From Leading Voices

In This Post, We Focus on Two of Our Top Priorities: Learning and Wellness

Sodexo explored 10 workplace trends in this year’s extensive report: organizational and employee agility; collaborative workspaces; the impact of societal issues such as migration and cultural integration; the new generation of robotics; the evolution of learning at work; the overlap of personal and corporate brands; design thinking principles in the workplace; sustainable development goals; the potential of millennial talent; and the workplace as a wellness destination.

Why do we invest in a study of this scope? Quality of life is the cornerstone of our business, so the accompanying thought leadership is fundamental. We want to elevate the discussion around the ways the workplace is changing and the vital role that quality of life plays in those changes. That extends to what we are able to offer our clients at Inspirus to help them gain a competitive edge.

Among the trends addressed in the report, learning and wellness are currently top priorities at Inspirus.

Learning the Inspirus Way

Advances in technology, shifts in demographics and the competitive need to upgrade workforce skills are creating market pressure to improve learning and development. These forces are pushing companies to develop new ways to put employees in charge of the learning experience, foster a culture of learning and enhance internal programs aimed at developing people when and where they want, with a more manageable time commitment.

We know that learning is an essential tool for engaging employees, attracting and retaining top talent, and developing long-term leadership. In fact, learning is quickly becoming the heart of talent management. Yet organizations continue to struggle with static learning models and internally focused platforms that are not user-centric.

We place great emphasis on growth and development with our learning solution. The Workplace Trends Report specifically addresses intergenerational learning; our programs and tools facilitate internal proprietary company learning with an emphasis on bringing together the diverse experiences, expertise and thinking inside an organization.

Inspirus Learning takes a differentiated approach that pairs micro-learning (short bursts of content in a smaller, more interactive method) with a game-based delivery that reinforces the learning and results in improved recall. We curate user-generated content and meet learners where they are, through the use of mobile solutions that provide the advantages of convenience and fun.

The Workplace as a Wellness Destination

As the Workplace Trends Report points out, with the boundaries between work and life continuing to blur, today’s workers are seeking a new and improved employee value proposition—one that offers a focus on all aspects of their health and well-being. They expect their workplace to foster a culture of health through wellness-enhancing amenities, programs and policies. In other words, they wish to see their workplace as a wellness “destination,” designed to enhance their quality of life.

Employees aren’t the only ones with workplace wellness ranking high on their wish list. Due to rising healthcare and insurance costs and the negative impacts of poor health on productivity, employers have a growing and urgent interest in the overall health and habits of their workforce.
But the U.S. employee wellness model is broken: In 2015, $8 billion was spent annually on workplace wellness programs, with only 30% of employees participating in them and fewer than 15% having achieved their health goals.

So it’s no surprise that employers are beginning to realize the importance of taking a customized, employee-centric approach to workforce well-being. The innovative, personalized solutions that we’re designing at Inspirus to drive healthy behavior and choices help to advance Sodexo’s broader objectives of improving employee quality of life—including health and well-being, recognition, and ease and efficiency—and ultimately organizational performance. Inspirus Well-being is a model that delivers a key differentiator in the marketplace: true employee engagement and ROI.

Join the Conversation

While we are already responding to many of the trends highlighted in the 2017 Sodexo Workplace Trends Report, we hope that by sharing it we can inspire wider audiences to discussion and action as they explore ways to create the most seamless employee experience through quality of life improvements. We believe you’ll find this report to be a substantive, efficiently organized piece, packed with insights on the future of quality of life at work.