Whitepaper | A Step-by-Step Process to Driving ROI and Growth through Effective Wellbeing Practices

Employee wellbeing is not just a trendy buzzword but a critical factor that directly impacts organisational success. 

Employee wellbeing is not just a trendy buzzword but a critical factor that directly impacts organisational success. Over 95% of Certified Top Employers understand wellbeing’s importance as a strategic priority.

While many organisations are working to embrace effective wellbeing practices, they are still weighing up the return-on-investment on these initiatives.  

In our latest whitepaper, A Step-by-Step Process to Driving ROI and Growth through Effective Wellbeing Practices, we are diving into the data around wellbeing with practical actions that businesses can put into practice to get the best out of their people.  

Download the whitepaper for free to discover:  

• How employee wellbeing is critical for the success of an organisation.
• A data-driven approach to making wellbeing decisions that involves three pillars: a holistic strategy that covers the health of body, mind, and spirit; predefined metrics to measure and track wellbeing trends; and regular evaluation of the utilization and satisfaction of wellbeing programs. 
• How to effectively evaluate wellbeing programs with information about how organisations should define objectives, identify root causes of problems and challenges.

Best Practice | Purpose at Mondelēz International



All around the world, the lines between meals and snacks are blurring. Snacking—those moments when you reach for a delicious bite between meals—is rising. However, there is also a universal cultural tension; people don’t want to choose between snacking and eating right. That is why one of the Top Employers, Mondelēz International, aims to empower people to snack right. 

Mondelēz International strives for its employees to live that purpose, understanding how their role and work contribute to it. Mondelēz International also hopes employees will connect with their own personal purpose and their teams’ future plans, with goals aligning with the organisation’s three pillars: Nutrition and Well-Being, DEI, and Sustainability. 

This is just a snapshot of Mondelēz’s innovative best practice. You can find the entire practice in our HR Best Practices database, which is exclusively available to Top Employers. Get inspiration and insight into the approach, challenges and learnings experienced by certified Top Employers. Access it now via the Top Employers Programme if you are certified or learn more about it here! 

Why the practice was needed 

Mondelēz International understands that purpose matters to people. When everyone understands and believes in it, there is deeper employee engagement and more passion for what they do. Purpose also matters for profits and organisational alignment. It is a performance driver. The organisation wanted to tell a real story of who it is and what it stands for, which led them to create this practice. 

How the practice was implemented 

To better understand and implement their purpose, Mondelēz International took the first step: they refreshed their strategy and launched their 2030 vision in 2022. At that time, they started sharing the importance of their purpose with employees. They connected each pillar with different initiatives that linked everything employees do to the organisation’s mission and purpose. 

Nutrition and wellbeing: Connecting with different initiatives such as “Snack Mindfully,” which is focused on helping consumers snack mindfully, in the moment, and get even more satisfaction from the food they eat.  In line with this pillar, the organisation has an MDLZ change makers programme in which any employee can participate. The programme enables employees to play a direct and impactful role in their communities by giving their time, talents, and services. 

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Mondelēz International believes that an inclusive, winning growth culture will help promote higher employee engagement and better business performance. As such, they offer inclusivity training to establish inclusive leadership practices and develop greater cultural competencies. The organisation is also committed to driving a more inclusive supply chain through its Economic Inclusion & Supplier Diversity (EISD) programme, where it strives to create mutually beneficial business relationships with suppliers that strengthen communities and deliver value to both consumers and employees. 

Sustainability: To make snacking more sustainable, the organisation strives to understand risks and their potential impact, focusing on opportunities to lead and to drive change in places that are especially vulnerable around the world. The organisation has set goals in certain areas – and added new ones over time – to enhance their impact and delivery at scale. Programmes like “Cocoa Life” bring the total investment in the programme to $1 billion since 2012. 

Results of the practice 

• Increased motivation and engagement: Employees understand the why of their duties and contribute to a larger goal. 

• Improved retention: External studies show employees are likelier to stay with an organisation whose purpose aligns with their values. 

Haier Europe: Elevating its People Practices with the Top Employers Programme

About Haier Europe

Haier Europe is a global leader in home appliances and consumer electronics, recognised for 15 consecutive years as the world’s No.1 brand globally in major appliances, selling under the Candy, Hoover and Haier brands. The organisation comprises of 750 colleagues in the UK&I and 100,000 globally.

Haier Europe’s Top Employers Journey

Haier Europe had been on an improvement journey, investing heavily in people systems, processes and benefits and whilst colleagues inside the business would have seen the transformation, they wanted to receive external recognition in order to attract great talent, and give candidates the confidence to know that they had been certified by an external, independent validation process. They therefore joined the Top Employers Certification Programme, and following completion of the HR Best Practices Survey and Validation Process, were certified as a UK Top Employer 2023.

Elevating its People Practices

“We have definitely seen the profile of our employer brand increase, we see our candidate numbers are very strong and our retention figures are improving in key areas, but the most important outcome from joining the Top Employers Programme is that it has really made Haier Europe a better workplace for our colleagues because it has given us the impetus and direction to keep improving.” Matthew Given, Group HR Director UK & Ireland, Haier Europe

Having achieved Top Employer Certification in year one, the Haier Europe team immediately started work on its action plan to further improve its HR, using the Top Employers Results Dashboard. They did this by:

• Having a dedicated team of specialists within the HR team working on the Top Employers Certification project.
• Aligning the Top Employers HR Best Practices Survey topics and results with the action plans and choosing focus areas which would add most value to the business.
• Regularly reviewing with the team each quarter to ensure that improvements were being made within these focus areas.

Impressive results

In year two, following on from the action planning, Haier Europe increased their score on the Top Employers Best Practices Survey by 20% points.

They had prioritised Employee Listening, wellbeing and DEI, with the new colleague listening strategy bringing great insights and making sure that they really understood how colleagues felt about the business and its programmes. They also mapped, explored and improved many more colleague and candidate journeys.

The leadership team has also taken notice of the tremendous progress and are now championing many new initiatives across engagement, wellbeing and DEI.

Global Work from Home Day 2024

Q&A with Paola Bottaro, People & Business Operations Director at Top Employers Institute  It is safe to say that the way we work has changed fundamentally. Today’s workforce has expanded through digital connectivity and remote collaboration. As organisations all over the world adapt to new work models, we celebrate Global Work from Home Day as the vehicle through which employees and employers celebrate the flexibility and productivity obtained through remote work.

What are some of the key benefits of working from home?

When allowing the flexibility to work from home, organisations are creating a positive work environment for all kinds of living situations, life phases, and personal preferences, this takes out of the equation the exclusion that happens when you dictate how people should relate themselves to work.

Inclusivity brings multiple advantages to adopting a work from home model because it benefits both the employee and the employer. Employers see a bigger pool of people who can be successful at the organisation. For professionals, an enhanced opportunity to choose how they work is offered. The added autonomy of working at home, office, or shared workspace increases their wellbeing and helps them perform better.

Read More:  How Saint-Gobain, Capgemini and bioMérieux are Engaging Employees from a Human-Centric Perspective

How do employees relate themselves to work?

We see high engagement at Top Employers, even with people working from home, but we know the key is to make sure we maintain this level of engagement. We must continually gather information to develop ways to stay connected as the organisation grows. That is why we focus on the importance of creating a programme that is intentional by design.

To create an intentional programme, we must first know the relationship between employees and their work. What should this look like? In organisations with a human-centric approach, there is the employee, then the team, then the company, and this needs to be well defined. At Top Employers Institute, we continue to develop the process of defining how the employee relates to the team and the company to offer them a journey that is aligned throughout the world. This explains how we look at variables like work location and decide what needs to be in place no matter where you work to keep high levels of engagement.

Download Now: Navigating a Dynamic Workforce

How do we stay connected working from home?

Intentional connection is the key. By making connectivity a goal, we see how working from home fits into the bigger picture of how professionals work and how this shapes the employee-employer relationship.  Connection can’t be left up to chance. It must be worked into an organisation’s goals, and these goals should answer questions like what the relationship between the employees and the employer should look like. How do the employees relate to the work at hand and to the overall goals of the organisation?

Working from home should not equal working in isolation. There should always be opportunities for employees to learn from each other and model behaviours that create the corporate culture, not in a forced way, but because they like it.

Practical examples include:

• Creating an environment that promotes the exchange of information.
• Fostering efficient processes that support an employee’s best performance.
• Encouraging a sense of belonging through shared rituals like traditions or team events that improve the employee experience.
• Providing opportunities for employees to contribute to the company’s narrative and identity.
• Understanding that this is a work in progress and that growth and change are vital to creating a good programme for the employees.

Watch More: Top Employers 2023 – Interview Hunkemöller

What are some things to be aware of when working from home?

Employees must have what they need to perform their role. This is not just in physical items like computers and desks but also in processes that allow for connection with colleagues and managers, including periodic connections to evaluate performance and ensure goals are being met.

Keeping a work-life balance can sometimes be harder. One surprising fact is that many people tend to work more when working from home because they’re relaxed and forget the time. Finding the balance when working from home is an important part of why this arrangement must be intentionally planned as it is important to the employee’s wellbeing.

How can an employee advocate for remote work accommodations?

An employee’s work environment needs to match their own beliefs and vision to bring about the best work. It’s a very personal decision, and it won’t look the same for all employees. Our belief at Top Employers Institute is that everyone we hire is a professional and is motivated. The organisation and the employee should work as a team to make sure the employee has what they need to be successful because the motivation is already there. It’s hard to believe that providing employees with what they need to fulfil their duties doesn’t link to better financial results for the company because people are happier, and happier people perform better.

When advocating for this type of work arrangement, the organisation must be able to see how this is of mutual advantage. The culture in the organisation must be the type that believes that giving people autonomy will produce better employees, so making a business case for this type of work set-up must show how it will improve productivity.

Read More: How Organisations Improve Employee Engagement with Emotionally Engaged Leaders

What advice do you have for companies deciding on their policy for a work from home programme?

For us, the priority is getting the right person for the job rather than the right person, in the right place, in the right time zone, and in the right phase of their lives for the job. The model is simple, but the effect is huge. There are a lot of systems to hold up this style of working but having a productive workforce should be the goal.

Organisations are hiring professionals, and the expectation is that they should know what they need to be successful. This can only happen once the definition of success inside the organisation has been explained. A certain balance in autonomy, sense of belonging, and a clear picture of what is expected of the professional is the key to developing a great work from home programme.

Part of it is, of course, where the employee is physically doing the work. The other part is how they are staying engaged. Are they collaborating? Do they feel connected? Many elements that can be used to create the right work from home environment, and this is where we should focus on the philosophy or point of view and not where a person is physically working.

The role of the organisation is in coordinating the matrix that facilitates the connections to happen between employees. Reinforcing the culture, common language style, ad hoc encounters, and building relationships are some of the tools an organisation can use to facilitate connections between employees.

Organisations that keep a human-centric approach must continually ask if policies are still working for the wellbeing of the employees and for reaching the organisation’s goals. We need to make sure we take care of each other; if one sees the other is not doing well in our definition of success, it’s my responsibility to help you out. Your success is my success. The human-centric approach towards working from home is just one element of a whole approach to a person-centric work culture and it’s what we believe is the right thing to do for a successful company.

During Top Employers Inspire 2023, we got an insider’s view of how Top Employers Institute is becoming a human-centric organisation. Paola Bottaro, People Director at Top Employers Institute, talked to Wouter van Ewijk about how the business has adapted to support its employees better while learning to be mindful, empathetic, and purposeful. You can watch that session here.

Best Practice | Virtusa’s Talent Digital Transformation



Certified Top Employer, Virtusa, committed to an 18-month-long HR digital transformation to dramatically change the digital experience for their employees, covering everything from recruiting and onboarding to learning and development, inclusion, and rewards. The organisation did not simply make small incremental changes; they reimagined all their processes and radically transformed them into a single, fully integrated, hyper-personalised employee platform. 

This is just a snapshot of Virtusa’s innovative best practice. You can find the entire practice in our HR Best Practices database, which is exclusively available to Top Employers. Get inspiration and insight into the approach, challenges and learnings experienced by certified Top Employers. Access it now via the Top Employers Programme if you are certified or learn more about it here! 

Why the practice was needed:  

Although technology is at the core of their business, Virtusa struggled to make technology work correctly for their employees. They had too many disjointed systems that were not creating a seamless employee experience. The systems were not driving engagement or speaking to one another. Eranga Pathirage, VP & Head of HR for the UK, Europe, and the Middle East + the Global Head of HR Tech Transformation, helped the organisation dramatically improve its talent understanding and engagement through a digital HR transformation. 

Pathirage recalls that they already had all this valuable data about their 35 000 employees across 25 countries. As a provider of technical services, they respected and knew the power of technology. They saw a solution in centring the relationship between technology and their employees to drive adoption and employee loyalty. 

Read More: Best Practice | Momentum Metropolitan’s Offboarding Practice 

How they implemented the practice:  

Pathirage recalls that the most challenging part of their HR digital transformation was the beginning, as he and his team wanted to be bold and did not know exactly how to start; they wanted to involve everyone in the business and obtain their buy-ins as well.  Pathirage and his team took on the enormous task of reviewing all their processes to truly reimagine a digital solution offering their people an optimal employee experience. As he explained, they were not making incremental changes to some of their HR systems but instead re-hauling the entire process. In thinking through the right solution then, they followed some important grounding principles: 

• There would be one single source of truth. 
• Their HR digital solution would be fully integrated within Virtusa’s IT system.  
• The technology they picked would also give the company the ability to evolve. The technology selected and implemented should allow Virtusa to stay agile and guide the business accordingly. 
• As a technology services organisation, Virtusa also wanted to put technology first.

With these grounding principles, the organisation set out to pick a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for each element of the employee experience. The solution as a whole was born in the cloud. 

Download Now: World of Work Trends 2024 

The results of implementing the practice 

The results of this HR digital transformation can already be seen. The company now has an AI chatbot to assist in a personalised candidate experience, providing a consistent company story for prospective employees. SkillPrism, powered by AI, can create an employee profile from multiple data points to fully understand competencies within the business. The company can now also offer a personalised learning journey for their employees and, through Edge, can offer their own internal “LinkedIn,” giving each employee one to three personalised job openings across customers, domains, and countries. 

Once this digital solution was offered, Virtusa employees adopted it quickly, with an 85% adoption rate in the first two weeks.  

Learn more about the Top Employers Certification here.

Navigating a Dynamic Workforce