Organon sheds light on employee mental health and wellness with Gift of Time

Human Resources: In recognition of World Mental Health Day on 10 October and to shine a light on improving employee mental health and wellness, Organon shared with Health Industry Hub how the company’s investment is impacting the lives of their employees.

Acknowledging that the ongoing lockdowns created a meeting-heavy environment for employees working from home while they were accommodating home-schooling or other family commitments, Organon implemented the Gift of Time initiative.

Nirelle Tolstoshev, Managing Director Organon Australia and New zealand told Health Industry Hub “We really think this initiative allows our employees to be more sustainable at this time, to balance their home-schooling and wellbeing, as well as their work priorities. We want our people to come out of this feeling more energised and with some fuel in the tank, versus being totally exhausted with no annual leave left. We just think that this is a more sustainable approach.”

Teresa Asten, Medical Services Product Specialist and Paul Asten, Senior Brand Manager are both Founding members of Organon. “Our household is made up of a set of rambunctious almost-4-year twin boys, and a 6 year old boy who is able to navigate his iPad with the dexterity of an Apple support team and whose real first sentence was ‘Wi-Fi not working’. The supposed heads of this household are fellow Organon founders, who are both in a perpetual state of bewilderment and still wondering how two had become five in such a short space of time.

“Then COVID hit. Social distancing. Lockdowns…home-schooling!”

Like many others, Teresa and Paul’s family struggled to find an equilibrium of a new normal. Their social circle shrunk to a circumference of 5km. The delineation between work, school and home blurred and blended.

Teresa and Paul added “However, alongside us, our company has also tried to navigate what this normal meant for its business and most of all its employees. We were given the Gift of Time, whereby we could take up to three hours out of our work day to home-school our kids and were encouraged to take up to two hours for health and wellness without having to make up the time. We were also given two extra days of annual leave to recharge.

“The extra time meant that as working parents, we had guilt free flexible time to help our kids find some normalcy to their day. It doesn’t feel like empty platitudes when a dedicated global group has been set up called Parents@Organon to see how the company can help the families who work for them.

“It’s reassuring that at the worst of times, our company will always look after their people. Who could ask for a better work family than that?” said Teresa and Paul.

To shine your light on how to look after your wellbeing on World Mental Health Day, share your story and follow #WMHD2021 and #LookAfterYourMentalHealthAustralia on social media.