Cognizant Will Award Apple Watches To Winners Of ‘Health Challenge’; 18,000 Employees Participating!

Cognizant concluded its annual health challenge, an initiative to promote employees’ own health and that of their families. Given the pandemic-prompted work-from-home environment that is still ongoing, the whole thing was conducted online. It spanned 8 weeks and was supported by Healthifyme, the leading Indian health app. Participation saw big numbers with 18,000 employees and families joining in the temporary respite from work. 

This initiative is not new, being part of the company’s history of employee engagement programs that cover not just health but financial management, parenting, relationship counselling and other allied interests. 

Theme and Activities

The theme this year was, of course, how to focus on health when one is working from home. The challenge was packed with activities such as 30 livestreamed webinars of which 6 were covering nutrition, 8 were exercise-themed and 11 were dedicated to mental health. 

Tennis and comedic personalities also joined in the fun. Somdev Devvarman, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Purav Raja, Praveen Kumar and Jagan Krishnan were some of the names involved who shared their own experiences pertaining to health and personal upkeep.

Employees Walked Miles and Lost thousands of Kilograms

As part of the workout segment, employees were taught yoga and aerobic practices that require minimal to no equipment- such as the Surya Namaskar pose, high-knee jogging and skipping. Parents and expectant parents were addressed with special workshops on emotional well being. 

The figures are impressive. Total steps walked by all participants were 880 million, which covers 6.75 lakh km with 843 lakh calories burned- the end result being over 4500 kg weight lost. Event partner Healthifyme app was used to log in 15 lakh meals eaten and 11 lakh glasses of water drunk throughout the day. The incentive was huge, with prizes like Apple watches, Fitbits, BTWIN cycles and NutriBullet Pro Blenders being given out.

What’s Different This Year

Rajesh Nambiar, Chairman and MD for Cognizant India, highlighted his firm’s focus on employee health and wellbeing even in pre-pandemic times and its increased emphasis given the current climate. Beyond the obvious health goals, the challenge also sought to provide a sense of camaraderie and enjoyment even among its socially distant workforce.

Cognizant Will Spend Rs 230 Crore To Retain Top Performers, learn more.