Wellness Coach Releases Q1 2020 “Employee Wellness Index” (EWI) Data

Wellness Coach, the Softbank-funded enterprise wellness startup offering mental and physical wellness tools to 200+ companies globally, today announced the findings of its Q1 2020 “Employee Wellness Index” (EWI) and data related to the impact of the COVID-19 virus on employee wellness.

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All Respondents, November 2019 to January, 2020 (Photo: Business Wire)

After a successful completion of its initial $3 million capital investment led by SoftBank Capital NY and the launch of its live mediation, sleep music and fitness classes last year, the company has witnessed rapid growth of over 200 enterprise clients in less than a year. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the company is adding 10+ companies a day to their platform and has been offering companies a free, 90-day trial for new enterprise customers in hopes of easing stress in the nation.

Methodology

Wellness Coach analyzed a sample 100+ companies and thousands of anonymous employee wellness class usage data to show overall trends. For vertical results, the company looked at 10+ companies in the vertical to draw vertical conclusions.

Key Findings

• After seeing a normal drop-off in emotional intelligence, focus, stress and relaxation class attendance over the November 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 timeframe as employees spent more time with family over the holidays, the company saw an 86% increase in fitness class attendance due to New Year’s resolutions
• As the COVID-19 pandemic became more pronounced in March, class attendance related to stress increased 52% month-over-month, with emotional intelligence classes dropping by 32% and relaxation classes increasing by 17% month-over-month
• As it relates to the heavily hit Advertising and Travel sectors,
  • Fitness classes increased by 250% (yoga, fitness and home fitness) month-over-month
  • Relaxation Increased by 70% (working from home, listing to music while working)
  • Stress-related classes increased 60% (more breathing exercises, anxiety exercise)
  • Emotional intelligence classes dropped by 48%,
  • Sleep (bedtime stories, sleep meditations and music) dropped by 25%,

“The Employee Wellness Index gives companies a real-time look at the needs of their employees, based on the classes employees are attending,” said D. Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO of Wellness Coach. “The impact on COVID-19 related, employee stress is significant. We are seeing a shift from more work-related classes (emotional intelligence) to stress management tools. Work from home and the harder-hit travel and advertising sector saw a much higher increase in stress, as they are coping with taking care of their body and mind by working out, relaxing and using tools to alleviate stress.”

Background

For decades, employers have relied on archaic surveys to understand employee engagement and morale. Now, with the enterprise “Employee Wellness Index,” employers have insights to their employees most basic needs, including Fitness, Focus, Relaxation, Emotional Intelligence, Stress, Sleep and Nutrition. Employers track these metrics month-over-month to see how internal enterprise factors affect the needs of employees and then take steps to improve employee overall wellness. The Employee Wellness Index can be provided by various office locations to help companies with larger, global teams know the needs of their employees, companywide.

About D. Sharma

D Sharma is the Co-Founder & CEO of Wellness Coach. He is passionate about the future of humanity and the importance of protecting our mental health against the inevitable growth of AI and machine learning. As a serial entrepreneur and investor, D began his career at the Nokia Research Center as part of the team that created early access to the internet on mobile phones. After moving to the U.S., D launched a series of his own companies and created a speech recognition technology, receiving the first patent on multimodal technologies, which is now commonplace with Siri and Alexa, etc. D went on to create xAd, an advertising service that uses GPS technology on mobile devices, growing the business to over $200 million in revenue. Today, D is taking his love for meditation and investing to growing Wellness Coach and investing in various startups and growth funds.

About Julie Sharma

Julie Sharma is the Co-Founder & Chief Content Officer of Wellness Coach. Julie has more than a decade of experience spearheading accounting and operations teams, helping businesses to thrive efficiently at scale. She is detail-oriented and highly motivated professional with exceptional skills and knowledge in the full accounting cycle, compliance with GAAP and IFRS regulations. As a former Senior Business Analyst for the American Museum of Natural History and Charity Ambassador for xAd, Inc, she has managed international budgets and implemented company-wide giving programs. Julie now owns a spot as a female founder and entrepreneur in the wellness industry, merging her know-how in business with her passion for helping people. Today, Julie is responsible for acquiring teachers, overseeing app content and overall company culture, finance and HR at Wellness Coach, helping the company pursue its goal of inspiring people to find their purpose.

About Bhartesh Chhibbar

Bhartesh Chhibbar is the Co-Founder & COO of Wellness Coach. He is a tech entrepreneur, ex-Cisco leader with 20 years of experience in building technology products and solutions. Some of the many startups he founded or helped found, included the first ever voice messaging product for APAC market and first ever B2C platform for business services. Today, Bhartesh is building a machine learning enabled wellness platform for Wellness Coach. He is passionate to see everyone in his life happier and more well.

About Wellness Coach

Wellness Coach’s mission is to inspire five billion people to be their best selves through improved mindfulness and wellness.

The company’s unique platform allows anyone to ask questions to our teachers live, which improves learning while on demand classes help you with your daily practice.

For more information go to www.wellnesscoach.live.

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