Wellness and Community: Our Culture of Self Improvement

Like it or not, wellness is more important than ever.

As the market becomes more competitive, premium talent is narrowing their job search in new ways. People are looking for companies that understand the complexities of modern life. They need teams that invest in their growth and respect their time.

Top talent seeks cultures of wellness.

Some companies form wellness initiatives with incentives to encourage healthy behaviors. These initiatives are often highly structured. The issue with structured wellness programs is that wellness is not “one-size-fits-all.”  Everyone’s path is different.

That’s why we built wellness into the fabric of who we are. Our culture embraces community, providing the resources for self-improvement and authentic connections. 

Wellness is its own reward.

“Wellness has to be its own incentive. I think where a lot of companies go wrong is they prioritize other incentives to encourage wellness, like offering gift cards for employees with the most miles walked,” Christian Beck (Executive Partner, Growth Strategy & Design) said. 

While competitive challenges can be a tactic to get your team thinking about wellness, they shouldn’t be the primary outlet. Incentivizing wellness activity with secondary rewards implies the value lies in the gift cards, not the miles walked. It rewards the healthy activity as if it’s an inconvenience, and the time sensitivity adds a deadline. You either win or you don’t. 

But wellness is a journey, something that is not marked by one achievement. 

“The better approach, the one we take here at Innovatemap,” Christian continued, “is creating a culture that innately values wellness as its own reward.” To do this, we create and support a community among ourselves with the social connections and resources that wellness needs to thrive. 

While we all share a responsibility for maintaining a culture of self-improvement, our wellness team champions more tactical wellness activities and resources.

Our wellness team helps create an engaging space where our team feels invited and inspired to be good to ourselves. 

Since everyone’s path to wellness looks different, we focus on five distinct categories of wellness that everyone can relate to: 

• Nourishment
• Movement
• Mental
• Financial
• Medical/safety

Our culture of self-improvement is fueled by support and community. 

By supporting each other, we build a community of trust. When someone wants to challenge themselves in a new way, we rally behind them. As a result, our community strengthens. We find new hobbies and healthy habits, and we’re always ready to support each other on the next adventure. 

And everyone takes an active role to engage the community.

Take Piyush’s journey to bouldering as an example. 

Piyush decided he wanted to try bouldering. 

So, he mentioned at the village table that he was interested. Tressa overheard him and mentioned that the brand team hosted an offsite day at North Mass Boulder a few months prior. So Piyush asked Parker for his advice. Parker, excited by the opportunity to introduce one of his favorite hobbies to a friend, encouraged Piyush to invite others.

Piyush found a group of other team members, some experts and some amateurs, all looking to better themselves. Now, Piyush frequently gets different team members together to boulder. 

Why does this matter? 

Our culture encourages authentic connections. 

An interest that could have been an isolated event with one person became a bonding experience fueling social connections and encouraging community. The activity’s impact is heightened by the connection and support that comes with it, which encourages repetition and exploration. 

Interactions like these happen organically, driven by individual interests. They are not company-driven initiatives, and they don’t need to be. 

The company’s financial and cultural investments have long-term effects. It’s a cycle of investment, support and payoff. 

Investment is an important term here. We believe wellness is an investment in yourself. Our investment in wellness is a signal to the team that they have value, and are worth investing in.

Wellness looks different to everyone, so we carve our own path. 

Above all, we know that wellness looks different for everyone. Because of this, we encourage each other. Not to work out. Not to eat a certain way. But rather, we encourage each other to find their own path to wellness. We celebrate each other, no matter where we are on our own journey. Finally, we prioritize finding joy on our path to wellness, which reaffirms the value of wellness itself. As Christian says, “wellness is its own reward.”

Key Takeaways

• Treat wellness as its own reward. 
• Build a culture that fuels social connections and celebrates community. 
• Acknowledge that the path to wellness looks different for everyone. 
• Encourage the discovery of personal wellness rather than pushing specific habits.
• Invest in your team.