Venn Software Inc. is encouraging employees to take care of their physical and mental health through nudges and friendly competitions.
The Toronto-based fintech company’s benefits platform, provided by Alan Inc., includes an app that periodically reminds employees to be active or take care of their mental health, says Ahmed Shafik, Venn’s co-founder. “The team likes internal challenges such as who’s going to walk the most today, or who’s going to have the most steps.”
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By participating in weekly and monthly challenges, the app also provides employees with points that can be allocated to charitable initiatives. Shafik notes this element is further encouraging friendly competition among co-workers while supporting their health and well-being.
“You can see people on the team trying to maximize how many walks they get in a day and then they can actually translate that to charitable donations. . . . It was typically always a competitive team, so they’ve leaned into it and challenged each other, whether it’s one on one or just the overall team.”
The app has also helped shape employees’ overall attitude toward their benefits plan, adds Shafik. “We’ve seen the actual [benefits] usage increase as well as employee happiness. I’ve never seen a team actually be that enthusiastic about benefits. It’s usually you just get it as a package and you check off the box.”
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