Photo by Csaba Balazs on Unsplash
Among the umpteen unprecedented challenges brought about by COVID-19, mental health stands out.
While this issue has been around since time immemorial, the pandemic has triggered more people to open up about their mental health struggles.
What used to be unheard-of about five to 10 years ago in the Asia Pacific region is now being openly discussed across multiple platforms and this has largely affected businesses.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American companies lose more than 200 million workdays each year to depression, a cost to employers up to US$44 billion. Southeast Asia is no better, as mental health issues affect 86 million people, according to WHO.
Coupled with this, remote working has also caused many employees to have decreased levels of productivity and it has put a lot of pressure on mental wellbeing, according to mental health platform Healthline.
Research done by Healthline suggested that 41 per cent of remote employees report higher levels of stress compared to just 25 per cent of their counterparts who work in the office.
But despite the growing cases of mental health issues, how far do companies and leaders go to take active steps to combat the issue?
Noticing this challenge, Ashish Ambasta decided to launch HappyPlus, an app that measures the happiness index of employees. The platform provides AI/ML-enabled tools, techniques, and solutions to bring happiness to workplaces.
Based in India, HappyPlus focuses on creating and developing happy and healthy habits for working professionals.
The idea occurred to Ambasta during a book launch which was attended by Mahindra Singh Dhoni, former captain of India’s national cricket team. During the book tour, a journalist asked Dhoni if he would be happier playing the game with an older team or with a younger team.
Initially hesitant to answer, Dhoni — after a few nudges — replied that he didn’t know the answer since there was no meter in the market to measure happiness. But if somebody came up with such a tool, he said he would be happy to share his answer.
Measuring happiness with HappyPlus
So how does HappyPlus enable people to track their happiness?
Once users download the app, they land on a page, called the happiness meter, where they can pick what kind of mood they are feeling. This meter is similar to what is seen in most of Singapore’s airports where people can rate how happy they are with the service.
Also Read: How ThoughtFull aims to destigmatise mental health through daily chats with professionals
The app has six parameters across which people can rate their happiness — timescale, our being, achievements, relationships, work-life, and meaningfulness.
‘Timescale’ refers to one’s ability to be more in the present moment while ‘our being’ refers to physical health, achievements refer to goals accomplished. ‘Relationships’ refers to how many deep connections are being formed, ‘work-life’ refers to the balance between a person’s job and home life and ‘meaningfulness’ refers to being a part of something bigger than himself/herself.
Ideally, all six parameters must be in harmony with each other.
Once a user identifies the aspect of their life that they need improvement in, they can use the habit builder option. The option will then suggest certain exercises to improve the specific aspect of their life.
For example, if someone is experiencing trouble building meaningful relationships, the app will encourage the user to send a gratitude letter to his/her spouse.
While these are just small exercises, Ambasta believes that they can help build a lot of positivity around the user and the people around him/her.
The app even recommends books and movies to people who are struggling within a particular aspect of their lives.
HappyPlus also makes it easy for people to track their overall improvement via its dashboard, which shows the change in the user’s happiness meter since using the app.
According to Ambasta, HappyPlus combines all the features of different well-being apps in one place and can be customised in accordance with the level of happiness the individual is going through.
As of now, the six-month-old startup has managed to onboard six large undisclosed companies on board. It will also be announcing its funding round soon.
HappyPlus App
The market
While the market around well-being and happiness remains highly competitive with apps like Headspace, Calm, and MindShift, Ambasta believes that there are hardly any well-being apps that focus on the B2B space.
In his view, more companies should take an active part in providing employees with tools that can help them get through the mental challenges they face.
Ambasta told e27 that companies are responsible for engagement and providing employees with well-being tools, whether the individual uses it or not is entirely his/her responsibility.
Also Read: Leaders, it’s time to talk about mental health
The global market for mental health apps is also poised to witness strong growth over the next few years owing to the awareness created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and various governments on the importance of mental health.
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Image Credit: HappyPlus
The post How HappyPlus is helping corporates measure the happiness index of employees appeared first on e27.