Monday, 21 April 2014 00:00
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Orange Electric, a company who places great emphasis on the welfare of its employees has recently implemented several distinctive programs, giving new meaning to ‘work life balance’ whilst taking their ‘Healthy Employee’ concept to an altogether higher plain.
The company has devised some interesting and special programs that greatly contribute towards maintaining and developing a positive balance between work and healthy living that would not only benefit the company, but also the employees and indirectly their families.
The ‘Orange Wellness Plus’ program for both men and women takes an in-depth look at the physical and mental health of employees. Orange Electric Managing Director Kushan Kodituwakku spearheaded the introduction of meditation, yoga and karate programs for the company’s approx 1,300 staff, five years ago. But the all-new ‘Wellness Plus’ program takes this a step further, by categorising employees on their Body Mass Index (BMI) formulating special schedules for them. Those with unsatisfactory BMI are even directed to special sessions. The programme runs under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Asanka Wijeratne, Specialist in Human Kinetics and Sports Medical Science.
Commenting on the benefits of the program, Inoka Pahalawatta, who has worked at Orange Electric for the last seven years, said: “Complying with a balanced diet and exercises has helped me to reduce my high blood pressure. Regular Yoga exercises have also helped me a great deal and overall my concentration has improved.”
The ‘Wellness Plus’ program mainly provides participants with diet and meal plans that help them to conform to a balanced diet. Orange also provides subsidised vegetarian lunch for its employees to compliment the program. Another main aspect is to encourage employees to exercise. The program provides instructions on what exercises are required, how to do them properly and the duration.
Along with the wellness program, Orange Electric also offers yoga and karate sessions that take place every Wednesday and Monday evenings. The package also offers a 10-day offsite meditation program, which takes place at meditation centres located in Peradeniya and Kosgoda. The employees who enroll in the mediation program are given paid leave along with a Rs. 10,000 incentive. Another novel aspect the company has introduced is the ‘Orange walk’ that takes place every Tuesday evening at parliament grounds, where employees are encouraged in a fun way, to adopt walking as a productive exercise.
A special aspect of the ‘Wellness Plus’ program is its focus on female employees. There is a special “Slim Plan” program conducted for Orange ladies which provides them fat free diet formulas and instructions on how to combine exercise with domestic chores. Most of the workshops of the Wellness Plus program conducted by Dr. Wijerathna are held during the office hours.
Orange Electric who is a leading electrical and lighting manufacturing company whose expertise run into CFL bulbs, switches and cables has invested heavily on sustainable projects such as the safe disposal of CFL’s to prevent mercury poisoning of ground water. The company’s mercury recycling plant in Pitipana is the only one of its kind in South Asia and has been awarded ISO certification.
“We have identified that helping our employees to develop their own physical and mental health not only benefits them but also the company. The yoga sessions that take place both at Orange Head Office in Nawinna and our factory at Meegoda has shown visible results in terms of improved concentration and abilities of employees, which are highly required traits in our trade,” said Orel Corporation Ltd. Human resources Manager Dhammika Deshappriya.
Orange plans to improve the Wellness Plus program further by offering them an all-inclusive package combining yoga and karate in to the Wellness Plus program. Some of the company’s social sustainability projects include Vision 2020, a program to shed light to those blinded by cataract; building houses for low income employees; extending financial assistance in medical hazards etc.
