BSG celebrates four years of mental wellbeing,
done well

This post originally appeared on Unmind on 17 May 2021.

Jurie Schoeman, CEO of BSG, explains the ‘virtuous circle’ of proactive support, and how Unmind helped power staff engagement throughout the Covid pandemic

BSG is no stranger to innovation. While Covid-19 thrust mental health talk squarely into the mainstream in 2020, the South African consulting and tech company geared its entire culture around staff wellbeing long before.

In addition to various wellness schemes that date back to the late noughties – from sponsoring triathlons and cycle tours to topping a ‘Healthy Company Index’ ahead of 100 rival firms – in April 2021, BSG toasted its four year anniversary with Unmind.

Ahead of the curve

What keeps BSG ahead of the curve is an outright rejection of the status quo. This exists in every corner of the business, like rolling out proactive mental health support (versus a more traditional approach, that only helps staff once they are already experiencing a problem), but also the absolute basics; the mere notion of ‘work-life balance’, for example.

“We have always seen it as a strange term, saying there is work and there is life and they are separate,” says BSG CEO, Jurie Schoeman. “We have always believed that it is not about having a job where you put yourself on hold just so you can earn a salary.

“In South Africa, anyone who is skilled and talented and qualified in a scarce skills environment could have 100 jobs. Be somewhere where it is important that you get inspiration and motivation – where you want to be.”

So when the vast majority of businesses awoke to the benefits of having a ‘Wellbeing Champion’ on staff, BSG had already had a whole bunch. Even better, the approach was often literal – from 2009 to 2013, BSG’s wellness lead was Christopher Felgate, an actual Olympian, who represented Zimbabwe as a triathlete at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.

When you combine these assorted wellbeing schemes, Jurie believes it forms a ‘virtuous circle’ that is perpetual by nature. “It is a virtuous cycle because, if we create great client experiences, they share feedback with us about how well our teams have done,” he says.

“That helps people to grow and feel good about what they have been involved in.”

Blurred lines between work and home

That said, few businesses on Earth were truly prepared for the sheer chaos of a global pandemic. In particular, the impact on employees’ mental health, and the sudden introduction of mass homeworking. While the lines between work and home life – once bold – have blurred over the past decade, Covid put this into overdrive, overnight.

For a people-focused organisation like BSG, the challenge was real. Where other consulting firms allow workers to embed with clients for months at a time, BSG has always encouraged staff to come into the office on a weekly basis, as a minimum.

The rationale is simple: “So that you don’t lose your sense of identity,” Jurie confirms. “You don’t become part of one of the client’s environments. You are part of BSG.

“It is important that you interact and see and hear what people are doing in other parts of the business and build those connections. I think that is probably the most important part: how do we make sure that we create that engagement.”

Cut to last spring, and the mix of rolling lockdowns and stay-at-home orders meant engagement was impossible. Or at least it was in-person.

Supporting a remote workforce with digital mental health tools 

As an early adopter of Unmind, BSG integrated the digital platform to its existing initiatives. For instance, Unmind Tools plugged straight in to BSG’s virtual meetings, alongside daily meditation or yoga sessions; powered by Unmind, run by BSG.

Against the backdrop of a worrying health crisis, Jurie says these measures symbolised the right care at the right time: “It was done especially at the beginning of lockdown last year, especially when we identified that there were a whole load of people who were alone, to create more of those connections.”

Beyond forming a key pillar of its Covid response, what keeps Unmind so deeply ingrained in BSG’s culture is that it lives as part of a wider, employee support ecosystem. This includes virtual training, people surveys, video series, exercise and growth programmes, as well as BSG’s own app: MapMyMood – that measures how employees feel both professionally and personally.

Not only does Unmind interact with much of the above (for instance, daily meditation workshops as part of BSG’s ‘THRIVE Series’), the platform is also fully integrated within MapMyMood. Together, Unmind and MapMyMood provide up-to-the-minute insights and deliver the support BSG staffers need, when they need it; even if they weren’t aware they did.

“We take all of those metrics together at an individual level,” Jurie confirms. “Obviously in some cases people do say that they need support but, where people don’t ask for support, where can we look at those insights and say: ‘We need to support this person’.”

Unmind data is aggregated and anonymised as standard, and empowers BSG leaders to plan on a level that’s macro or microscopic. It’s proactive support, yet fully adaptable – ready to respond to relevant data, or the needs of each employee. It’s the human touch, backed by solid science.

Ultimately, this means BSG is always on hand to support its staff members, continue the virtuous circle, and stay at the sharp end of mental health innovation for many more decades to come.