Building Healthy Workplaces is not about
doing Health camps in organizations. It’s about managing all internal people
processes in a responsible manner. Succession Planning is one of them.
This is a true
story with nothing changed other that the name of the central character.
In January 2020, a 39 year
old senior executive – let us call him Aditya – who was handling Operations at
the national level in an organization of good repute (also featured in the
Great Places to Work) was diagnosed with high blood pressure. While doctors
recommended he went on pills he was determined to make changes in his lifestyle
to arrest the problem and not give in to taking medicine.
For three months, Aditya
worked with a life coach (who was an Ayurvedic doctor) on his lifestyle and
made it as healthy as can be. He became a mindful eater, went for an early
morning run, gave up on his habit of watching TV till late at night, slept well
and meditated.
3 months later, he had lost
6 kgs of weight and his allopathic doctor (surprised at this change)
reluctantly took him off his BP pills. All was well till a couple of months
back his Regional Manager quit. His new employer had picked up the tab for the
notice period and the organization did not have anyone to take on the mante.
Aditya was all of a sudden needed to fill in for his Regional Manager because
the new hire was to join 2 months later.
In a couple of weeks
Aditya’s dull headaches came back and a visit to the doctor and checks at home
with the BP instrument did not augur well. Nowadays, Aditya works late into the
night – since he sleeps late he does not get time to exercise in the morning. However,
he continues to do what he can which is eat mindfully but he has no time for
rest. He has had to get back to medication. His doctor has told him to not mess
with medication again!
Incidentally, Aditya has
been given the MD’s letter of appreciation and a hefty bonus. His commitment
has put him ahead of the others in the race to be the CEO.
I wonder whether he is happy about that. I will check!
