Updated on September 10, 2021
Quality of life at work (QLW) is more than ever at the heart of companies' concerns. To be productive and motivated at work, it is essential to feel good: according to Bloom at Work, a company whose employees are fulfilled is 43% more productive than average, and its employees are 86% more creative and put 65% more energy into their work. Many startups have made quality of life at work their core business and offer solutions to improve well-being in the workplace. During this unusual period of lockdown, some have adapted their offerings. So, are you ready to get back on track? Here are 10 startups that excel in workplace well-being:
Yogist: taking care of your brain and body at work
Sitting in front of screens for long periods of time is far from beneficial to our health: eye strain, poor digestion, joint pain, headaches or backaches, wrist tendonitis... Is work really good for our health? To remedy this, Anne-Charlotte Vuccino founded Yogist in 2015, placing employee well-being and workplace health at the heart of its concerns.
With advice from osteopaths and occupational health psycho-ergonomists, the start-up offers a range of exercises that can be adapted to any environment: sitting in front of a screen, standing on a production line, on the way to or from work, etc. "The Yogist method is Sanskrit-free, chakra-free, and acrobatics-free," emphasizes the startup. Several formats are available to companies for performing the exercises: videoconferencing, digital—thanks to a chatbot—or in person.
Whether raising awareness, teaching collectively, providing individual support, or even passing on skills, Yogist adapts to each company. In 2020, the start-up expanded its range of exercises: 100 new 2-minute exercises are now available in three languages: French, English, and Portuguese. It's a great opportunity to exercise while learning a new language!
During the exceptional circumstances we are currently experiencing,the start-up offers a wide range of exercises to do at home. Even when working from home, our brains and muscles are put to the test!
Les Plaisirs Fruités: the specialist in eco-friendly corporate cafeterias
4 p.m. on the clock, time for a quick break, a coffee, a sugar, a cupcake, and off we go again! Les Plaisirs Fruités offers all this—and much more—in an eco-friendly way.
How? By sourcing sustainable, 100% gourmet products and minimizing waste as much as possible: dried fruit delivered in returnable glass jars, baskets of seasonal fruit, organic snacks. When it comes to drinks, Les Plaisirs Fruités offers organic fruit juices and coffee beans roasted in Paris to avoid disposable capsules.
As part of its ongoing commitment, Les Plaisirs Fruités donates its weekly unsold items to Restos du Coeur. In 2019, more than 3 tons of fruit were distributed!
Fidensio: a digital concierge service that makes everyday tasks easier in just a few clicks
After a long day at work, who has the time or energy to go to the dry cleaners, do the shopping, pick up a package, or take care of paperwork? Fidensio, a start-up founded in 2014, helps companies make their employees' daily tasks easier with a digital concierge service.
How? With a corner set up right in the workplace, where lockers are available . On the website or app, employees choose the product or service they need, provide the required information, confirm their order, and drop off their product in one of the lockers if necessary. Fidensio takes care of the rest!
It's a great way to lighten the mental load on employees: "Employees can save up to two hours per week and benefit from lower prices than on the market," explains Fatma Amrani, Business Developer at Fidensio. The start-up also offers activities and services within companies, such as massages and beauty treatments.
Nap and Up: Micro-naps at the office to relieve stress and pressure from the day
In 2016, Camille Desclée and Gabrielle de Valmont, students at Dauphine University, noticed that there were no spaces at their university or in companies where people could isolate themselves, rest, and recharge their batteries. Nap and Up was born. The idea? "To create a space for disconnection and decompression in companies to promote the well-being of their employees,"explains Camille Desclée, using three key tools:
- Cocoons,“disconnection bubbles”that are easy to install, accessible, and simple to use.
- Anapp providing access to hundreds of audio recordings, created in collaboration with sophrologists and hypnotherapists, covering a wide range of topics, background sounds, and nap durations. The app also offers a cocoon reservation system!
- Micro-nap awareness programs to highlight all its benefits through conferences, temporary relaxation areas, and workshops.
“A 20-minute nap boosts productivity by 35%! It has an impact on creativity,responsiveness, memory, alertness, and of course employee well-being,”explains Camille. What’s more, Nap and Up manufactures all its pods in France, some of them in partnership with social reintegration workshops (ESAT). Long live micro-naps at work!
During the exceptional situation we are currently experiencing, Nap and Up is offering "video workshop packs" to raise employee awareness of sleep issues through webinars on specific topics.
Urban Aura: bringing life and nature into your business
Founded in 2016 by Cyrille Schwartz, Aura Urbaine aims to reconnect businesses with nature and living things, a link that is too often severed yet essential to human well-being.
The start-up offers various models of baromates, pieces of furniture designed to hold aquariums and around fifteen decorative, aromatic, or edible plants. Thanks to the aquaponics system (a symbiosis of fish and plant cultivation in a closed-loop ecosystem), the vegetable garden is self-sufficient, fun, and educational. Who hasn't dreamed of picking basil leaves straight from the plant to add to their lunch salad?
In this complex period of COVID-19 for businesses, "plants are there more than ever to take care of us, and in this particular context, I think that reintroducing plants into the workplace helps to recreate pleasant living conditions while providing better protection against the virus,"explains Cyrille. Aura Urbaine is an interesting eco-friendly solution for businesses thanks to its baromates, which can be used as partitions while providing the air quality benefits of plants.
Welcome Home: welcoming employees and strengthening corporate culture
Welcome to the Jungle was launched in 2015 to "reinvent the world of work by enabling candidates to find all the information they need to join the organization that suits them best,"explains Alex De Las Heras, Communications Manager. The next step: to offer a tool to better integrate new talent into the company. Welcome Home was born!
Launched last week, Welcome Home is an innovative and powerful tool that provides better monitoring and visibility of a company's employees. This intranet provides employees with a wealth of information, including new arrivals for the week and company news. Welcome Home offers several features to give newcomers the best possible welcome: a directory of tools used by the company, rewards to be distributed, and the organization of meetings between employees.
During this period of lockdown, Welcome Home is all the more useful as itimproves internal communication and employee engagement. According to a survey conducted by the start-up, 53% of respondents want to change jobs after lockdown. "That's huge, and we realize that the crisis has changed how employees feel about their jobs. We launched Welcome Home earlier than planned to help companies better manage this period and compensate for the lack of communication and visibility," explains Alex. The goal: to strengthen corporate culture, improve long-term communication, and keep employees engaged and motivated in all circumstances.
During the exceptional situation we are currently experiencing, Welcome Home is available free of charge until September 30, enabling companies to better manage the effects of remote working or temporary layoffs.
CASTALIE high-quality water, zero waste, and committed to the planet
By creating CASTALIE in 2011, Thibault Lamarque made zero plastic his mission. CASTALIE businesses, hotels, and restaurants a comprehensive solution to limit their consumption of plastic bottles and cups, as well as reduce their storage space.
Good hydration is essential for promoting cognitive abilities and employee morale. To this end, we enable companies to drink high-quality, neutral-tasting water, available on demand thanks to our filter fountains. These eliminate chlorine and any rare particles and residues from the mains water supply. CASTALIE also offers a range of accessories designed to eliminate plastic from everyday life, contributing to the company's CSR approach. What's more, the water fountain creates a new space for socializing, encouraging employees to take a break and hydrate together!
Stylish and discreet, they fit anywhere and offer the water you like: cold, hot, room temperature, or sparkling. And this year, CASTALIE is innovating by launching two new product ranges... Watch this space 😉
Wenabi: a collaborative tool to boost solidarity initiatives in companies
Founded just over two years ago, Wenabi was founded by three friends, Emmanuel Bentejac, Aristide Flandrin,and Thomas Soucaille. Their goal? "To shake up the corporate social responsibility market by offering a collaborative and easy-to-use tool,"according to the start-up.
In concrete terms, Wenabi provides companies with a platform on which each employee can get involved in a variety of initiatives: volunteering, skills sponsorship, mentoring, donations, or even solidarity-based team building.
Wenabi makes it easy for companies to connect with numerous associations. The benefits are numerous: beyond boosting employee engagement, it develops corporate culture while promoting a positive brand image. Today , Wenabi has 25,000 users, 50,000 hours of solidarity actions, and 800 associations in 30 different countries.
During the exceptional circumstances we are currently experiencing, Wenabi is offering support to those involved in the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic: emergency missions, both in the field and via teleworking, as well as financial donations to frontline associations. This is an opportunity to get involved, even from your sofa!
United Heroes: boosting team cohesion through sports activities
Sport: the perfect way to unwind after a long day, release tension, clear your head, and also maintain real team spirit! United Heroes offers each company a customized application: deployment strategy, personalized settings, a tailored launch with a communication kit, ambassador training, and monthly activity tracking.
Whether you're an amateur or an experienced athlete, anyone can participate, from anywhere! At the office, while traveling, or at home, all physical activities are taken into account. A total of 35 activities are available: running, cycling, walking, swimming, and even gardening! Group challenges are also organized.
To strengthen team cohesion and social interaction while improving physical and mental health, United Heroes adapts to each company to improve quality of life at work.
During the exceptional situation we are currently experiencing, United Heroes offers dozens of exercises on its app that can be done at home, so you don't lose your rhythm!
Les Cuistots Migrateurs: eco-friendly and socially conscious lunchboxes featuring flavors from around the world
According to the polling institute IFOP, nearly one-third of employees feel that they eat poorly at work. Les Cuistots Migrateurs, a Parisian caterer and pop-up restaurant, has adapted its offering for businesses. To make it easier for employees to eat, the team has decided to offer a special "corporate" menu. It offers four lunchboxes each week, which can be ordered on its website at least two days in advance and for a minimum of four people. Everything is delivered by bike in bio-based packaging (cane pulp containers, bamboo pulp napkins, bamboo bark cutlery, etc.)
The dishes feature only fresh, seasonal products from small producers. Their approach is above all social and responsible. Behind the stoves, refugees from all over the world cook up delicious dishes from their regions. "The idea is to offer stable, full-time employment to our refugee employees, because we strongly believe in integration through work, which is a gateway to finding housing, buying a car, and so on," explains Mélanie Rousseau of Les Cuistots Migrateurs.
Enjoying the delicious dishes from around the world offered by Les Cuistots Migrateurs means contributing to their social commitment, discovering new flavors, and supporting eco-friendly products and packaging. Next week's menu will feature Syrian, Nepalese, and Ethiopian cuisine. Les Cuistots Migrateurs will take you on a culinary journey during your lunch break!
During the exceptional circumstances we are currently experiencing, Les Cuistots Migrateurs deliver lunchboxes every day at noon, in compliance with all hygiene regulations, to employees who must work at their companies and whose cafeterias are closed.
Text: Jeanne Favas Photo credits: Yogist, Brâam, Nap and Up, Aura Urbaine, Les Cuistots Migrateurs
