KUALA LUMPUR, 19 March 2020 – Ogilvy Malaysia recently introduced two key wellness benefits for all its employees to cover access to mental healthcare and additional maternity and paternity leave.
According to National Health Morbidity Survey 2015, there has been a troubling increase in mental health problems affecting Malaysians as more people are likely to experience stress from their workplace by 2020. Without proper exposure and medical access, mental health is expected to become the second biggest health threat for Malaysians.
Launched this month, its Employee Mental Health Program is designed to help employees manage their stress and anxiety better especially within current fast-paced market demands and quicker turnaround times. Ogilvy is committed to ensuring a more positive work environment and access to mental healthcare is essential to shine a light at the end of mental illness tunnel.
As part of the program, Ogilvy will be working with The Mind Faculty, a premium mental health clinic with over 25 experienced practitioners that works together to incorporate different therapy types to tailor a support plan that best suits individual needs.
All Ogilvy employees will have complimentary access to healthcare experts at The Mind Faculty with complete confidentiality guaranteed to respect employees’ privacy. The program kicked off with a talk by The Mind Faculty to give employees an overview of mental health issues, its effects in the workplace and the services provided under the program.
“Our people are our greatest assets and they are the lifeline of all the creative work we do for our clients. We are conscious of the mental stress issues within our field and we want to address any situation before it becomes a talent crisis,” said Nizwani Shahar, Chief Executive of Ogilvy Malaysia.
Aside from that, the agency also increased its paid maternity and paternity leave entitlement beginning 2020 to enable parents to enjoy additional time with their newborns. All mums will now enjoy additional 20 working days maternity leave on top of the previous 60 calendar days allocated. For dads, the previous 2 days provided will be extended to 5 days plus another 5 working days. These additional allocations of 20 days for mums and 5 days for dads can be utilised within six and three months respectively from the start of the parental leave period.
Nizwani added, “By providing access to these mental health care and wellness programs, we want to effect more structured ways to help our people manage mental stress and support their families. This way, we want our people to stay ‘switched on’ so we continue to deliver the best to our clients. It’s the right thing to do. It’s also makes better business sense and helps with employee retention.”
The agency also implemented a mandatory half day switch off for every last Friday of the month to boost wellbeing and morale.
