Sustainability, or the capacity for people to positively coexist with the planet, is often said to have three pillars: social, economic and environmental. This definition recognizes that true environmental sustainability cannot be attained without addressing the health of the systems surrounding it.
As an economics major in college, I learned that our economy comes down to people’s behavior. There is no positive economic structure without a solid base of people supporting it. However you look at it, healthy people are at the center of any successful sustainability plan. This makes investing in employee wellness an easy choice.
Employee wellness has many components, but a foundational element is a solid economic base. At Bragg, we review employee compensation annually and ensure that we remain competitive to market. Importantly, we believe in sharing our successes. Thus, every employee at every level participates in our annual bonus program, which is tied to our company’s financial performance versus objectives.
In two of the last five years, Bragg employees’ bonus payouts have exceeded their targets, ensuring that the entire team benefits from our shared work and achievements. Establishing a solid economic foundation for team members enables a stable organization that is capable of executing our work plans.
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For Bragg and other natural foods companies, our industry is built on the principles of wellness. Incorporating employee wellness into our sustainability initiatives is inherent in our DNA. As a health and wellness brand that has been around for more than 100 years, those initiatives look different today than they did decades ago when Patricia Bragg called staff outside for a stretching break. However, they are rooted in the same core beliefs that healthy team members create a stronger and more resilient company.
Many studies have proven this out, illustrating how wellness initiatives lead to lower healthcare costs for both employees and employers, and how they can help reduce employee absences as well as workplace accidents. A healthy workforce is typically more adaptable in the face of challenges and business changes. All this feeds into the long-term economic stability of the company and its ability to execute against its strategic plans.
As an additional benefit, corporate sustainability initiatives and employee wellness programs are often associated with increased success in attracting and retaining quality talent as well. Overall team wellness, coupled with a clear and motivating company mission, improves organizational culture, fostering a more positive work environment. This leads to healthier communication and collaboration and, thus, higher employee engagement and lower employee turnover.
At Bragg, we’ve seen firsthand how employee engagement contributes to the company vision. Earlier this year, team members from across our organization made it their mission to achieve B Corp certification for Bragg. Based on our core value of Engagement — caring about our impact on our community and the planet — they took on the work of stewarding the company through a very detailed and in-depth certification process on top of their regular job responsibilities.
Now, Bragg’s B Corp status stands as a testament to our sustainability commitment to consumers, customers and shareholders. But perhaps most importantly, it embodies our internal core value of pride, in that we stand behind our beliefs as an organization and continue to operate as a channel for positive change.
Effective wellness initiatives extend beyond the workplace, positively impacting employees’ families, neighbors and friends. Our founder, Paul Bragg, emphasized the benefits of “the Bragg healthy lifestyle” more than a century ago, encouraging a nutritious, plant-based diet, plenty of water, daily exercise and breathing exercises to combat stress.
We put those tenets into action today, providing healthy meal options, morning yoga, walking and running activities at our company meetings. For stress management and mental health, we offer free membership to a wellness app called Headspace to access mindfulness activities, guided meditations and tips. And we offer employees a generous discount so they can incorporate Bragg’s healthy products into their everyday routines.
Many studies show the tremendous importance of connection and community in overall health and longevity. As a predominantly remote work company, Bragg must be intentional about providing opportunities to fuel social connection. We do that by hosting weekly “virtual coffee breaks” and monthly virtual town halls for all employees. We also gather in person as a full company twice a year. In addition, we utilize the Microsoft Teams platform as a hub for resources and communication, where team members share recipes and travel suggestions and join forces to reach health goals on the “Building Healthy Habits” channel.
Connection to community extends beyond Bragg’s four virtual walls, so we provide all Bragg employees with one full paid day of “Volunteer Time Off” each year so they can spend time serving a cause they care about. Studies have shown how the mental health benefits of volunteering can help in warding off loneliness and depression.
Employee participation is key to developing the most impactful programs and activities for a corporate wellness program. At Bragg, confidential benefits surveys are used to understand what team members care about most. We then use our annual Great Place to Work Survey to check in on our progress from year to year.
This feedback has resulted in several program enhancements, including our “summer hours” benefit and improvements to our paid-time-off and leave policies. In addition, we take participation to the next level with Bragg team members voluntarily participating on our Culture Development Team. Each year, this cross-functional group evaluates our largest opportunity areas for improving organizational health and brainstorms programs and activities to address these areas. The team has organized company walks, after hours online social gatherings and resetting active breaks during our company meetings, as examples.
For any wellness program, consistent and ongoing communication is critical to ensuring success. At Bragg, we address this on multiple levels. First, we have live communications via our monthly town hall forums. During this time, our human resources team can review the latest news and offerings. Our HR team also sends out a monthly email newsletter.
Finally, our Culture Development Team sends out a bulletin monthly that includes opportunities to connect in nonwork activities. We use our Teams platform for ad hoc needs as well, such as planning around company meetings or participation in wellness challenges. Repetition in communication is key to building participation in any new employee wellness offering.
As a predominantly remote company, we must ensure accessible training to fuel wellness initiatives, such as our online ergonomic office configuration training to reduce the risk of repetitive movement injuries and eye strain. It’s also important to us to collect regular feedback to identify ways of improving the program to meet the diverse needs of both onsite and remote employees.
Integrating corporate wellness into sustainability plans is just good business. And Bragg has shown that, while challenging, it’s possible to tackle employee wellness in a remote or hybrid environment. Prioritizing wellness programs acknowledges the interconnectedness of human and environmental health and promotes a more systemic approach to sustainability. This is a concept that Paul Bragg recognized more than 100 years ago, and it continues to be true for our company today.
Forward-thinking and innovative, Linda Boardman is passionate about the natural food space. Since assuming the CEO role at Bragg Live Food Products, LLC in 2019, she has embodied Bragg’s values — bold, collaborative, open, engaged and proud. With a degree in economics from Harvard University, Boardman began her career in the food industry at Ocean Spray Cranberries, and her subsequent work leading the private label group at Whole Foods Market solidified her love for and commitment to the health food industry. A believer in expanding access to quality foods at high standards, Boardman later served as president of Applegate Farms, the leading brand of natural and organic deli meats. Before joining Bragg, she was president of Branch Brook Holdings, an investment partnership between Swander Pace Capital, Jefferson Capital Partners and United Natural Foods, Inc. that invests in natural and specialty product companies.
