Innovation

The consultant team that Olga engages in her business consists of part time experts with specific qualifications. They are mainly working on the resilience and resourcefulness of employees, mental well-being and setting up structures supporting employee well-being in companies. Different consultants are brought together in an agile way, depending on the task at hand. It is a structure of the future, where you have lower cost and big flexibility, Olga said. "You have the best of both worlds because you prioritize projects together, working together and have strong bonds", shared Olga with us. Since the Covid - 19 Pandemic Olga's team was more or less operating in a hybrid format, with personal meetings every now and then for brainstorming and plan development.

Inspiration

Olga has always had a passion for helping people, this passion comes from her own personal values. Because in her family, everyone is more likely to be described as analytic business leaders, but she is more sensitive and emotional. Olga strongly believes that human life is the most important thing on earth, that no-one is perfect and that together we can do better. Since her childhood Olga often gets told that: "People feel calm, safe and inspired after talking to me". She values human life more than anything and thinks everyone deserves to have equal rights, to be happy in their working environment.

Olga says she likes to help people notice themselves, even if they are not aware of this. She sees that some people need more effort than others, but at the end if she can make one person feel better, it is worth it. So in the end, her passion and inspiration is directly connected to how much she values human life.

Overall impact

Olga indeed noted that companies now do care more about the well-being of their employees than in the past. But how companies deal with this does not only depend on the factor of time. The culture in which a company operates also determines how companies deal with their employees. In her home country Russia they have a "macho-type" culture where you should not speak about stress because that is for weak people. While in other countries it is accepted by the community to talk about your feelings. We also talked about the mental effects caused by the Corona-pandemic. Olga noted that many workers faced depression, but also the suicide level across different countries increased. But this pandemic did not only affect workers. Students' mental health also suffered greatly.

Business benefit

Because the business did prioritize employee well-being and mental health with the consulting, coaching, and mentoring services provided by Olga, there is a high possibility of the increase in the revenue. As we point out in our story, employees now suffer much more from depression, stress, suicidal thoughts and so on. Therefore, Olga's job of coaching and mentoring companies to better handle the well-being of their employees is now of great importance. If this did not happen, the number of employees with mental problems would only increase. In the long run, presenteeism (when an employee only do bare minimum to not get fired, but nothing more) would increase, people would not add personal values and ideas to the company and there would be a boring and depressing work environment. Therefore, employee well-being innovations can also lead to a noticeable increase in profits. Because happy employees perform best. It is now of great importance to keep more employees happy in their companies.

Social and environmental benefit

This innovation aims to help every employee, even if they are not aware and seeking for help. If a person notices themselves and asks for help, she has different techniques and anonymous paid services. If they do not, she tries to find a language to talk with them about their problems without making anyone feel uncomfortable. Her main goal is helping every employee, from an intern to a CEO to help themself feel better. Because workplace stress has great impact on mental health of people. She tries to fix the issue of the society by improving working conditions.

The cost of not prioritizing mental health is usually expensive. It causes nervous breakdowns, allergies, injuries, or other illnesses because of the high levels of stress. The biggest challenge Olga faces is supporting people who deny their problem and help because they usually think training or self-improvement is for losers, only. Olga has learned how to approach and motivate people and is very professional about it. She also changes her approach, depending on who she is talking to, in order to help them better.

Interview

Olga, Founder