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Corporate Wellness @ Brocade
Building a Culture of Wellness Since 2010, Brocade has been on a journey to integrate health and wellness into its corporate culture.
What started as a Program, branded as WellFit, to highlight attributes of Brocade’s new San Jose LEED
Headquarters, quickly became a Strategy – is now a cornerstone of daily operations engaging a global
workforce in a culture of health and wellness. WellFit is an integral component of the Corporate Affairs
mission to co-create an environment where Brocadians are successful and engaged.
Corporate and Program Overview Brocade networking solutions empower the world’s leading organizations to transition smoothly to a world where applications
and information reside anywhere. The Company has over 4,500 employees worldwide and serves a wide range of industries
and customers in more than 160 countries.
Launching a Wellness Strategy The Human Resources organization saw the Headquarters move as a unique opportunity to implement a new wellness strategy
that incorporated the offerings of the new facility – a 5600 sq. ft. fitness center, on-site cafeteria, wide windowed common
space overlooking expansive courtyards, and easy access to public transit, parks and trails. An employee survey also revealed
that employees overwhelmingly wanted to integrate more wellness activities at work.
As a Program, WellFit was developed to address two specific drivers:
Address rising healthcare costs.
Improve the health and well-being of Brocade employee.
“The first year, we didn’t have a budget at all. We just kept coming up with various activities and saw what worked through trial
and error,” says Jacqueline Szeto, WellFit Program Manager for Brocade.
Staffing resources were aligned to ensure success. A full-time program manager, based in San Jose, was established to design
and execute the program. To leverage employee engagement and create unique leadership opportunities, a Global Council was
soon developed to further scale the program into a global strategy.
WellFit Council The Council is made up a cross-functional group of employee subject experts from the Corporate Affairs, Benefits, and
Facilities departments. Employees with a personal passion for wellness also volunteer on the Council as Regional Champions.
The Council's Regional Champions lead Committees in their respective geographic areas. Multiple Committees are active in
California, Colorado, Minnesota, Singapore, India, and United Kingdom. These Committees, under the leadership of the
Regional Champion provide unique wellness offerings in their local offices.
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A Comprehensive Approach to Wellness At Brocade, wellness is more than a singular philosophy to promote physical activity. Because of the early roots of the program
to address key drivers in medical claims, it was useful and necessary to take a systems view and incorporate a suite of health
factors into the design of WellFit. This array of offerings was a significant factor in meeting the second objective of WellFit, to
improve employee well-being. WellFit’s strategy focuses on the five areas:
Physical Health and Wellness
Emotional and Mental Health
Financial Health
Sustainable Health
Family Health
Global Initiatives that Drive Engagement Recently, Brocade increased efforts to engage family members and enrolled dependents into the WellFit strategy. It’s a natural
extension of the strategy given that a significant portion of U.S. healthcare premiums are generated from this population. And,
healthy families lead to healthy employees and healthy companies. Families can participate in community-based wellness
activities, use the online platforms and resources, and more.
Annual Health Fair and Community Activities Families are invited to participate in Brocade’s annual on-site health fair. This San Jose-based event exposes families to the
corporate culture and the broader workplace population. The health fair is an opportunity for employees and families to talk to
health care providers, maximize health benefits, and also learn about upcoming wellness events.
The Company also encourages employees and families to participate in community events which are frequently associated
with a health related cause. For example, over the past few years, Brocade has seen an increase in family members
participating in the American Heart Association’s Silicon Valley Heart and Stroke Walk and the Applied Materials Silicon Valley
Turkey Trot. In other Brocade cites, employees and families participate in similar walks and biking activities such as Courage
Classic benefiting Colorado Children’s Hospital, the Tour de Cure benefiting American Diabetes Association in Minnesota and
more. These events are a fun way to incorporate physical activity and also benefit the community.
Biometric Screenings Additionally, in 2014, Brocade invited U.S. employees and medically enrolled spouses and domestic partners to complete a
free, on-site biometric screenings (including BMI, blood sugar level, and cholesterol) and a health assessment in exchange for a
reduction in the monthly employee paid medical premium. At the end of 2014, 21% of the spouses and domestic partners
participated in the activities and took the preventative steps in learning their health numbers.
Executive Engagement The WellFit strategy has received full support from the senior leadership, including the CEO. Senior Executives regularly
champion health and fitness challenges within their different organizations. They often work with their staff to create one-month
wellness challenges that are uniquely tailored to their global organization – like a stairs challenge led by the Engineering
organization, and challenges focusing on healthy behaviors such as relaxation breaks, nutrition, and exercise led by the
Operations organization. The challenges are often highly competitive and participants register with the senior leaders or on an
organized team. Winners of these challenges are based on the team who earned the highest team average points or on
individual performance.
Senior Executives are also visible on days like American Heart Association’s Wear Red Day. In February 2015, our global
Brocade employees were encouraged to wear red and take part in a Company-wide photograph. The San Jose, Colorado,
Minnesota, United Kingdom, and India offices participated in the event. A number of Senior Executives including SVP WW
Human Resources, SVP General Counsel, and SVP Switching, Routing and Analytics Products Group were in the San Jose
photo.
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Leveraging Gamification and Global Challenges There is an effort to develop additional tools to see long-term health behavior changes and increase engagement through
“gamification” techniques. Brocade recently adopted the Virgin Pulse wellness platform in October 2014. The third party, online
platform provides creative and innovative activities such as company coordinated wellness challenges, tracking physical
activities, nutrition, online coaching, and other wellness resources. All global employees and U.S. medically enrolled spouses
and domestic partners are encouraged to engage with the platform to meet their health goals. Employees can invite family
members and friends to use an interactive version of the Virgin Pulse portal.
Competitive Spirit Increased Engagement Brocadians are very competitive and enjoy a good challenge. Corporate challenges allow the Brocade to increase awareness
and put a spotlight on healthy habits such as physical activity and eating heart healthy foods. In addition to individual
gamification, the platform applies social, rewards, wearable fitness devices, and mobile apps to support and enhance workplace
wellness programs that also drive peer-to-peer exchange. Users earn ‘points’ based on their activities (walking, biking,
participating in a challenge, etc.) and interactions (attending WellFit events and seminars, updating user information, etc.). All
users, including spouses and domestic partners, are encouraged to earn as many points as possible within a quarter to be
eligible for quarterly incentives and prizes. 99% of participants have earned points on the platform. Prizes can be redeemed in
the Virgin Pulse store for gift cards or fitness devices like a Fitbit.
Brocade has seen results since launching Virgin Pulse. More than 34% of employees have created and account and use the
platform – more than 5% of those are using the tool on a daily basis. The most frequently monitored activity is tracking steps.
To date, users have recorded 176 million steps, nearly 84,000 miles. By using the tool to track steps, participants are changing
behaviors. 24% of users previously considered ‘low active/inactive participants’ are now considered ‘highly active’.
Delivering Results In 2014, the WellFit Council distributed a voluntary survey to employees to gauge program satisfaction. Of the employees that
participated in the survey, 94% reported that they would recommend WellFit to colleagues. In addition, two out of three
respondents said the program fostered open communication and collaboration.
When asked what key drivers motivated them to participate in WellFit activities, 46% of respondents indicated a desire to
improve health, 32% were seeking fun activities. From these motivational factors, employees indicated that they were able to
adopt lifestyle changes that resulted in improvements to personal health, maintenance of wellness health goals, reduction of
stress, and an increase in energy.
As previously mentioned, earlier drivers of the WellFit strategy were attempts to reduce the rising costs of healthcare coverage.
Over time however, motivators for program success have been geared towards a systemic culture of wellness and an increase
employee involvement in health activities. Indicators suggest that this involvement has a connection to overall employee
engagement which positively impacts multiple business outcomes including increased productivity.
Recognition and Awards As a result of WellFit, the Brocade’s benefits costs continue to trend below the market. Moreover, the Company has
consistently been recognized as one of the healthiest workplaces globally. Recognition in the U.S includes the Healthiest
Employers in the Bay Area, the American Heart Association’s Fit Friendly Workplace, and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition’s
Bicycle Friendly Workplace. In 2014, Brocade’s site in Bangalore, India received a gold-level healthy workplace award from
Arogya Health.
Looking Forward Brocade will continue to drive engagement with the Virgin Pulse wellness platform, seeking to increase employee participation
above 40% in 2015. Strategic goals also include robust individualized wellness challenges and personalized dashboard to
increase those highly engaged users to greater than 10%. In addition, we will continue to improve communications and
outreach, with a focus toward tool functionality and involvement with the families.
Szeto notes that clear communication is key to overcoming the challenges of rolling out a new wellness platform. “You have to
be able to figure out what you are communicating and how it benefits employees,” she says. WellFit plans to continue
expansion of the program into Brocade’s Europe and Asia locations. There are also plans to increase the internal social aspects
that would allow employees to share personal stories and wellness tips with colleagues around the globe.
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Employees in Action Brocadians enjoy participating in a variety of global activies, which are also often promoted on social media.
© 2015 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 06/15
Brocade and the B-wing symbol are registered trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned may be trademarks of others.
Tour de Cure Bike Charity Ride in Minnesota Denver Heart and Stroke Walk in Colorado
Ananda Yana Run in India Zumba Class in India
Wear Red Day Event in United Kingdom and San Jose Headquarters
Silicon Valley Turkey Trot Run in San Jose Cycling Event in Singapore
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