Firstbeat Life Guides Futurice Employees Towards Better Well-Being

Futurice is a digital engineering and consultation company based in Finland with clients consisting of medium and large companies from various industries. The most important capital and resource of a consulting company are the consultants — in other words, the people (employees). Futurice wants to make sure people are really taken good care of. The Firstbeat Life corporate wellness solution provides comprehensive reports on the factors that support an individual’s well-being.

Like so many players around the world, Futurice employees switched to remote working when the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020.

“That autumn, we all considered how we could support our employees when there was a remote winter ahead,” recalls Futurice’s HR specialist, Milla Ryhtä. “From there, Firstbeat emerged. At first, we were just thinking about that basic Firstbeat measurement (Lifestyle Assessment), but then we heard about this Firstbeat Life pilot. We were immediately interested in it, especially because it gives our employees data to support their perceived well-being.”

“Firstbeat Life data has enabled us to steer activities in our work community from an HR perspective towards better well-being,” Ryhtä includes.

Firstbeat Life is a subscription-based corporate wellness solution that supports employee well-being by providing comprehensive reporting capabilities, heart rate variability (HRV), motion measurement devices and a mobile app for stress and recovery monitoring. It is also possible to get additional support from personal coaching.

“We got Firstbeat measuring devices so that everyone has their own personal device for free use,” Ryhtä adds. “Everyone can take measurements as often as they want.”

The results influence everyday choices

Web developer Elias Ylänen makes a one-to-two-day measurement on average once every two weeks. If something special comes up, he might take the measurement more often than this. The measurement results and their analysis have had a direct effect on what choices Ylänen currently makes in his own daily life.

Application developer Elias conducts Firstbeat Life measurements regularly. With the help of Firstbeat Life data, he has learned to make the right choices for himself, both at work and in his free time.

“I have started to think about going to bed a little smarter and pay attention to what I do before going to bed,” he says. “I am now thinking more about how I spend my time, not only at work, but also in my free time. For example, if I have noticed that certain types of situations or tasks are particularly stressful, then I know to pause a bit more.”

“The nice aspect here is that I get reports from an HR perspective on how our employees in general are,” Ryhtä adds. “So I get anonymized data about what the stress levels of our employees are, how much they move and so on.”

The Firstbeat Life app provides very accurate information on stress, recovery, sleep, and exercise. The service helps to understand your reactions and resources and guides you towards better wellbeing.

Well-being is a matter for the entire work community

Firstbeat Life measurements and personalised data have been well-received by Futurice employees. One interesting experiment has been, for example, when employees have been able to compare the level of their own workload between office and remote-working days. Although many have been telecommuting, Futurice has offered the opportunity to come to the office to work whenever needed.

“For my needs, this has been a really good system and I would like this to be in use in a year’s time,” Ylänen says.

“The debate on well-being in general and the kind of activism and community around it has grown,” Ryhtä concludes. “I think that is a really great thing in itself. This has been widening not only for our people, but for me as well. I have been trusted to get data around the well-being of our people, which enables us to steer activities in our work community from an HR perspective towards better well-being.”

Firstbeat Life supports workplace risk management and staff health. Anonymous company and group reports help company management and human resources monitor trends and find areas for work community development.

Do you want to help your employees find a better balance between stress and recovery and lead well-being at work with data?