Redefining Risk and Wellness in the Modern Workplace

[00:00:00] Hello everyone, welcome to another exciting episode of Insurance Insights podcast.

[00:00:04] This episode is brought to you by Policybazaar for Business, which is the corporate insurance

[00:00:08] vertical of Policybazaar committed to making business insurance affordable and accessible.

[00:00:14] Today I am honored to be joined by Seema, who is the director and founder of

[00:00:18] Antaman Consulting. Antaman is a company that is focused on enhancing mental well-being

[00:00:23] and employee productivity within organizations. They offer a range of services to boost

[00:00:29] employee productivity and employee engagement. Their approach includes tailored interventions,

[00:00:35] which is unique to every organization to suit their particular needs.

[00:00:39] Thank you so much for having me here. It's an absolute pleasure coming here.

[00:00:44] Can you share Antaman's journey since its inception in 2012

[00:00:47] and explain what inspired the establishment of the company?

[00:00:50] So seed of starting something, Antaman I think it was lying very much in my childhood.

[00:00:56] As a child I never liked going to school, so I always thought that having a great infrastructure,

[00:01:02] nice teachers might add to happiness of a child. And once I grew, I found there are so many such

[00:01:08] schools out there. But then I saw my younger daughter she was not happy in the school.

[00:01:13] I despite having all luxuries in my life, cell phone, money, luxury cars, bicker houses,

[00:01:20] I was not happy. And then I saw so many senior citizens they have achieved a lot,

[00:01:25] settled their children, even they were not happy. So we were definitely doing something

[00:01:30] fundamentally wrong. And that thought is consistently hitting my mind. And since then I

[00:01:37] have been thinking what kind of support network we can build for people where they can evolve

[00:01:43] and feel happy for what they actually deserve. And that's where Antar Mana because it is all

[00:01:51] about your inner conscious came into picture. And we thought it is not just about one aspect

[00:01:59] of life, but it is about so many dimensions of life and that the mindset of building an ecosystem

[00:02:06] emerges. So then we entered into B2B business and we have designed our interventions in a way

[00:02:13] which is not just uplifting and individual, but it is also enhancing organizational effectiveness

[00:02:20] and a culture of resilience and collaboration. How has Antar Man made a difference in the lives

[00:02:25] of the people and organization you work with? And what unique approaches in your services do you use

[00:02:31] to stand out from your competitors? So 12 years back most of the corporate world was looking for

[00:02:37] a reactive model of for mental value, which is an EAP helpline call. But we realized that there

[00:02:45] is a specific need of customized solution as per the industry, as per the job profile or probably at

[00:02:51] a very individual level also. And the problem is not just about mental health is not an

[00:03:00] independent variable. As I said there are multiple dimensions and void it could be financial

[00:03:05] challenges, it could be relationship challenges, it could be relationship challenges with your

[00:03:10] workplace or your colleagues or some inherent challenges. So we thought or even your health and

[00:03:17] wellness issues so we thought of designing programs which is helping individual at the same

[00:03:23] time to move and to develop better sense of belongingness with their corporate so that

[00:03:29] once they are 100% at workplace they they are capable of resolving complex problem of

[00:03:36] businesses. Each business face multiple challenges to name it the customer satisfaction

[00:03:41] remains the top priority, the risk mitigation remains another priority, cost optimization

[00:03:47] another priority, profitability, productivity this is that these are the basic priority for

[00:03:53] any sort of business and once mental health intervention can achieve these profitable or

[00:04:02] the yardstick of a business performance and protection that is where we were focusing more on

[00:04:08] and once entire team or entire organization is aligned with the right goals we are definitely

[00:04:15] capable of achieving these business goals. This is definitely for SMEs that is a huge need because

[00:04:21] SMEs are evolving and they do not understand or maybe their funds do not allow them

[00:04:29] to build that kind of ecosystem where their employees are feeling more safe psychologically

[00:04:33] safe feels like it's taking organization for a pretty long time that's where our solutions

[00:04:40] are very very apt for even a smaller organization having 10 employees. So Seema what are some

[00:04:46] of the significant risks that organizations typically face in your industry and some

[00:04:52] specific strategies that Antaman uses to mitigate these risks? In 2021's pandemic hit the entire

[00:04:59] globe understood the value of mental value sudden surge in understanding the awareness of mental

[00:05:05] value in grieve many fold and as you grieve many fold the risk associated with mental health also

[00:05:13] grieve many fold and the risk even catering this services virtually also grieve many fold

[00:05:20] and that's where it was important to ensure that whatever the data we are collecting it has

[00:05:27] to be protected well how to cover this that was a question to us. Generally we always think how we

[00:05:36] can manage these things emotionally and with the physical support but few things are important

[00:05:43] to to inbuilt in the infrastructure in inbuilt in the IT infrastructure and cyber security

[00:05:50] insurance was the high priority for us because it was helping us to protect the data which we

[00:05:57] are taking from the people across the globe and and also it was also helping us to mitigate the

[00:06:04] risk with phishing spam emails maybe the malware something is happening to our own systems

[00:06:11] so these kind of insurance helped us to to protect our business well in advance. We cater

[00:06:18] a very niche industry called trust and safety industry we are very grateful that we are leaders

[00:06:23] there we have created a very unique solutions once it is coming to mental value there are a thousand

[00:06:29] many cyber guards every day which are moderating content for us protecting their emotional

[00:06:36] value was a huge challenge because it was a very fairly new concept and we had to do

[00:06:43] lot many research around that area what is helping them while designing this entire program we could

[00:06:50] identify that any business have three main component one is its people second is infrastructure

[00:06:56] and third is process that was the challenge in front of us how we mitigate risk at all three

[00:07:04] dimensions. Seema now that we have understood all the risks and challenges faced by organizations in

[00:07:09] your industry how does insurance help you mitigate all these risks? So Ashu interestingly I always say

[00:07:16] to my client that your stress is now my stress I say it very candidly and very confidently

[00:07:23] but trust me back in my mind I was always scared because I am capable of taking care of

[00:07:29] their people but what happens to my own people how will I ensure that the three dimensions I

[00:07:35] keep talking about the process infrastructure people I am able to take care of them at back end

[00:07:40] in my office and trust me this the solutions which Policy Bazaar for Business have provided us

[00:07:48] it really helped me to mitigate my own stress now my stress is being shared by Policy Bazaar

[00:07:56] for Business so that was a huge success for me you know we connected with a representative from

[00:08:01] Policy Bazaar and try to understand what are the potential threat to our kind of business

[00:08:07] and what are the solutions to protect us from these risks. So I think the major three important

[00:08:14] coverage came out after brainstorming sessions with Policy Bazaar for Business managers and

[00:08:22] team there that cybersecurity is something which we were really very very scared and and keen to

[00:08:28] protect that and then we understand the value of having a commercial journal ability I never

[00:08:33] thought that can be a product for me like I always thought that I'm not a you know a big

[00:08:39] organization or a manufacturing organization their occupational hazards can happen I never

[00:08:45] thought it is equally important product for me also since we are providing consulting

[00:08:51] professional services it was very important for us to have a error in omissions coverage as well

[00:08:57] so I think these three products are just by Policy Bazaar for Business really helped us

[00:09:03] to design our own contingency plan because it was covering all three aspects it's we were

[00:09:09] covering people these insurance were covering processes and infrastructure very very smartly

[00:09:15] for us it is a great solution for us what are anter months goals and visions for the future

[00:09:21] in enhancing organizational wellness and transformation and how do you see the

[00:09:25] role of risk management and insurance evolving in your industry so I wish to continue to

[00:09:30] lead in wellness corporate wellness and transformation for my clients definitely

[00:09:36] I enjoy bringing innovation and implementing through technology so that we can reach more

[00:09:43] and more people we solve very nuances and smaller problems for our clients and at the same time

[00:09:49] it is my learning throughout these 12 years that you know planning for risk mitigation

[00:09:54] in advance is highly important we don't know for what kind of problems we may foresee in the future

[00:10:02] so having a collaboration like you know this this collaboration with Policy Bazaar

[00:10:09] for Business is a roadmap for me because the brainstorming sessions we have

[00:10:13] for the potential problems which might occur after two years or three years and once we

[00:10:18] are planning it well in advance it is it is highly important that futuristic solutions

[00:10:24] which we are providing for our clients will emerge as a unique proposition unique

[00:10:30] differentiator for us I show what I think we are already living with a mental biases

[00:10:35] because we have always seen insurance as a cost or as an expenditure to the organization

[00:10:42] still you know we have to break that myth and create more awareness about it that

[00:10:48] there could be potential risk in future where we have to protect us well in advance

[00:10:53] most of us neglect it most of us ignore it you know once the problem will come

[00:10:58] and we'll see it if I say in you know we always you know this concept has been a matter of laughter

[00:11:05] in India but if you look at from the risk mitigation point of view this is actually a need

[00:11:14] we don't wait to prevent those kind of challenges well in advance and most of us neglect it

[00:11:24] the importance of I am I am accepting in front of you I never thought that having that

[00:11:31] CGL plan can help me I never thought it is for me so even despite having qualification all

[00:11:38] leading a business I am completely unaware what solution can support me so the more

[00:11:43] awareness and I think that that breaking mental biases towards insurance product is also very

[00:11:49] important so I should again you know we are working in a very volatile work and

[00:11:55] there are positives of globalization and there are certain challenges also once it is coming

[00:12:00] to globalization because sometimes we only try to replicate what is happening as a best practices

[00:12:06] but those best practices not necessarily are right for our kind of culture or maybe

[00:12:13] other cultures sometimes we give these kinds of suggestions to our corporate client but possibly

[00:12:19] they are being a global organization and they have to follow the instructions which are coming

[00:12:24] from blue they might not like our suggestions and they they may claim us and that's where the

[00:12:30] importance of omission and error coverage is highly highly important for our kind of businesses

[00:12:38] thank you so much Seema for taking out time and being here it was a really interesting conversation

[00:12:44] thanks a lot once again it's absolute pleasure Ashu I really enjoyed conversing with you and

[00:12:50] it has been very insightful for me too thank you so much