Neerja Birla, Chairperson of the Aditya Birla Education Trust, has urged Indian industry to integrate workforce health into business strategy, saying sustained performance depends on the systems in which people work.
India Wellbeing Initiative could offer businesses a common framework adaptable to different workplaces, she said at a Confederation of Indian Industry Wellbeing Summit held here on Monday.
Workplace health has expanded from physical safety to preventive healthcare, counselling and wellness benefits, she said. The next phase must address work design, management quality, technology use, performance expectations and fairness of opportunity.
“The goal of wellbeing is not to remove these things. It is to ensure that the way we pursue performance does not steadily erode our capacity to perform,” she said at the event to launch CII India Wellbeing Charter.
Citing the World Health Organization’s estimate that depression and anxiety cost the global economy around 12 billion working days annually, Birla called for workplace stress to be addressed before it leads to burnout and other problems.
Interventions should reflect each business’s needs. For technology employees, flexibility may mean location choices; in factories, it could involve predictable shifts, adequate rest and safe staffing. Micro, small and medium enterprises should be able to support employees without replicating large companies’ infrastructure.
Organisations should provide counselling and physical healthcare, offer flexibility where feasible, train managers to recognise when support is needed and ensure that seeking help carries no penalty.
Birla cautioned against measuring wellbeing solely through productivity, noting that trust, judgement, creativity and collaboration would become more important as technology transformed workplaces.
Sudakshina Bhattacharya, President and Chief Human Resources Officer, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company said there is a need to place employee wellbeing at the centre of leadership and Board-level discussions on growth, productivity, organisational risk and the future of work.
She emphasised that the way organisations set priorities, manage workloads, recognise effort and support employees through change has a direct bearing on their experience of work.
Ms Bhattacharya cited findings from the CII–Panchakosha study, which underscored the importance of strengthening the everyday conditions that help employees sustain their energy and engagement.
Bhattacharya said the CII India Wellbeing Charter is intended to help organisations translate good intentions into consistent action by asking them to define their commitments, measure progress and assess whether employees are experiencing a meaningful difference.
Published on October 12, 2026
