VP of Human Resources at Grupo Éxito Champions Employee Well-Being and Mental Health

Hosted by Erika Rodriguez, General Manager, Latin America, The Consumer Goods Forum, this masterclass session focused on why employee well-being programmes are critical to business and the importance of leadership in driving change and successful implementation of such programmes. The session was conducted entirely in Spanish. The full recording is available below with English subtitles:

On a personal note, Calle explained his understanding of well-being: “If you break the word down and put it backwards, it means to Be Well,” he said, emphasising that it’s the little things that count the most, such as rest, a nutritious diet, physical, mental and emotional well-being, contentment and peace.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, the importance of mental health and healthy habits has been recognised, and so Grupo Éxito seeks to contribute with its “Vida Digna” or “Dignified Life” programme, which addresses issues such as housing, education, employment and nutrition for its employees and their immediate families.

High level learnings from the programme include: 

1. Employees are happy when their families are happy:  To tackle unemployment head-on, Grupo Éxito organised job fairs to help employees’ family members. 
2. Understanding the needs of employees: Participating in community projects and offering balanced and personalised programmes where each employee feels valued is key. 
3. The bigger picture: Calle highlighted the importance of linking employee well-being programmes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 10, while highlighting progress on SDG 1 (no poverty).
4. Well-being starts at the top: A holistic culture of well-being that starts at the top of the organisational hierarchy is key.

Juan Felipe Montoya Calle, Vice President of Human Resources at Grupo Éxito, closed the masterclass by emphasising that “well-being should not be an obligation, but a choice that wins the hearts and minds of employees”.

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CGF’s 2023 Year of Employee Well-being Campaign: 

The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness around the issue of employee health and provide a call to action for companies to create a workplace culture which actively promotes and supports wellbeing. Learn more about our Call-to-Action and Board engagement. 

Co-Chair Ambition: 

In June 2023 the CGF elected its new Co-chairs Frans Muller, President & CEO of Ahold Delhaize, and Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International who called to amplify the Forum’s ambition on boosting employee health and wellbeing across all 400 CGF members. 

As part of this journey, the CGF wants to collaborate to create a workplace wellbeing culture. 

The CGF’s Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition of Action strives to work with CGF members to support the creation of a workplace culture which actively promotes and supports wellbeing and makes it part of people’s everyday experience at work is key to delivering the outcomes our businesses and people need.

To know more contact:

Sharon Bligh
Health & Sustainability Director
The Consumer Goods Forum

Zoe Daruwalla
Communications Officer
The Consumer Goods Forum