This spring we began welcoming our employees to Camp Pono, a new virtual destination and series of ongoing campaigns to shine a light on the many ways Salesforce employees can keep their health and happiness top of mind. It was so well received and generated so much buzz that we decided to bring Camp Pono to our customers and Trailblazers too, on Trailhead!

So now, anyone interested in creating a culture of wellbeing — and learning more about healthy eating, sleeping, and mindfulness — will be able to in a fun, self-paced way.

 

Why is wellbeing at work important?

 

Our world is fast-paced and demanding. To stay competitive, companies must focus on how much and how fast employees can deliver results — this is employee productivity. But there’s one crucial element of productivity that can be easy to overlook: employee wellbeing. 

Employee wellbeing is the very foundation of productivity (if someone is unwell, they probably aren't going to do good work) and a lack of attention to wellbeing can hurt your team or business more than you can imagine.

According to the Gallup Business Journalemployees who thrive both physically and mentally are 13% more likely to do excellent work, 41% more likely to have lower healthcare expenses, and 32% more likely to stay with a company. You can’t ignore those numbers!

 

Why “Pono”?

 

In Hawaiian culture, living “pono" means achieving a state of balance and harmony in all areas of life. Living a balanced life is an important part of our Ohana culture too, which encourages employees to bring their whole selves to work. Of course, we work hard and move quickly to deliver success for our whole Ohana — our customers, employees, partners, and communities — but in order to do that effectively, we also need to be at our best mentally, physically, and emotionally.

 

What is Camp Pono?

 

After researching the topic and consulting with experts, we saw that there were four critical areas to living pono:

  1. Nourish: You are what you eat
  2. Revive: Don't sleep on the importance of rest
  3. Move: Movement in all forms (even awkward dance circles at weddings)
  4. Thrive: Life is hard, so make stress management easier 

When we launched Camp Pono internally, we began rolling out campaigns in four stages, each exploring one of the four areas across the full year. 

Our first company challenge asked every employee to add a wellbeing goal to their V2MOM (our company goal-setting and alignment tool) and to post about it on their Chatter profiles. It was so inspiring to see how many people in our Ohana became committed to prioritizing their wellbeing. And by participating, employees were entered to win a limited edition Camp Pono backpack (because what's camp without a backpack?).


We followed that up with the launch of our Nourish campaign, which included strategies for eating healthy and staying hydrated. It's not always easy to eat healthy, so our very own executive chef, Bill Corbett, recorded short cooking demos showing how to make easy, nutritious meals. We also brought in our first Camp Pono speaker, Alice Waters, a food activist and world-famous chef, to talk about how eating locally and organically not only helps nourish our bodies but also helps the planet. Additionally, we ran a hydration challenge where employees who logged at least 20 glasses of water over the course of the contest got entered to win a prize. To track their progress, we used an app that donated a glass of water to those in need for every glass of water that Salesforce employees drink.

 

How can you get involved?

 

With all the interest we received for Camp Pono internally, we knew we needed to make it available to our broader Ohana community. That's why, earlier this year, we launched the "Enhance Employee Wellbeing with Camp Pono" trail on Trailhead. The trail includes four modules that touch on everything from healthy eating, to mindfulness, to how to achieve wellbeing at work — it's your essential guide to living Pono in your own life. Plus, once you complete the trail you'll be able to add one more badge to your profile on Trailhead. 

If you're interested in learning even more about wellbeing initiatives at Salesforce, you can read all about them on the Salesforce Culture Site.