A recent study found that companies that promote a wellness culture have a significant advantage over those that don’t – and at least one big mortgage company is taking that to heart
Are mortgage companies lagging in the effort to promote a wellness culture for their employees?
The question isn’t an idle one – a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that companies that promote a culture of wellness have a significant advantage over those that don’t. And employees aren’t oblivious to their companies’
commitment – or lack thereof – to that culture. “Employees are keenly aware of whether or not they work for an organisation with a culture of wellness; their perceptions that health and wellness is an important part of their organisation’s culture are largely shaped by the design and accessibility of workplace wellness programmes,” the EIU wrote in its study.
One Georgia company is taking that advice to heart. Atlanta-based Southeast Mortgage, the largest nonbank lender in Georgia, has unveiled a new headquarters, complete with “a host of work-life balance amenities.”
“We had really outgrown our former facility,” said Cal Haupt, CEO of Southeast Mortgage. “…That gave us the launchpad to create a new space that was truly progressive, with an eye toward employee wellness.”
The new, 31,000-square-foot space was created with an eye toward the company’s culture – and the intent to integrate “amenities that enable employees to pursue more balanced lives,” according to a news release.
The new headquarters also makes Southeast Mortgage the only mortgage company in the region to incorporate a “life balance center” for employees into its work space. The life balance center includes amenities such as:
- A fully equipped gym
- A recreational break room featuring a ping-pong table, arcade games, dart boards and more
- A commercial video-recording and photo studio
- A state-of-the-art conference room and other “diverse collaborative areas to accommodate different modes of work”
- An eight-foot-tall waterfall “to foster the atmosphere of a stress-free environment”
- A 400-gallong fish tank
- A health and wellness exercise incentive program
“Our goal was to create a health-conscious workplace that was highly functional, yet offered our employees the necessary amenities they needed for a healthy work-life balance,” Haupt said. “The new space is more than an attractive office; it embodies who we are as a firm.”
