Amid all this, it is critical for organizations to continuously innovate, engage, support, and empower working mothers.

Many Indian mothers have experienced a profound shift in their lives owing to the COVID – 19 crisis. Working mothers in particular have had the toughest challenge as they manage added workload and domestic responsibilities. With shutting of schools and education institutes, it is on parents, especially mothers to take over tasks such as home-schooling, babysitting, home care, etc. During such times, it becomes paramount to give working mothers the time and support they need to care for their children, manage the work-place and help them balance life better in this new normal of work from home, while immuning themselves from burnouts and fatigue

Amid all this, it is critical for organizations to continuously innovate, engage, support, and empower working mothers. Optum - a part of UnitedHealth Group and a leading health services innovation company ensured that the conversation goes beyond advice to cover all aspects of employee wellbeing during these times.

Optum’s award winning employee wellness program LIVEWELL has inclusively addressed the challenges working mothers are facing, through conducive policies, peer to peer support ecosystem, and enhanced accessibility. With the organization’s mission of helping people live healthier lives and helping make the health system work better for everyone, the focus is on creating a sustainable and scalable model, with respect to technology, analytics and a strong business ecosystem, which not just touches the lives of employees but also their dependents.

Let’s take a look at how working mothers at Optum are managing work and home while COVID-19 stays awake.

Akta Saluja a Sr. S/w Engineering Manager with Optum Global Solutions leads teams that work on multiple critical business applications. For Akta, it has been a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities during these unprecedented times. Akta believes that with time, trial and error, through some anxious moments and with her family’s and organizations' support, she has arrived at a point where things are running smoothly and in tandem with each other. Initiatives from Optum like FIT WELL, RAISE WELL, and PLAN WELL, is helping her and many other working mothers to destress and engage during this time and she is proud of the way Optum is supporting working mothers across levels.

Optum’s FITWELL, PLANWELL AND RAISEWELL programs, include activities like – Virtual sessions on Foods that build immunity, Recipe’s to cook easy and healthy meals, Tax & Financial Goal Planning during COVID crisis, Storytelling session for Kids- Age- 4-9 years, etc.

Similarly, Suneetha Purli a Sr. Manager, Software Engineering with Optum Global Solutions, believes that the last 4 weeks have been a transformation journey for her, having no experience of working from home, it took some time for her to get adapted to the new environment. However, she is certain that she could have never managed it without her family and Optum’s all-round support. Activities to de-stress, team bonding exercises to help stay connected, LiveWell webinars, regular motivational talks, and addresses from the leadership along with readily available technical support, has helped her tremendously in being satisfied with the undivided time and attention she could give to her children, family and work.