KUWAIT: Burgan Bank recently concluded the month-long ‘Rock Your Habits’ well-being program and challenge, which the Bank hosted at its head office as part of its mission to be an employer of choice and its comprehensive approach to human capital development. The program aimed to raise awareness about healthy living among the Bank’s staff and encourage them to take small steps toward replacing unhealthy habits with healthier ones that lead to elevating their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Throughout the four weeks of the program, 140 Burgan employees took part in a wide range of challenges, workshops, engaging activities, as well as one-on-one follow-up sessions that were led by Rola Aranky, dietitian, diabetes educator, sports nutrition specialist, and certified personal trainer; and Daniel Lorenzo, athlete, and fitness trainer.

Commenting on the wellbeing program, Ms. Zahra Boarki, Manager – Culture & Employee Engagement at Burgan Bank, said: “As a proudly certified Great Place to Work, we are committed to creating new and different opportunities for our staff to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives. In addition to the positive impact that these initiatives have on their personal lives, they reflect very clearly on their professional performance and sense of belonging and community as well. In our pursuit of becoming the most modern and progressive bank in Kuwait, we spare no effort to fulfill our employees’ need for holistic growth, which includes adopting healthy lifestyles that encourage them to be proactive and productive in the workplace and outside it.”

Boarki went on to note that working in the banking industry inherently involves long hours of sitting down behind desks, admitting that life at Burgan Bank is no exception. However, by being mindful of this fact, the Bank aims to create a culture that constantly encourages and enables employees to make better and healthier choices. To ensure that the participants will commit to the new healthy habits encouraged throughout the program, workshops, and sessions were introduced with sustainable change in mind. Starting with the basics, week one of the program went over general topics on the well-being of the mind, body, and soul, in addition to incorporating a balanced diet, as well as shed light on obesity and its various risk factors. In line with the theme of the kick-off week, the first challenge was for participants to cut out junk food from their diets.

The second week of the program was dedicated to the topic of mindful eating, which dove a little deeper into the relationship between the human body and food, whereby participants gained a better understanding of their own bodies through body analysis and one-on-one sessions. They also learned about macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fats), where they will gain better knowledge in reading nutrition labels and accordingly build their meals and choose the best snack options for them. For this week, participants were challenged to mindfully opt for healthy snacks.

The third week progressed to more topics on owning dietary choices through preparing wholesome meals with more mindfulness of the ingredients that go into each meal. Rounding up the program, the fourth and final week focused on the importance of leading an active lifestyle that incorporates regular movement. Besides workouts, the workshops also focused on the details such as avoiding wrong postures during the long hours of work and how to improve joint mobility with simple exercises.

Stemming from the Bank’s commitment to raising awareness among its staff about vital health-related topics, Burgan has organized several health awareness initiatives on breast cancer, diabetes, and parents’ well-being. The Bank’s call for health awareness also reflects its constant support for the sports culture, which manifests in orchestrating and sponsoring various sporting events for the Bank’s employees and members of the community.