A Diversity and Prevention Manager trained by Yogist: taking workplace well-being to the next level

Gwenaëlle completed the training offered by Yogist as the Diversity and Prevention Manager for PMU. We interviewed her during the second Well At Work community seminar in October 2022.

Response from Gwenaëlle Gautier:

I have been a certified Yogist since July 2021. I work in the Human Resources Department at PMU. PMU is a betting operator offering horse racing, sports betting, and poker. We are a group of 1,100 employees with a fairly traditional organizational structure in terms of roles: field sales representatives, support staff, and so on. We have a presence throughout the country—both in Paris and in the provinces—and we also operate in Réunion.

In the HR department, I’m responsible for occupational risk prevention, among other things. I also handle all aspects of HR development, including:

Response from Gwenaëlle Gautier:

It was as part of our occupational risk prevention efforts that I began working with Yogist. Anne-Charlotte’s team (Vuccino, Ed.) contacted me in 2019 to present their services. I thought it sounded interesting! During the second lockdown, in December 2020, I tried out Yogist with Pauline, who led us through an introductory workshop. I then decided to make this a permanent part of our company’s program.

At the same time, I was working on my risk prevention action plan, particularly focusing on the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. I was trying to identify additional measures to complement the ones I had already implemented. In fact, the Yogist workshop training seemed like the perfect fit. Budget-wise, I needed to find a way to fund it.

“Just then, Anne-Charlotte and her team told me that Yogist had recently received QUALIOPI certification. So I could use my CPF to pay for training. It was the solution I’d been waiting for! I’m going to get trained, and I’ll lead workshops myself right here in the company. That way, I won’t have to seek out funding or request workshops, since I’ll be the one leading them.”

Response from Gwenaëlle Gautier:

I had started the certification process with in-person sessions. But everyone told me they were working remotely and unavailable. With all the teams based in different regions, that wasn’t ideal. So I changed the way I presented and pitched my project to management. I wondered what I could base my pitch on. We had just signed an agreement on remote work. So my angle was to support remote work with best practices to help employees: sedentary lifestyles, remote work, and prevention of musculoskeletal disorders.

So I started with remote sessions via Teams to test it out with our HR teams—about thirty people in total. The trial went well, so I continued it for a few weeks, using very short, ten-minute workshop formats, once a week on Wednesdays, our main remote work day.

I received a lot of feedback:

Response from Gwenaëlle Gautier:

So I redesigned the format in response to this feedback. I went back to my managers and proposed continuing with remote workshops, but on a schedule of 15 minutes on Wednesdays and 15 minutes on Fridays (the main days for remote work). I suggested holding the session from 12:30 to 12:45 p.m., during the lunch hour, which unfortunately fell outside of working hours.

To get started, I took advantage of Workplace Well-Being Week in June. I organized workshops throughout the week. Other workshops were taking place at the same time. This gave me the opportunity to test the new format of my Yogist workshops, this time with the entire company—all teams included.

Then, at the end of Quality of Life at Work Week, I wrote an article for the company newsletter summarizing my initiatives. I emphasized that Quality of Life at Work and the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders aren’t just about one week a year, but about the entire year. I then invited them to join us in September, during the first week back after the summer break.

Response from Gwenaëlle Gautier:

The company’s internal communications team sent out a back-to-work message: “It’s back-to-work season—a time for new resolutions. The company cares about your well-being and your quality of life at work, so we’re launching twice-weekly workshops on preventing musculoskeletal disorders.”

In addition to that message—which not everyone was going to read—I sent Teams invitations directly to all the teams to schedule meetings in their calendars. Everyone was free to accept or decline the invitation on Wednesdays and Fridays from 12:30 to 12:45 p.m. That’s how it all started in September.

The first week, I had between 80 and 100 people interested in trying out the concept. Then, after a while, things slowed down a bit; I now have about 30 participants per week. I already have regular customers who are giving me great feedback.

Response from Gwenaëlle Gautier:

When I run into colleagues in the cafeteria or lunchroom, they talk to me about the workshops and tell me how much they’ve helped them. For example, they mention how useful the chewing gum exercise is for jaw pain. I’ve also been asked for access to recordings of my workshops, in case they can’t make it at the scheduled times. I want to keep up the momentum and not let them down.

Since that video interview in June 2022, conducted after she completed her training with Yogist, Gwenaëlle has started her own business.