By Andrew Suchoff, Chief People Officer
At Foundation Medicine, we believe that a holistic approach to wellbeing is critical to ensure our employees are thriving at work. Creating a positive work environment that prioritizes our people enables us to have the greatest impact on patients, our partners, and the community.
Earlier this year, we introduced our ANDEngage way of working, focused on Attracting, Nurturing, Developing, and Engaging employees. Through ANDEngage, we create personalized employee experiences, empowering our employees to do their best work and bring their whole, authentic selves to work each day.
Fundamental to the nurture aspect of ANDEngage is finding ways to support employees’ and their families’ wellbeing in new and diverse ways. In response to the many unanticipated challenges each of us has faced over the past few years, and the everyday challenges we each continue to encounter, Foundation Medicine is committed to tackling employee wellbeing head on.
We recently launched a new wellbeing program called FMI Thrive. Through FMI Thrive, we offer a comprehensive approach to self-care, with a robust network of support, flexibility, and a variety of resources to help employees prioritize their needs. FMI Thrive encompasses a myriad of benefits available to Foundation Medicine employees and their families. Included under this umbrella are mental health resources, fertility, pregnancy and parenting support, and physical wellbeing programs.
An integral part of our commitment to employee welfare has been the adoption of Lyra, a company working to transform behavioral health care through technology. Lyra can be broken down into three main components – Lyra Health, Lyra Essentials, and Lyra Learns, all of which are available at no cost to our employees and their families.
Lyra Health is a global mental health benefit that allows employees instant access to a comprehensive range of mental and behavioral health benefits, such as coaching and counseling. Lyra Essentials offers a library of well-being resources from Lyra Health, including audio meditations, videos, and written content from mental health professionals. It is an on-demand service available anytime, anywhere. Lyra Learns is a resource that offers research-based courses, virtual workshops and live facilitated discussions around mental health topics, with topics changing each month.
Lyra provides confidential and personalized care services that include emotional support, mental health coaching, substance abuse intervention, and financial planning resources, among others. It’s a flexible program that allows employees and their families to take the lead, addressing any emotional and mental health needs how, when, and where they need that support.
FMI Thrive and Lyra Health personify the nurture aspect of ANDEngage. When we discuss nurturing our employees, we need to think outside of the traditional mold. This has meant identifying these additional benefits through the FMI Thrive program, and specifically, exploring ways that we, as an employer, can support the mental welfare of every Foundation Medicine employee.
The resources that each person at Foundation Medicine chooses to utilize will all be different. But we are committed to doing our part to offer our employees and their families the tools they need to support themselves as whole people, and to remain resilient in the face of an ever-changing and challenging world. When we do this, everyone who works for and with Foundation Medicine benefits.
The platform we are building for FMI Thrive will allow us to continue to grow this program and evolve as our employees needs change. We continue to explore new ways to nurture wellbeing, and we hope that this service continues to empower our employees and their families to become the best versions of themselves.
