Employee satisfaction has a positive influence on the productivity of companies. In addition, absenteeism due to illnesses related to anxiety and stress is decreasing and innovation is increasing, as “when one is healthy, one is more creative and has a greater sense of thinking, therefore this is reflected in the results of the businesses”.
This is explained by Xavi Escales, founder of Always People First, the Human Resources consulting firm dedicated to helping companies implement plans to improve the well-being of their employees. The expert ensures that caring for employees increases the chances of retaining and attracting talent and generating a positive return in society.
But to know exactly what the results of the implementation of these plans are, the company created AlwaysPeopleFirst Technologies (APFtech), the first technology that can objectively measure people’s wellbeing not through surveys, but through the application of artificial intelligence. and machine learning.
My own need
After several years of working to improve the wellbeing of the employees of companies like Asic, Escales founded his own Human Resources consultancy in 2018 and realizes that there is not a single technology that can demonstrate the result of the measures that implements it in the companies. For Business.
“I asked a friend dedicated to technology issues with artificial intelligence whether a person’s emotional situation can be measured objectively through technology. In 2018 we started to study it and at the end of 2019 we saw that it was possible. The idea came from here, to be able to measure a person’s emotional well-being in an objective way without the need for boring surveys ”.
After examining different definitions of wellness and taking these measurements, the partners reached an agreement with the Quirón Salud group, from which they were informed that the most reliable in the body to measure this factor was heart rate variability. If the pace of your 60 beats per minute is constant, you’re fine. If this rhythm varies, that is, you have one heartbeat every second and then a different one every five times, that’s because something is happening. This is something we analyze to know if it is positive or negative, ”says Escales.
How does technology help?
This is where technology comes into play. The data collection process is carried out by means of personal devices in the form of tapes placed around the arm that measure other values, such as skin temperature or blood pressure, in addition to heart rate variations.
After a few weeks with the device, the algorithm applies procedures from machine learning to detect and predict individual patterns, adjusting the conclusions. “The device detects changes in body parameters, either because the user is in a happy moment, has been exercising or has been through a very stressful situation. From now on, the algorithm learns to determine whether it is a positive or negative change”.
Once the monitoring is done, the results are analyzed and the software creates a report with specific actions and improvement plans. Users can access this data at any time via a mobile application.
A solution that not only helps the corporate fabric
Escales’ original idea was that this solution would serve the corporate structure as a demonstration of the benefits of the plans implemented to improve employee well-being. “I know that if you invest a lot of money in this aspect, you would like to have information to see that it is worth it and, above all, to do it better.”
To their surprise, the healthcare industry has also shown interest in this technology. “At the moment there are two strong pillars in this area. On the one hand, the issue of the humanization of medicine and on the other, COVID has the field of eHealth. This interest in the medical world has surprised us ”, says the founder.
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In that sense, in addition to implementation in companies such as HolaLuz or Laboratorios Uriach, two pilot projects are also being developed at the Teknon Medical Center and at the Hospital del Pilar, both in Barcelona. To this will be added the Hospital del Mar, which aims to conduct a study with APFtech in the ICUs related to the stress and anxiety situation that health workers experience as a result of COVIDas this technology “can help prevent this”.