Online broking firm Zerodha's co-founder and CEO Nithin Kamath, on Saturday, announced a new health initiative for his company’s staff. He challenged them to set a daily activity goal on their fitness trackers and promised one month's salary as a bonus to those who met their health goals over the next year.
“Given that most of us are WFH & sitting is the new smoking, turning into an epidemic. We are doing whatever to nudge everyone on the teams & hopefully, they and their families to move daily,” stated Kamath in a LinkedIn post.
According to Kamath, the employees must achieve their daily health goal 90 per cent of the days over the next year to be rewarded. In addition to receiving a month's salary as a bonus, the company will also hold one lucky draw of Rs 10 lakh for boosting motivation among the staff.
Kamath, in his post said, “Our latest health challenge at Zerodha is to give an option to set a daily activity goal on our fitness trackers. Anyone meeting whatever goal set on 90 per cent of the days over the next year gets one month's salary as a bonus. One lucky draw of Rs 10 lks as a motivation kicker.😀”
However, it is an optional program and a minimum of 350 active calories per day should be burned in any form.
Zerodha founder also shared his personal experience while sharing a screenshot of a health app. “Since my initial weight gain after COVID, tracking activity has been the best growth hack, end up being more conscious about diet too. Slowly upped daily goal to 1,000 calories. This is how my Sep looks until now; it will be interesting to see other's who use activity trackers,” he wrote.
This is not the first time Zerodha founder Kamath has announced such a health initiative for his company’s staff.
Earlier on World Health Day, he challenged all employees and said anyone with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25 will get half a month’s salary as a bonus. He had also announced benefits for staff members who lose weight.
However, not everyone was thrilled by the idea and netizens stated a debate if the initiative will push people toward fatphobia and body image issues.