Veolia is a global leader in environmental services, helping communities and businesses optimise resource management and environmental performance across multiple countries.

• Product used: Kaido Wellbeing Challenges

• 5 years of consecutive programme growth

• Employees across 12 countries in latest challenge

• 96% would recommend to colleagues
  
  

The Challenge

Ben Izzett, Talent Management & Engagement Leader, faced the classic HR dilemma when restarting Veolia's graduate programme: how to move beyond wellness lip service to genuine mental wellbeing support.

"You can tell people they should be healthy and look after their mental wellbeing, but there's telling and then there's showing." 

Key pain points: 

• New graduates needed practical mental wellbeing tools, not generic advice 

• Many initiatives focused on physical health, missing emotional wellbeing components

• Employees needed experiential learning opportunities, not just information

• No solution that worked across all seniority levels and tenure

Ben needed something that would bridge the knowledge-action gap – first for graduates, then potentially across Veolia's global workforce.

The Strategic Solution

Veolia partnered with Kaido to create annual team-based wellbeing challenges focused on practical experience.

Strategic Piloting: From Graduates to Global
Starting in 2019 with their graduate programme as a low-risk pilot, Veolia proved value before expanding systematically. What began as graduate support evolved into company-wide challenges spanning 12 countries, helping employees discover colleagues they "didn't know existed" while building organisational connectivity.

Designed for Busy HR Teams:
The programme requires just 5 minutes daily from participants and minimal ongoing HR management. Activities range from walking and mindfulness to cooking, reading, and even housework – making participation genuinely inclusive regardless of fitness level or personal circumstances.

Employee-Led Growth:
Rather than HR-driven promotion, Veolia leverages authentic stories from previous participants across different career stages, countries, and languages. This peer advocacy approach reduces internal marketing burden while building genuine credibility.

Proven Business Impact

Sustainable Engagement Without Resource Drain
While many wellness programmes decline after year one, Veolia achieved consistent growth across five consecutive years. Their latest challenge attracted their highest level of participation to date, across 12 countries. 97% would participate in future challenges, demonstrating sustained enthusiasm.

Measurable Workplace Culture Improvement
The programme delivers concrete team-building outcomes: 47% increase in interaction and communication between colleagues and 51% increase in positive wellbeing conversations at work. Teams complete collaborative "Team Boosters" that strengthen relationships beyond the app.

Self-Sustaining Employee Advocacy – 96% would recommend Kaido to colleagues. Employees pro-actively participate and request programme continuation. "We don't always get that with all our programmes, not everybody thinks 'yeah I want to do it again,' whereas with this one people seem keen to come back."

Proven Individual Behavior Change
Participants develop lasting wellbeing toolkits extending beyond challenge periods. Ben's experience demonstrates this: "Sleep hygiene changes have genuinely altered my habits. Gratitude journaling started in the challenge but I've adapted it to weekly practice so it feels authentic."

The programme provides what Ben calls "a safe place to try things out" for meditation, journaling, and wellness practices.

Latest Challenge Results: Real Impact at Scale

Veolia's most recent "Around the World" Challenge demonstrates the programme's continued evolution and impact:

Global Participation
33 teams across 12 countries collectively completed 521,625 minutes of physical activity and 18,294 minutes of meditation, showing genuine holistic engagement beyond traditional fitness metrics.

Measurable Health Improvements
87% of participants noticed improvement in overall health, with 80% making better nutrition choices and 83% making healthy food swaps. 

Cultural Transformation in Action
Beyond individual improvements, 47% noticed increased interaction and communication with colleagues, while 51% observed more positive wellbeing conversations in their workplace. This demonstrates the programme's success in building social capital across global teams.

Authentic Employee Transformation
Employee testimonials reveal the programme's deeper impact:

"This challenge has given me a lot. I feel much more active, my screen time has decreased significantly, and even my heart rate variability has improved... These habits have boosted my mood and energy levels and helped me manage my time much better. This benefits not only me but also the people around me, as I'm more balanced and present in everyday life."

"I really enjoyed the challenge and found it incredibly motivating to be part of such a strong team. The experience pushed me to achieve more than I thought possible... Overall, my mood and general well-being have improved considerably since incorporating these changes into my lifestyle."

Implementation Success Factors

• Psychological Sweet Spot: Four-week Challenge duration where "people think I could do most things for a month"

• Flexible Engagement: "It can be as competitive as you want to make it"

• Truly Inclusive Design: Top activities include walking, cooking, reading, mindfulness, gardening – removing fitness-based barriers

• Authentic Champions: Previous participants become natural advocates across 12 countries

• Systematic Expansion: Graduate programme success provided credible foundation for company-wide adoption
  
  

"Having had the experience of certain things in the challenge really helps you think about how to get back to that state. There's accessible things you can do – it's just giving you permission to go and do it."

Ben Izzett, Talent Management & Engagement Leader

"The Kaido Wellbeing Challenge App has been an invaluable tool for our organisation, particularly during a transformative period of company integration/merger. Having previously seen its success with our graduate program, we made the strategic decision to expand its implementation across our European workforce this year... The app not only maintained its core strength of promoting health and wellbeing but also emerged as a powerful platform for connecting colleagues across different locations and legacy companies. It's been great to witness how a wellbeing initiative has simultaneously supported our employees' physical and mental health while strengthening our newly merged corporate culture."
– Veolia Leadership Team