HR Trendsetter: Virginia Vega, SPHR, Senior Manager, Career and Learning of HR, Genentech Inc.

Audio: Virginia Vega on the one skill that every HR professional needs to remain competitive in today's HR environment.

When Genentech Inc. in San Francisco was acquired by the Switzerland-based Roche Group six years ago, the biotech company suddenly became part of a much larger global organization. To help employees manage the extra demands of working in a global environment, Virginia Vega and her HR team launched Wellbeing @ Work, an interactive online toolkit that gives employees access to resources that could help rejuvenate them. The team worked with vendors to offer a well-being assessment and energy audit, as well as classroom and online learning, to address five aspects of well-being: career, social, financial, physical and community. Several thousand employees have taken advantage of the various resources, including a popular course by one vendor, The Energy Project, to learn ways to improve their energy levels. —Dori Meinert

What's Next

Our emphasis in 2015 will be to focus on leaders, helping them create a top-down environment of well-being.

Her Advice

Get a sense of the state of readiness in your organization. That can be achieved through a formal needs assessment and many other ways. Also ensure that you have support from specific leaders or executives.

How She's Making a Difference

The courses have been highly utilized and rated by employees. But more important, we are beginning to see signs of change where a leader and team shift the way they are working and living: walking one-on-one meetings, meditation sessions, team social lunches, team volunteer events and other company-sponsored well-being events.