A former rugby player for Wales and Cardiff has launched a range of wellness services and programmes for businesses.
Robin Sowden-Taylor, who was part of the 2008 Grand Slam winning squad, is the founder and manager of ION Corporate Wellness which offers business flexible and tailored health and wellbeing solutions to support employees both physically and mentally.
The company has a 300 sqm facility at The Maltings used for private corporate team sessions and events. It also offers well initiatives to Space2B office members and is open to the wider public.
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ION also offers app-based healthy habits challenges, employee health checks, and seminars delivered via a network of experts online/in-person.
Mr Sowden-Taylor said: "In professional rugby, the understanding and value placed on the physical and mental preparation for the players are the foundations for performance. This should be no different in our own day to day lives as without good physical and mental health we will never be able to be the best version of ourselves in our family life, careers, businesses we run."
"When it comes to performance in the corporate world and recognising how placing a value on employee health and wellbeing you only have to look at a recent study carried out by Deloitte where they found that on average, for every £1 spent on supporting employees physical and mental health, employers get £5 back on their investment in reduced presenteeism, absenteeism and staff turnover. When it comes to how health can impact the performance of a business it doesn’t get much blacker and whiter than that."
The former rugby star also runs a strength and conditioning training facility in Llanishen, north Cardiff and has headed up a similar Cardiff Blues' programme for eight years.
He said: "At ION we have a holistic approach to health and wellness, and over the past few years we have built a number of systems and programmes we believe can make a real difference to employers and employees.
"The last few years and the impact of the Covid pandemic has seen a real shift in focus to not just physical wellbeing of people, but also their mental wellbeing. Our approach benefits both.
"As a brand ION is about helping busy individuals build healthy habits for life, the launch of ION Corporate Wellness was a natural progression for us, we want to help businesses view wellness as more than a tick box solution by providing them with the tools necessary to support their staff.
"We are already working with a number of businesses and seeing a real difference in the attitude of their employees. Hopefully this is just the start, as we want to help more and more organisations create a healthier and happier workforce."
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