Sonde Health, a global leader in voice AI-based health tracking and insight, and Saaya Health, a leading provider of digital mental health and wellbeing solutions, announced a strategic partnership that delivers comprehensive performance health tracking and proactive support to enterprises employing large blue-collar workforces.
This collaboration integrates Sonde Health’s advanced vocal biomarker technology with Saaya Health’s holistic wellbeing platform, offering an end-to-end solution that empowers employers to monitor, assess, and enhance the mental and cognitive health of their frontline workers.
“Frontline workers are the high-performance backbone of many industries, yet they often lack access to proactive health tracking tools,” said David Liu, CEO of Sonde Health. “By combining our voice-based health insights with Saaya’s mental health support services, we provide large enterprises with the ability to find workers in need of support before they are unwell, so the entire workforce remains healthy and productive.”
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Sonde’s enterprise performance platform analyzes short voice samples to provide real-time and longitudinal insight into an individual’s mental fitness and cognitive effort. The platform utilizes audio signal processing and AI models to provide early health trending data that help organizations understand and support their workforce’s mental well-being. Saaya Health complements this by offering accessible mental health resources, spanning informal outreach to coaching to counseling support programs tailored to the needs of blue-collar workers.
“Our mission at Saaya Health has always been to make mental wellbeing support accessible to all,” said Sarmad Ahmad, CEO of Saaya Health. “Partnering with Sonde Health allows us to extend our reach and provide a comprehensive solution that addresses both the detection and support aspects of workforce wellbeing.”
The Sonde and Saaya integrated platform has already been successfully piloted at one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies and will be rolled out to top enterprise clients in the energy, manufacturing, and logistics industries later this year.
The Urgent Need for Mental Health Solutions in Blue-Collar Workforces
- Productivity Loss: Presenteeism occurs with employees come to work but are less productive due to mental health struggles (e.g. stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue). The annual cost of presenteeism due to mental health issues is ~$5,000/employee across the entire workforce. This is more pronounced in physically demanding jobs, where fatigue and stress increase the risk of injuries and lower work output.
- Burnout Prevalence: A significant proportion of workers experience burnout, with studies indicating that 40% of employees report moderate-to-severe burnout. Replacing a contractor or employee can cost up to 50-200% of their annual wages.
- Workplace Safety Risks: Mental health issues, including stress and burnout, have been linked to increased workplace accidents. The annual cost due to accident-related productivity costs is ~$3,500/employee across the entire workforce. The average cost per workplace accident is $42,000. Fatal workplace accidents (where stress and fatigue are a contributing factors) can lead to costs exceeding $1 million per incident. Examples include road accidents that can cause losses of several million dollars of product and maintenance misses that can have negative consumer risks.
Source: BusinessWire
