In the Talk with Trace podcast, Tracey Thomas hosts discussions with extraordinary people. Her latest interview features Tod Horton, Global Business Leader for Healthwise Global, an initiative of Flight Centre. They chat about everything from health and leadership, to talent attraction and Slip ‘N Slides in Berlin!
Healthwise Global, an initiative of Flight Centre, has grown to become a leading corporate wellness provider around the world. Its goal is to provide corporate wellness programs that are both fun and flexible, helping to create a healthy culture of focused, driven people in the workplace. Tod Horton, business leader in the health and wellness industry, has been at the forefront of Healthwise since its beginnings in 2000, a testament to its sustainability and continuous innovation.
A country boy, Tod was born and raised in Kingaroy, Queensland. He enjoyed growing up in a place with a strong sense of mateship where everyone knew one another. He also grew up playing plenty of sports, from footy to swimming, which led to him completing the first offering of a Bachelor of Health Science with a major in health fitness and sports management at Griffith University.
After completing his degree, he began working for Golden Door, a leading health retreat in Australia, as a health professional. He wrote programs, ran activities, and provided education to give people the tools to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
It was through Golden Door that he met Graham “Skroo” and Jude Turner, founders of Flight Centre Travel Group. Like Tod, Skroo enjoys sports and endurance events and has participated in marathons, touch footy, mountain biking and more (all while establishing his global empire!). Impressively, Tod has competed in a number of grueling long-distance Ironman triathlons. This was the beginning of a great friendship.
Skroo invited Tod to present at their Global SWOT conference in Canada. It was a great opportunity for him to meet with hard-working, top leaders from around the world. There, he ran a health program that provided education, activities, and seminars, with exercise plans tailored to participants.
Over the years, he has also had the opportunity to attend a number of Flight Centre’s annual Global Gathering events.
“Flight Centre hosts Global Gatherings, offering reward and recognition for the amazing work that consultants and support staff do in the company across all their brands and countries. Each year, everyone comes together in a different destination.”
Keynote speakers at these events have included big names such as Chris Hemsworth, Kylie Minogue, Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr, Bill Clinton, Michael J Fox, Lance Armstrong, and even a performance by Shaggy.
“Where can I sign up for a job?” joked Trace.
Flight Centre had launched Moneywise a few years previously, a program to assist their staff with finance and budgeting, “To keep them more focused and productive, and as an attraction tool.” They decided to launch Healthwise to better look after the holistic health and wellbeing of staff.
“It’s stood the test of time,” said Trace. “You’re still there, so it has to be engaging and paying off.”
After 18 years, Healthwise is now located in 23 different countries with 300 staff. Tod credits having the backing of an incredible company, Flight Centre, and the support of their leadership for the organisation’s success. Flight Centre cares deeply about its people and investing in leadership.
“It starts with good relationships, ethics and the belief to be a good person to ensure you have people’s trust.”
Tod launched Healthwise in Australia, attending different Flight Centre retail locations, conducting full consultations to assess people’s physical fitness, nutrition, emotional wellbeing, and stress management, setting them up with a follow-up plan.
“Every Flight Centre staff member had the opportunity to connect with bio-testing and physical testing, at no cost to them.”
Healthwise grew exponentially, spreading to New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Canada, and America, and is still growing, recently establishing itself in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Tod credits their smart business model, getting the right people in leadership roles, and being market leaders providing innovative plans and structures.
“This was the best thing for attraction (getting the best people to join the organisation), productivity and retention.”
Tod spends time with leaders to ensure they have the knowledge to grow their teams, and be amazing, inspirational people that others would follow. He also enjoys gaining ideas and feedback from them.
“Every month [Flight Centre] has buzz nights, which provide reward and recognition for all different areas of the businesses. So they drink and do shots, and have lots of fun, and they also balance it out with Healthwise activities.
“Every Christmas, it is now a global tradition for Flight Centre to have a giant Slip ‘N Slide with inflatable bowling pins. We even had a Slip ‘N Slide in the carpark of the Sheraton in Berlin!”
Tod believes Flight Centre is an amazing company because their global leaders are so inspirational. The leadership team share values of health and wellbeing, and this filters down throughout the business.
“The DNA and philosophy of Flight Centre is distilled within their leaders. Their number one philosophy is their people. They not only offer health and wellness through Healthwise, but other different educational components such as Moneywise and Travelwise, and they are bringing on Parentwise and Womanwise. It’s amazing how the company has evolved.”
Skroo’s sense of fun and play is injected into every part of the business. For example, their head office has two slippery slides and posters with unique sayings on the walls.
“They believe in their people so much and invest in them.”
“It sounds like they really value developing their leaders,” said Trace. “It makes sense. You put into the people, they put back into your company and you make a profit. A lot of companies forget that and just focus on the money side of things. People drive your business.”
Healthwise have won many awards throughout Australia, and recently achieved a top place in the Global Healthy Workplace Award. They are constantly offering discounted products and ensuring they are reporting and comparing data, country to country, and state to state. Healthwise runs challenges for teams and individuals, and all staff have incentives.
“Corporations usually stand at about 24% engagement of their staff,” said Trace. “The last engagement survey Flight Centre did, due to the Healthwise impact, it sat at 82%. That is such a testament to what you’re doing with Healthwise and keeping people engaged. It’s not about it just being a job where you get paid; it’s a culture where people feel valued, it’s their family, their home. How many people can say that about where they work?”
“I’ve never ever not wanted to go to work. That’s been the way throughout my whole life, but from this job in particular. We have such impact and opportunity to help change peoples’ lives.”
Tod expressed gratitude that Healthwise has brought people together, “giving them the energy to spend time with family and friends, and wake up each day jumping for joy at coming to work.”
Flight Centre also launched Flight Centre Sports and Events, providing full packages and training plans for people interested in sports and events travel. Skroo and Jude also sponsor many athletes, some of which have become world champions. This year, they are sponsoring 76 athletes across a range of sports.
“It’s been a hard slog for 18 years,” said Trace. “You’ve built Healthwise and gone on to create Flight Centre Sports and Events. You’ve done it with integrity, with gumption. You must be so very proud.”
“I am so lucky I have the best team of people who are so passionate, so smart and driven. Most of our team has been with Healthwise for more than 15 years. It’s amazing coming in to work every day and loving your job. These people have moved countries, they’ve set up businesses, I can’t thank them enough for the energy and passion that they’ve put in.”
“I hope I’m still here in 20 years time with this business, seeing the team that we’ve developed having such success. I can’t wait for the next global conference.”
Tod currently resides in Queensland with his wife Sue, and their two sons.
Source
Tracey Thomas