At BAT Singapore, we wanted to create a preventive culture of health and wellness because we spend 75% of our waking hours at work, and there is a constant blurring between work and life.
British American Tobacco (BAT) is a century-old company with a reputation for deeply caring about employee welfare. BAT Singapore exemplifies this by continuously measuring itself against market standards and adapting its wellness programs to meet the needs of a diverse, multi-generational workforce. The company’s approach is holistic — it does not treat wellness as a checkbox but as a culture that empowers employees to make conscious health choices.
BAT’s wellness initiatives cover five key aspects: mental, physical, financial, social, and career wellbeing. The Active360 health and wellness program, launched in 2019, is a flagship example that targets physical wellness with preventive initiatives designed to appeal across generations and promote a healthy lifestyle.
This lesson draws product leadership insights from BAT’s approach to employee wellness — especially how a product manager can communicate vision and build trust when launching a health app like Active360 internally.
BAT’s five key aspects of wellness reflect the full employee experience
BAT Singapore’s wellness framework is not limited to physical health — it extends to mental health, financial security, social connection, and career growth. These five pillars recognize that employee wellbeing is multi-dimensional. Mausami Arora, Head of HR at BAT Singapore, puts it plainly: “We are very diverse, with 24 nationalities, a multi-generational workforce and functional breadth. Hence, it becomes imperative to have a holistic approach centred around our employees that has both buy-in and impact.”
The mental wellness programs focus on stress management and awareness workshops. Financial wellness includes savings and retirement planning initiatives. Social wellness is cultivated through an employee-led sports and social committee organizing events like Family Day and Sports Day. Career wellness is addressed by investing heavily in employee development across all grades.
Physical wellness is the anchor, exemplified by the Active360 program. BAT launched it after analyzing inpatient and outpatient data which reflected national health concerns such as hypertension, diabetes, and cholesterol. Recognizing that employees spend 75% of their waking hours at work — and the blurring of work-life boundaries — BAT sought to build a preventive culture through wellness activities.
The program includes weekly recurring activities named for easy recall and engagement: Yoghurt Mondays, Fruity Tuesdays, Salad Wednesdays, and De-Stress Thursdays. Mid-year, BAT held a super healthy buffet day to sample nutritious dishes, and a role model employee shared her journey to a healthy BMI through consistent habits. These activities are designed to be relatable, meaningful, and amplifying — creating momentum and embedding wellness into the daily rhythm.
Why BAT focuses on mental and physical wellbeing: the business and human stakes
The emphasis on mental and physical wellbeing is not accidental. It stems from a data-driven diagnosis of employee health trends and national health challenges. BAT’s inpatient and outpatient data revealed alarming patterns around chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes. The company understood that these issues impact productivity, absenteeism, and long-term healthcare costs.
BAT’s approach also acknowledges the blurred line between work and life, especially in modern office cultures where stress and burnout are common. Mental wellness programs are designed to raise awareness and provide tools for stress management, recognizing that mental health directly affects physical health and overall job performance.
The business impact is clear: BAT saw absenteeism drop by 23% in 2019 compared to the previous year, an early sign that the wellness program was working. But more than metrics, BAT strives to create a culture where employees feel empowered to take charge of their health, rather than chasing fixed targets that might stifle early adoption.
From a product leadership perspective, BAT’s wellness programs show the importance of grounding initiatives in real data and human experience. Mental and physical wellbeing are foundational — if employees are not well, no other aspect of performance or engagement can flourish.
Communicating product vision to align a divided engineering team
Imagine you are the product manager tasked with launching the Active360 health app internally at BAT. Your engineering team is divided — some want to build gamification features, others want detailed health tracking, and some advocate for integration with existing HR systems. The discussion is going nowhere, and the deadline is looming.
The actual job is to communicate a clear product vision that cuts through the noise and unites the team around a shared purpose.
How do you do this?
Start by articulating the problem you are solving and the impact you want the product to have. For Active360, the vision might be:
“Create a simple, engaging app that empowers BAT employees to take charge of their physical and mental wellbeing every day — helping reduce absenteeism and fostering a culture of preventive health.”
This vision is specific, outcome-focused, and rooted in BAT’s broader wellness goals. It is not about features or technology — it is about impact and user empowerment.
Next, translate this vision into guiding principles for the engineering team:
- Keep it simple: Focus on core features that encourage daily engagement without overwhelming users.
- Data-driven: Use real employee health trends and feedback to prioritize what matters.
- Iterate fast: Build a minimum lovable product, learn from employees, and improve continuously.
- Integrate thoughtfully: Connect where it adds value, but avoid feature bloat.
By framing the conversation around impact and principles — not just technical debates — you give engineers a north star to rally behind.
Winning engineering trust through alignment and transparency
Trust is the foundation of productive product-engineering partnerships. As a PM at BAT leading the Active360 app, winning engineering trust means showing that you understand their concerns, respect their expertise, and share accountability for delivery.
Here are practical ways to build that trust:
- Start with listening: Before pushing a roadmap, hold one-on-ones or group sessions to understand engineering’s viewpoints, constraints, and ideas.
- Share data and user insights: Show the engineering team the data on absenteeism, health trends, and employee feedback that justify the product vision. This grounds the work in reality.
- Co-create the roadmap: Invite engineers to help prioritize features based on technical feasibility and impact, making them partners rather than order-takers.
- Set clear acceptance criteria: Define what success looks like in user engagement and health outcomes, not just code completeness.
- Communicate trade-offs openly: When trade-offs arise — between speed and quality, or features and simplicity — explain the why behind decisions.
- Celebrate small wins: Recognize engineering contributions publicly to reinforce shared ownership.
Trust is not built overnight. It requires consistent transparency and delivery. When engineers see that their input shapes the product and that the PM is accountable for outcomes, collaboration flourishes.
The pattern is consistent: data-driven vision and trust unlock product success
BAT’s Active360 program is an example of the pattern I see repeatedly:
- Grounding product initiatives in hard data and real human needs
- Communicating a clear, outcome-focused vision that transcends feature debates
- Building trust with engineers through listening, transparency, and shared ownership
The wellness app is not just a technical project — it is a culture change lever. Your job as a PM is to keep the team focused on that big picture while enabling fast, iterative delivery.
If you cannot answer these questions — “Who are we building for? What problem are we solving? How will we know we succeeded?” — you are not ready to ship.
Test yourself: Aligning a divided engineering team at BAT
You are the PM leading the Active360 health app launch at British American Tobacco Singapore. The engineering team is split between building gamification features, detailed health tracking, and HR system integration. The deadline is in 4 weeks. The CEO wants a demo in 2 weeks.
The call: How do you communicate the product vision to the engineering team and win their trust to deliver on time?
Your reasoning:
Where to go next
- If you want to master product vision communication: Communicating Product Vision and Strategy
- If you want to build trust with engineering teams: Building Trust with Engineers
- If you want to deepen your understanding of employee-centric products: Designing for Employee Experience
- If you want to learn how to measure product success: Metrics and KPIs
- If you want to lead wellness and healthtech products: Healthtech Product Management