Image: Equalime

Published on 05/12/2025

By Roseli Andrion  |  Agência FAPESP – In an increasingly competitive market, employee health has become a strategic differentiator for productivity and employee engagement. To respond to this need, a multidisciplinary team of Brazilian researchers created Equalime, a digital tool that assesses the health of employees and provides guidance on how to implement effective corporate wellness programs.

The idea was developed by three professionals with complementary backgrounds: a neuroscientist specializing in brain mapping, a physiotherapist and a nutritionist. “We got together to create material that would help improve people’s general health,” says Paula Ricci Arantes, a neuroradiologist and neuroscientist. “Often, people don’t know that eating the same meal before or after exercise has different results.”

That is why Equalime initially targeted individuals. After two years of development, however, the team realized that offering the service directly to consumers was not sustainable. “Nobody wants to pay these days, even when it comes to health education based on scientific evidence. People look on the Internet, they ask ChatGPT what they need to do, but they don’t pay for that information,” she says.

The experts then decided to shift the startup’s focus to the corporate environment. “In companies, investing in workers’ health has a measurable return: there’s an increase in productivity, a reduction in absenteeism and an improvement in the organizational climate,” describes Arantes. “The platform represents a significant advance in the way organizations can manage employee health.”

Developed in the academic environment of the University of São Paulo (USP), Equalime received support from FAPESP’s Innovative Research in Small Businesses program (PIPE). It also participated in accelerator programs, including InovaHC, associated with the hospital complex run by USP (Hospital das Clínicas, HC), and another promoted by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE).

Scientific foundation

One of Equalime’s key differentiators is its robust scientific foundation. The platform assesses individual employees using a digital questionnaire that takes between 5 and 10 minutes to complete. This process collects data such as resting heart rate, body measurements and information on eating habits, physical activity, sleep quality and mental health aspects. “We then give the person a health score and inform them of their risk of developing chronic diseases.”

In addition, the tool takes into account how ready a person is to change a habit. “We indicate the stage of readiness for change: in other words, is the person aware that they need to change or not yet?” the researcher explains. “Depending on the stage of readiness for change, you need to talk about the benefits or tell them what to do, because there’s no point in telling them what to do if they’re not convinced that they need to change their habits.”

The platform operates on two complementary fronts: one aimed at the employee and the other at the company. “We have two main objectives: one aimed directly at the individual and the other at the company. And they’re complementary,” she says. While Equalime provides the employee with a personalized report with specific guidelines on how to improve health, the company receives an anonymized corporate report in which it can view data aggregated by specific sectors or from the organization as a whole, customized to the company’s needs.

For the employee, the recommendations are based on the answers provided in the questionnaire and the stage of readiness for change. “The guidelines include everything from dietary and sleep adjustments to recommendations for physical activity appropriate for cardiorespiratory conditioning,” Arantes points out.

The group developed a formula to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness based on the physiological measurements the individual fills out in the digital questionnaire. “The exercises are then guided based on this data. This way, the person can exercise within a range where there’s no risk of injury,” explains Marcelo Semiatzh, the team’s physiotherapist. The name of the startup itself refers to the idea of quality of life for the individual. “In Equalime, the ‘E’ stands for digital, the ‘quali’ for quality and the ‘me’ for me. It’s something like ‘bring quality to my life,’” he points out. “It also includes individual responsibility: there has to be an effort on the part of the individual for quality to reach them and strengthen them.”

The researcher emphasizes that Equalime is committed to the privacy and confidentiality of individual data. “We want employees to be honest about their habits. That’s why we guarantee that these data stay only on the platform. The company only receives what we send in the report.” In companies with an occupational health department, doctors have access to more detailed information, in accordance with the ethical principles that govern medical practice.

Productivity and quality of life

In the short run, individual productivity improves. In the long run, the company builds loyalty among employees, who appreciate the investment the organization is making in their health. “As a result, the company reduces costs associated with employee turnover and training expenses,” says Arantes.

The doctor points out that there are health conditions directly related to inflammation in the body that can lead to pain, sick leave and lost productivity. “People with back pain will miss or leave work early. So hours of production are lost.”

For Renata Silvério, the project’s nutritionist, personalized recommendations overcome the limitations of generic approaches. “When HR asks informally what employees would like to receive in terms of health programs, individuals usually ask for what they’re already familiar with, not necessarily what they really need.”

Equalime provides companies with clear metrics that allow them to target health investments more efficiently. “Many companies want to invest in the health of their employees, but they don’t know how to guide this type of action,” says Arantes. “By offering metrics, Equalime shows the company’s current score and what factors it can be broken down into.”

After the initial assessment, the platform monitors the evolution of the indicators over time. “We observe, for example, whether the risk of developing chronic diseases is decreasing or increasing, as well as whether the company’s health score has improved or deteriorated.”

In general, there is a discrepancy between people’s self-assessment and their actual health (based on scientifically proven parameters). “This shows that people aren’t aware of how unhealthy they are. If the company only takes the information given by employees as a basis to guide investments in employee health programs, it won’t address the real causes and will have less efficient results.”

Future prospects

Equalime, which is currently being improved, is already a functional tool used by partner companies. The platform focuses on five main areas of action: mental health, sleep, nutrition, physical activity and the control of toxic factors.

The team recognizes that there are still barriers to expansion. “Although it’s an investment that pays off, in a scenario of economic contraction, health and well-being programs are among the first to be cut by companies,” the researcher admits. “It’s a methodology that has the potential to transform organizational culture in terms of employee health and well-being.”

 

Source: https://agencia.fapesp.br/54718