Mira Mitrović, Director, BizPliz

This original programme and unique service is the brainchild of Mira Mitrović, a physiotherapist. Today she has a team of professional and trained physical therapists who travel to clients’ workplaces with special chairs and massage their staff members for an affordable price.

Japanese employers have begun introducing “sleep rooms” and mandatory workplace naps in an effort to boost productivity. However, you are offering employers something better…

– The topic of productivity optimisation is an eternal one in business circles, and after many stages of a strict approach, with fixed working hours and models of rewards of a purely financial nature, it has somehow been understood globally that employees can and must be motivated in a variety of ways, primarily with a view to their health and, of course, their mood and level of relaxation. 

Our model places massages within the scope of working hours, in an acceptable and flexible way. It doesn’t cost a lot, either in terms of time or finances, and its returns are manifold – in terms of productivity, the satisfaction of employees, and their positive mood. And all this requires is around 30 minutes in a working environment, without special requirements and conditions.

The treatment doesn’t require that the client prepares; it lasts 15 or 30 minutes, is performed through clothes, without any kind of preparatory assistance, and has been adapted in terms of pricing to suit the present reality

You use special, mobile massage chairs that enable your physiotherapists to relieve a client’s neck pains and back stiffness in their own office. How did you come upon the idea of expanding your business to the corporate segment?

– Essentially, demand defined the scope – when you sit down to speak with people in business, they are aware that they can afford to give themselves – individually and collectively – a short break during working hours, at the level of a 30-minute break. 

It is important for the service be adapted to the workplace, without some special preparation, and ultimately for the price to be relatively low so that it is acceptable to both the individual and the company.

These limits defined our business model and in some way forced us to be creative. The chair is such that it can be transported easily and without problems, and mounted in a few seconds in a minimum free space. We think that all of this ensures that our offer is really different and unique on the market. And even more so given that our therapists have been trained, among other things, for this kind of work.

Which employers offer their employees this instant relief from physical stress and pain? Could it be estimated how much employee satisfaction and positive health impacts on a company’s operations and results?

– The companies that engage with us vary, coming in all sizes and the list comprises those that have modern and motivated managers who care about their employees. Moreover, we’ve received only positive comments, from both individuals and companies. We consider that as confirmation that our work has been recognised and accepted in the right way. We are working on the creation of adequate questionnaires that could realistically measure operational improvements following the introduction of this benefit for employees. We believe that we’ll be able to apply it by the end of this year and to include it in the measurements taken by companies in this context. For us, this is certainly just additional motivation to work even better on the quality of our services and their improvement.