Simple steps to an effective employee wellness program

3 Jul, 2019
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Importance of Employee wellness

Employee wellness is sometimes thought of as a nice-to-have rather than a must-have — something you worry about when you already have all other things in place.

The success of any company depends very heavily on the productivity and work performance of its human resources. The ability to function and perform at a high level consistently is greatly aided by Employee wellness programs.

Employee Wellness Programs have a range of benefits for employers. Both quantifiable figures and intangible results highlight these. For the company as a whole one of the most significant benefits is the reduction in overall company costs. It is hard to quantify what you gain via increased morale, productivity and work performance however the reduced sick leave, absenteeism and lower health costs contribute to a sizable reduction in overall costs.

Harvard Business Review reported that, on average, employers who invested in health and wellness initiatives saw $6 in healthcare savings for every dollar invested. The Rand Corporation estimated that the ROI for businesses overall was $1.50 for every dollar spent; the ROI for disease management jumped to $3.80 for every dollar invested.

Many organizations are rushing wellness programs into the workplace. There’s no doubt about this being a positive approach towards employee wellness but some are being thrown in with no strategy. As a result, more programs fail than succeed.

The real problem? Corporate wellness cannot be treated as a band-aid, and you definitely won’t be able to find it in a fitness app. Engagement, motivation, support and strategy are the keys to a successful program. If employees are not involved in the solution, it’s difficult to succeed. Preventable wellness is a complete lifestyle and behavior change and change takes time and commitment.

If you’re ready to commit, here are a few things to keep in mind as you design a wellness program for your company:

Spread Awareness

People are becoming more and more health conscious. But due to higher stress, longer work days and constant multitasking, it is more difficult to find the time to act on wellness goals. Creating an wellness program is important because the majority of an employee’s time is spent at the workplace. Developing an employee wellness program can be an effective way to reduce health insurance premium costs and produce a much happier, and healthier workforce. All of these factors add up to greater levels of productivity that can generate additional business revenues. Many business leaders are confused about how to start a corporate wellness program that gets results. Here, you will find 8 steps to take towards creating an employee wellness program for your workforce.

Identify Employee health needs

The best wellness programs focuses on the needs of the employee and is designed and deployed based on the information gathered from the employees. Conduct a survey and ask your employees directly. Design and implement a wellness program based on their responses. As part of your survey, you will also be assessing the lifestyle concerns and wellness needs that employees have. For some, it could be getting more active; for others, it could be to reach targeted health goals. Get to the heart of these needs to increase participation in the wellness program. Employee wellness programs designed to as per the employee need will have far greater engagement compared to generic wellness programs.

Establish a Written Employee Wellness Policy and Team

Just like any other employee policy you create, you will also want to publish clear employee wellness program guidelines and make them part of your employee handbook. Hand them out when recruiting and when enrolling employees in their benefit plans, and have posters around the workplace that educate employees about this wellness initiative.

Host wellness events

host wellness fairs and events at workplace to promote wellness in a fun way.Make it a part of your corporate culture with ongoing incentives for employees to take steps to better their health. Host walking and running clubs, have an area on campus for fitness and de-stressing and create marketing around the idea of wellness at work.

Find a Corporate Wellness Technology Tool

To facilitate your corporate wellness program, it’s time to research and find a technology product that can help employees self-manage their wellness goals. There are many wellness tech tools that can help employees keep their health in check, track lifestyle, and wellness goals, and connect with the resources they need to make informed choices. Wind of Change Wellness solution is a productivity and health risk management tool helping global organisations and their employees achieve their goals while providing analytics to empower HR to make strategic decisions.

Take feedback

Take a feedback from your employees to find out what works and where you can improve. Success stories will emerge out of the ranks of those who take part in the wellness offerings.

How Healthy are You?

Get a picture of your current health status and habits by taking our short Health and Wellbeing Check!