Organizations need to know the benefits of worksite wellness programs for the sake of their employees. For example, stress is one of the reasons for decreased productivity. Promoting wellness at work would be a way to tackle such problems affecting employee well-being.
Wellness is the act of engaging in a healthy lifestyle daily in order to achieve improved mental and physical health. It is obvious that this would be an important thing to every individual. As the saying goes: Health is wealth.
What is Worksite Wellness?
Based on the definition of wellness stated earlier, one could have a basic idea of what wellness at work entails. Simply put, worksite wellness is any workplace health activity to boost wellness at work. It can involve a variety of activities such as the following:
- Free medical screenings
- Health club memberships
- Wellness Coaching
- On-site health education
- Fitness programs
You will understand the rate of adoption of corporate employee wellness programs globally when you check workplace wellness statistics. Take a look at the ones below.
- Almost 90% of employers are committed to workplace wellness.
- Over 70% of employers offer a wellness program.
Benefits of Worksite Wellness
It can be deduced that a high percentage of businesses have started engaging in various wellness initiatives for employees based on the workplace wellness statistics presented in the last section. Surely, more will join the list, especially new businesses that want to thrive.
The major reason for the increase in the adoption of such programs could be that more business owners are learning about their benefits. We are about to discuss 5 major ones. Here are those:
Wellness Benefit 1: Reduced Stress
When the stress levels of your employees are reduced, then you are one step closer to achieving wellness at work. A workplace wellness yoga program might just be what your employees need to tackle such a problem. Yoga exercises enhance memory, focus, self-insight, cognitive flexibility, and controlled emotional reactivity.
In 2015, a New York Times report on Aetna, a health insurance company, stated that there was a 28% reduction in stress levels as a result of its Yoga classes. However, Aetna’s CEO, Mark Bertolini, did more than just organize mindfulness programs. He also implemented other incentives such as increment of salaries of a great number of low-level employees.
Stress in the workplace can lead to more absent days for workers in the form of sick leaves. The reduction in workplace stress levels will yield more benefits for you as an employer, apart from the above.
Greater productivity, reduced costs, improved working relationships, and a motivated workforce can be achieved just by reducing workplace stress levels.
Wellness Benefit 2: Motivation Boost
Workplace wellness that works will bring about a general morale boost in an organization. When an employer shows that he or she cares about employee well-being, it will have a positive effect on the workforce. To execute successful corporate wellness programs, employers should introduce incentives such as financial rewards for participation.
In a study report, it was revealed that workers who had low life satisfaction scores stayed home away from work 1.25 more days every month than respondents with higher scores. The more the motivation, the higher the productivity. It is advisable to include wellness at work initiatives in the benefit packages offered to potential hires.
Wellness Benefit 3: Improved Working Relationships
Another instance of workplace wellness that works is when there is an improvement in how employees relate with one another. For example, workers having good rapport with their supervisors. In a 2020 global study, it was discovered that 29% of workers wished their employers were more empathetic.
“Bullying” in the workplace is a thing. For example, managers abusing their authority by making working conditions unfair for their subordinates. Workplace wellness that works will help to curb such situations. The education of high level employees or managers about relating with their subordinates is crucial. If this is done well, you can avoid following employee problems:
- Anxiety
- Fatigue
- Stress
- Mental (nervous) breakdown
Wellness Benefit 4: Reduced Costs
Employers can reap the financial rewards of improved wellness at work if they execute successful corporate wellness programs. In a study, over 60% of employers revealed that such programs led to a decrease in employee healthcare costs.
As an employer, you are not only making your workers happier, you are also getting more revenue for spending on such programs. Also, there will be a decrease in expenditure.
Wellness Benefit 5: Productivity Boost
This is the ultimate goal for many business owners that decide to allocate funds for wellness programs in their budgets. Successful corporate wellness programs yield a return on investment (ROI) of $1.50 to $3 for every US dollar spent over a period of 2 to 9 years.
The ROI stated above should be encouraging to business owners, apart from the benefits of worksite wellness programs to employees. You have an obligation to ensure that it is a win-win situation for both you and your employees.
Better organizational performance is a part of what wellness at work can do for your business. It is the result of the following:
- Tackling workplace stress
- Boosting workforce morale
- Developing better working relationships
Endeavor to include “wellness initiatives for employees” in future budgets. You will be spending money, but saving more in the long run.
Workplace Wellness Trends
It was predicted that the global market for corporate employee wellness programs will be worth over 66 billion US dollars by 2027. The industry keeps growing yearly. This shows that it wouldn’t be a good idea to be left behind when your competitors are implementing work wellness program ideas of their own.
COVID-19 pandemic has brought so many changes. It is only right that businesses should adopt new ways of doing things in line with the 2021 workplace wellness trends. Hopefully, the workplace wellness trends listed below will give you enough insight.
- Organizing preventive wellness programs, instead of waiting for problems to arise
- Adoption of new home-to-office approaches to make employee life easier
- Increased reliance on technology to make work processes faster
- Post-Pandemic Phase: Preparing for a smooth return to normal in-office environments with better workplace arrangements
- Business Intelligence Data: Increased usage for better tracking of employee performance in relation to wellness at work
- More focus on the mental health of workers
- Assisting employees in other areas of their lives. For example; family wellness programs, personal financial wellness, and so on.
- Telehealth: In a recent survey, it was gathered that over 85% of employers plan to spend more on employee healthcare services rendered through remote technologies. Examples of those technologies include live video conferencing systems, mobile apps, remote patient monitoring (RPM) systems, etc.
Creating Successful Corporate Wellness Programs
As mentioned earlier, a workplace wellness yoga program is a great idea that you can work on. Others include free medical screenings, fitness programs, wellness coaching, etc. You can implement in these 9 easy steps:
- Conduct employee wellness assessments
- Obtain top-level management support
- Set up a dedicated committee
- State the goals and objectives
- Deliberate on a budget
- Design the wellness program(s)
- State the incentives and rewards for employee motivation
- Communicate the plan to the workforce
- Conduct an evaluation after implementing the plan(s)
To learn more about developing an effective wellness program (in line with your workplace wellness program ideas), watch this YouTube video:
FAQ
They are programs that are executed by supervisors with the support of employers to improve wellness in their organizations.
It means that employees are performing as well as they are expected to due to reduced stress, an increase in morale, and improved teamwork.
Employers can promote wellness in the form of increased empathy, monetary rewards, and other incentives.
You can start writing the program by stating the problems discovered during the assessment stage. This may be followed by the goals and objectives, budgetary allocation, schedule, incentives, rewards, etc.
You need to conduct assessments in order to uncover the wellness challenges that you need to address. Only then can you start organizing a well-targeted program.
They want incentives such as financial benefits that will give them the much-needed motivation to participate in each program.
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Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide has given you a clearer picture of what corporate employee wellness programs entail. It is essential to keep your employees motivated in order to have successful corporate wellness programs.
If your business is new, it is only right that you include wellness initiatives for employees as part of an organizational “culture of health”. There are many targeted work wellness program ideas that you can adopt like the workplace wellness yoga program to manage stress.
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