Why Employee Wellness Matters: Building a Healthier Workplace

This article outlines what employee wellness programs are and what they provide for an organization such as yours. So, read on and learn what you can gain by building one into your workplace culture.

At present, almost two-thirds of all organizations in the USA have started to use a company wellness program. You may have heard of corporate wellness initiatives and thought about putting one in place. To do so, you might need to answer the question, “What is a corporate wellness program and why do we need it?”

What is Employee Wellness?

Employee wellness refers to the overall health and well-being of employees and the workplace conditions, resources, and support that can influence it.

Traditionally, workplace wellness initiatives focused primarily on physical health, such as fitness programs, nutrition education, or health screenings. Today, organizations increasingly recognize that employee wellness is multidimensional.

Employee wellness may include:

• Physical health and healthy lifestyle behaviors
• Mental and emotional well-being
• Financial well-being
• Social connection and relationships
• Work-life balance
• A safe and supportive work environment
• Access to health information, resources, and support

These areas are often interconnected. Financial stress can affect mental well-being. Workplace relationships can influence employee engagement. Physical health conditions can affect an employee’s ability to participate fully at work.

For employers, supporting employee wellness means recognizing these different needs and creating opportunities for employees to access relevant resources, programs, and support.

Why is Employee Wellness Important?

Employees spend a significant portion of their lives at work, making the workplace an important environment for supporting health and well-being. Employee health can influence how people feel, interact with colleagues, manage stress, and perform their roles. At the organizational level, workforce health and well-being can also affect employee experience, workplace culture, absenteeism, retention, productivity, and healthcare-related costs.

Supporting employee wellness can help organizations take a more proactive approach to workforce health. Rather than responding only when health challenges become more serious, employers can provide resources that encourage employees to better understand their health, develop healthier behaviors, manage stress, and access appropriate support.

A company wellness platform almost always has significant upsides. On top of a positive reputation for looking after employees, positives include:

Improve Unhealthy Behaviors

Many people working in offices, especially in sedate roles, can start to pick up unhealthy working behaviors. Snacking, drinking sugary drinks, eating unhealthy food, and smoking are all examples of these.

A good wellness program will want to address these less desirable habits and attempt to work with people to improve such aspects of their life. These can all lead to better health and a positive outlook on both work and home life. Once a person is engaging in healthy behavior, programs should switch to a maintenance role instead.

Improve Retention

One of the main reasons that people leave roles, aside from the offer of higher pay, is a belief that the company does not care about them beyond their ability to perform. There is only so far that using the phrase “we are like a family here” will help, and instead, proof of such loyalty from an organization is often needed.

Launching a wellness program shows that you are serious about your employees’ holistic health and well-being.

On top of retention, you can also use such programs when you advertise for recruitment. Many people now see such initiatives as a major workplace benefit and they can often pull people off of the fence about your company.

Improved Productivity

When employees feel more healthy, it can start to improve their productivity in the workplace. As wellness programs aim to boost both employees’ total well-being, they should be the first place to look for help.

One of the major issues with low productivity at work is when people turn up but do not take an active role in their tasks. This is often called “presenteeism”.

Research studies often show that such presenteeism relates to how healthy people act and the kind of work environment that they are a part of. By working to improve such environments, a wellness program can get people back in the saddle of work once more. There will be fewer days of either sickness or presenteeism, therefore increasing productivity.

Reduce Health Risks

Modern life has many attached health risks if people engage in a ‘normal’ lifestyle. These include smoking, poor diet, or drinking excessive alcohol.

A wellness program works with your employees to identify a variety of health risks and find the best way to reduce the amount of unhealthy behavior that people engage in. These are not only broad “get fit” goals, but can have a real and dramatic impact on an employee’s biometrics.

Reduced Healthcare Costs

If your organization involves itself in its employee’s insurance, you will often be paying for some benefits already. By encouraging employees to use wellness programs, you may reduce the amount that they rely on such initiatives.

What Are the Benefits of Supporting Employee Wellness?

Investing in employee wellness can provide value for both employees and organizations. For employees, access to relevant wellness resources and support can make it easier to understand personal health risks, develop healthier habits, manage stress, and find help when it is needed.

For organizations, employee wellness initiatives can provide opportunities to:

• Better understand workforce health and well-being needs
• Encourage healthy behaviors and preventive health
• Support employee engagement and workplace culture
• Increase awareness and utilization of available resources
• Address different dimensions of employee well-being
• Gather insights that can inform wellness strategy and investments
• Support broader organizational goals related to employee experience, retention, productivity, and workforce health

However, simply offering wellness benefits or activities does not guarantee meaningful results. Programs should be designed around employee needs, supported by effective communication, and evaluated over time.

How Can Organizations Improve Employee Wellness?

Improving employee wellness requires more than introducing individual wellness initiatives. Organizations should begin by understanding the needs of their workforce and identifying the areas where employees may benefit from additional resources or support.

A more strategic approach may include:

Understand Employee Needs

Employee surveys, health risk assessments, program utilization data, and population health insights can help organizations identify priorities and better understand differences between employee populations.

Support Multiple Dimensions of Well-Being

Employees have different needs and priorities. Offering resources across physical, mental, financial, and social well-being can help organizations provide more relevant support.

Make Wellness Accessible

Employees should be able to easily find, access, and use available wellness resources.

Digital wellness technology can help organizations provide centralized access to wellness initiatives, resources, communications, and support across different locations and employee populations.

Communicate Consistently

Employees cannot participate in resources they do not know exist.

Regular communication through multiple channels can increase awareness and help employees understand how available programs and resources can support their needs.

Personalize the Employee Experience

Personalized recommendations, targeted communications, and relevant wellness initiatives can help employees find resources that reflect their interests, needs, and goals.

Measure and Improve

Organizations should monitor participation, employee feedback, health trends, program utilization, and other relevant outcomes.

These insights can help employers understand what is working and improve their wellness strategy over time.

How Do Employee Wellness Programs Support Employee Well-Being?

Individual initiatives can support specific areas of employee health, but an employee wellness program provides a more structured approach to bringing resources, initiatives, communications, and measurement together. Employee wellness programs may include health assessments, educational resources, wellness challenges, incentives, mental health support, financial wellness resources, personalized recommendations, and digital wellness technology.

The right program model depends on the needs of the workforce, organizational goals, internal resources, and the level of support required to manage the program.

Starting Your Employee Wellness Program

Now, you should have a much better idea of how wellness programs work, what activities they’re comprised of, and their associated benefits. Depending on your organization’s size, employee wellness needs, language requirements, and more, consider a digital wellness program that covers multiple dimensions of well-being. As wellness programs mature, many organizations adopt employee wellness software to streamline administration, improve engagement, and measure outcomes.

For a deeper dive on wellness programs our complete guide to company wellness programs can help. Or if you would like advice on how to launch your workplace wellness programs, talk with us. Our specialists have expert knowledge on how to implement engaging workplace wellness programs and would be happy to provide answers for you.

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