Does your company have a dedicated employee wellness plan?
If not, here are some reasons that might convince you to spend less time worrying about numbers, and more time worrying about the well-being of your employees.
Elevating your workforce’s performance goes beyond merely enhancing their job-related skills; it is but the culminating outcome.
Would you like guidance on establishing an effective corporate wellness program? We’re here to help.
In this BreakTimeU.com guide, we cover:
- What are corporate wellness plans and why are they important?
- The science behind employee health and wellness
- Why healthy employees are more productive
- How to support employees into healthy habits
- How to educate employees health habits and increase health outcomes
The importance of maintaining a productive and healthy work environment is vital. I mean, why should senior leaders be the only ones reaping all the benefits?
What Exactly Is Corporate Wellness?
Want to improve population health? Start with biometric screenings of all your employees. Trust me, if you’re paying them enough, they’ll submit to whatever you want them to because they’ll notice that you actually care about them.
Improved employee morale and medical costs? Who would have thought the two go together hand in hand.
What Are The Benefits of Incorporating Corporate Fitness Plans
Johns Hopkins Medicine estimates that approximately 9.5% of American adults ages 18 and over suffer from some sort of depressive illness (whether it’s dysthmia, bipolar disorder, or major depression).
The same medical study shows that women are twice as likely to suffer from major depression than men. So what am I getting at here? Let’s dig deeper into the health of our employees.
Improved Physical Health
The American Heart Association paraphrases Thomas Jefferson who once stated that without health there can be no happiness.
I would even go to the extent of saying that without health there is no productivity. I mean, think about it–an apple a day keeps the doctor away, so obviously a healthy diet & healthy behaviors on all ends of the table is going to be the remedy you’ve been looking for.
Health professionals in the workplace? That’s an “oh yeah”. What better way to respect employees by ensuring they are living a bomb-ass work life balance to help all their dreams come true.
Yes, giving employee benefits is a definite chore. I guess it’s up for those all-in business owners who know they’re in it for the long run to make the correct decisions for their people.
You might be surprised how many of your employees suffer from:
- High blood pressure
- Poor physical fitness
- Uncared for health conditions
- Chronic diseases
Keep in mind that these are serious issues that you might not be addressing in your workplace. Let’s look at more ways corporate wellness has the power to improve your workplace.
Reduction in Absenteeism
Fancy that, your employees actually want to be at work! I’d say that’s accurate. Personally, I would much rather workout at my company’s gym than have to pay for a membership at the YMCA.
But having a gym or some other sort of activity isn’t the only reason why your employees won’t miss as much work. The fact of the matter is, if your employees don’t miss as many days, it’s likely because they are happier at there jobs–they actually want to be there.
Reduced Healthcare Costs
Did you realize that your wellness committees are impacting the well being of your employees in a positive way?
Yeah, that means you’re also saving money in the long run by keeping everyone out of the hospital, and more importantly living a healthy lifestyle—or even imagine your employee enjoying their life!
Enhanced Mental Health
Improved physical health is not only a mood booster–it also has a direct correlation with physical health.
Your main goal should be having employees brains are firing on all cylinders.
Improvement in Employee Morale
So, if all of your employees are healthy, wouldn’t that mean that they’re happy too? That’s exactly what we’re getting at!
Employee engagement is the end product.
Increased Productivity
In our financial planning, why not plan for increased program participation?
According to Harvard Medical School, exercising increases oxygen circulation throughout the body creating changes on a cellular-level. Studies show that increasing exertion spurs the body to produce more mitochondria within the muscle cells.
What Are Some Advantages of Holistic Wellness?
Before we can know its advantages, we must define it.
Definition of Holistic Wellness: What Does Holistic Wellness Mean?
In medicine, the word ‘holistic’ means characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of an illness.
In essence, holistic wellness is health across all levels from financial health to mental and physical health. Even spiritual well being falls under the realm of holistic wellness… why wouldn’t you want to improve health?
Let’s step it up a notch and study the art and science of occupational wellness, and how you can potentially use strategies like wellness challenges to help steer your company into a winning team.
Positive Impact on Employee Mental Health
You want your employees to be happy right? If you don’t, you should quit now. In fact, that should be your main goal as an employer, after you’ve found mild success of course.
You obviously can’t take care of your employees if you don’t take care of yourself first.
Improved Employee Satisfaction
Not only do you want your employees to be happy, but constantly encouraging employees makes you happier.
Lower Health Care Costs
Just like your car, your employees will cost you less in the long run if you maintain them properly.
Heart.org even estimates that 80% of primary care visits are either caused or exacerbated by unmanaged stress.
Challenges Faced by Corporations When Incorporating A Corporate Wellness Plan
Nothing in life and work comes easy, and there will be speed bumps along the way. Let’s be aware of some factors when investing in our employees’ wellness:
Initial Investment
The downfall of many businesses happens when the people in charge are too cheap to spend money on the right stuff.
Health Risk Appraisal
This is almost something that needs to be ironed out upon hiring an employee to allocate what actions best fits their needs.
Lack of Employee Participation
One of the hardest tasks in implementing corporate wellness is getting everyone to participate, and this can also be a sensitive subject.
This is where it might take some precision by working individually with each employee to figure out what they need to stay improving.
Say there’s an employee who’s extremely overweight–these types have a mindset that’s extremely difficult to penetrate, but it’s important to be sensitive with their self-esteem, and make them aware that positive change is a process.
Rome definitely wasn’t built in one day, and the same goes for creating a happy and healthy work environment, especially with the high turnover rates that are common in big companies today.
Measuring Success of Corporate Wellness Programs
Just like everything else in your business, it’s vital to monitor the numbers. Here are some different stats to keep track of that will help you to track improvement once you’ve flawlessly implemented a corporate wellness program:
- Employee absences
- Visually-noticeable healthier employees
Hands down one of the main reasons for implementing corporate wellness plans is to keep your employees at work and doing their jobs.
No, it’s not a tactic for making slaves out of your employees. That’s not what we’re about. We’re talking about helping make your employees passionate about what they do.
- Number of Employee hospital visits
Your employees straight up can’t come to work if they’re in the hospital, and for larger companies, I can guarantee you that you’ll see hospital and doctor visits fall drastically if you have all of your employees onboard with a well-implemented corporate wellness program.
- Overall productivity numbers
Obviously, you’re going to want to look at overall numbers, and I’ll tell you right now that you can happily watch your company numbers rise year by year if your employees are well taken care of.
Oh, and don’t forget that making your employees happy will also make YOU happy as a manager/owner + that means your overall holistic wellness will be on point! See? Everybody wins!
Additional Thoughts About Corporate Health Coaching
On top of all this, let’s not forget that flexible work schedules when possible are a necessary element to improved employee health. You might notice that employees feel more comfortable and less put-out when they can jump into work at any given time to get the job done.
If you’re running a company and you don’t already have employee wellness programs, well then it’s time re reevaluate and learn more about your employee health.
At the end of the day, physical wellness for all employees is an absolute must.
Let’s recap the health benefits of corporate wellness plans just to drill in the concept:
It’s Time To Make A Change!
Look people, if your conscience is telling you that your employees aren’t being cared for properly, then it’s time to:
- Provide gym memberships
- Encourage employees to make positive changes in their physical and mental health
- Reward employees!
Financial incentives for healthy living to maximize your employees health.
Have you penciled disability insurance into your company costs?
