Why have a company wellness program

Include vendors who can offer advice on nutrition, fitness trainers, and stress-management experts. Your wellness committee should have already developed a comprehensive communication plan during ideation, so refer to this when following up with your workforce.

This means sending weekly emails encouraging those who have not participated to sign up for the program. These emails should also highlight the benefits of the program, including your rewards. While incentivizing your employees with rewards is important, one equally important, yet often forgotten component of an employee wellness program is recognition.

Manager-to-peer and peer-to-peer recognition is critical when motivating employees participating in your wellness program. When you see an employee succeeding, encourage their manager to send a note of appreciation that recognizes them for their effort.

Additionally, ensure every member of your C-Suite recognizes employees for their accomplishments during your program to further demonstrate their endorsement of the project. Keep in mind that recognition should be public, meaning others should be able to view these recognitions on a social feed. All participants should be empowered to like, comment on, and send recognitions of their own to each other for their achievements. After your employee wellness program has been underway for a few months, gather feedback on how your workforce has responded to the program.

Meet with your committee members to brainstorm ideas on how to improve the program based on this feedback. You can also use this as an opportunity to highlight success stories to send to your workforce and spread the word about your great program.

Report on these results at least quarterly to your C-Suite so they have visibility into the success of your program. We hope these tips will help you set up your employee wellness program successfully. Remember that employee wellness is an initiative that benefits all employees for the long-term.

The passion and effort you put into designing and implementing your program will shine through and affect your employees positively, forming long-lasting habits that lead to a healthier workforce. In their spare time, you can find them playing music, reading about socioeconomic and gender-based politics, and listening to true crime podcasts. Wellness programs should be major pillars in any organizations' benefits programs because it leads to….

Sign In. Add New Job. PDF Version. By: David Dorion Summary: Here are the benefits of starting an employee wellness program. Are your employees unmotivated? Are your employees a bit out of shape? Are your employees not as loyal as you hoped?

If you answered yes to all three questions, maybe you should establish an employee wellness program for your employees. Keep reading to learn 5 easy wellness program ideas you can use to get started. Cubicles and Cigarettes Believe it or not, there was a time when office workers were able to smoke within the office. And believe it or not, these same workers, despite the inherent dangers of their smoking, nonetheless worked extremely long hours that effectively decimated any notion of a work-life balance.

In fact, back when a person could smoke in their own cubicle, the work-life balance idea was only softly suggested in corporate America. What consequently mattered was that a warm, yet capable body was all a company needed for most tasks, and as far as their health goes, well, that aspect of the workplace had no business in the workplace, at least not then. Baby Boomers will tell you that the mid to late s was when one could last perform the lascivious acts of smoking and yes, even drinking within the workplace.

It was then that office managers and firm owners began to lay down the new laws of their workspace. Smoking within the office was quickly snubbed out to what is now a completely smoke-free office space in nearly all American businesses. In the mid to late 90s, on through to where we currently are in the junior years of the 22 nd Century, wellness programs have begun to crop up in many large, medium and small businesses.

Specifically, what are the advantages of these programs to business owners and employees? We will also cover five easy wellness activity ideas that can help your business create its own wellness program. Why Introduce a Wellness Program? We all know the bottom line for any business is its profit.

Profit is what keeps a business in business, fueling its veins and helping it grow. The fact is a company that needs to function and perform at a high level can be greatly aided by a wellness program geared to employees. Wellness programs focus on the physical well-being of employees. They make medical requirements and personal health a workplace priority, with programs that offer weight loss regimes, smoking cessation programs, stress management, exercise, and dieting and fitness advice.

Conversely, you should believe it when someone tells you as a business owner that has sick, out of shape employees clocking in and out each day, will cost a manager or business owner dearly in the end. The following are some examples, but the possibilities for different wellness programs are limitless. As you can see, the possibilities are endless. Benefits of an Employee Wellness Program. Maintaining an employee wellness program benefits both the employee and the employer.

Examples of the benefits of an employee wellness program are as follows:. The Costs of an Employee Wellness Program.

The costs of providing an employee wellness program is going to depend on how much your company wants to offer your employees. A cost-effective option may be paying for a wellness platform. Wellness platforms generally include access to a mobile app and website that offer incentive management, a health risk appraisal, and wellness program materials.

If you decide you want to outsource the responsibilities, hiring a wellness vendor to manage a wellness program for your company may be your best option. The cost of hiring a wellness vendor is generally going to be more expensive than buying wellness platform. Whichever option you decide, be sure you know what you are getting. If you are purchasing materials from a website, confirm whether it is a one-time download or if it includes updates. If you decide to hire a wellness vendor, require a proposal detailing the program before contracting with them.

This article is meant to be utilized as a general guideline for employee wellness programs. Nothing in this blog is intended to create an attorney-client relationship or to provide legal advice on which you should rely without talking to your own retained attorney first.

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President Trump tweets a controversial message, launching a key employee into an unbridled rage. The person returns fire on social media with a barrage of emotionally charged remarks. In the process, the tirade is played out before a select audience that includes your most valued customers, partners and prospects. The social platform the employee used as a political megaphone was personal and technically private. What do you do? What can you do? This can include subjects such as political and religious views that might be considered offensive.

The NFL this year surprised many people when it took a similar stance by prohibiting players from protesting during the National Anthem. The decision made headlines, but it fell in line with how many employers now view personal conduct, regardless of place or time.

Their conduct, words and actions are expected to uphold the values of the organization. We do not have an off switch when it comes to our basic human needs, which include interaction, self-care, regular movement and proper nutrition. To perform at our best, we must recognize and embrace these needs, rather than push them aside. The consequences are increased depression, sleep problems, low energy, and stiffness, all off which quickly lead to illnesses and chronic issues.

Studies have found that incorporating and supporting employees to participate in corporate wellness programs increases employee effectiveness, decreases sick days, and positively improves team dynamics 2. Participating employees of corporate wellness programs have discovered their energy levels have improved throughout the day, and they experienced less irritability in the evenings.