Beyond promoting healthy behavior, workplace wellness programs reduce absenteeism due to stress and illness, increase productivity, and reduce health care costs. In a world where depression and anxiety are rife, wellness programs are a necessity much more than a luxury. Indeed, the modern employer has a responsibility to create a work environment that is conducive to the health and well-being of its employees, while ensuring that they have the resources and tools necessary to achieve realistic goals.
Well-being impacts results
Isn't having healthier employees enough to convince you? Here's one more reason to focus on it: there's clear evidence that workplace health and well-being affects your bottom line because:
- employee well-being is closely linked to their performance and productivity
- corporate “wellness” initiatives are attractive to top performing employees, reduce staff turnover, and contribute to engagement
- Employers who invested in wellness programs saved an average of $6 (for every $1 invested) on health care
Employee wellness programs benefit every party: they're good for employees and employers alike. Regardless of size, any organization can incorporate wellness initiatives into their work culture. For example, exploiting themes and creating healthy wellness challenges can greatly encourage and inspire employees to adopt good habits in their personal lives.
Here are some suggestions for programs to deploy in your workplace to help your employees be able to support you in your efforts.
Create moments to “eat better”
Do you often have potluck days? Why not encourage your team to contribute healthy food? If you offer snacks or meals at meetings or trainings, make sure there are healthy options, keeping in mind food allergies and nutritional needs.
In a fun way, invite your employees to bring their lunch instead of eating on the go to the local canteen (here, providing a refrigerator and maintaining it is essential), or even; have them bring their lunch for a picnic!
Help your employees stay active
Research is unanimous: a sedentary life is one of the biggest threats to health. Encourage your employees to move more! Negotiate a group membership rate at the local gym, start a competition where employees write down how many stairs they took in a week to come to the office. Why not form a walking group where everyone puts on their sneakers to go out for a walk a few times a week?
Everyone up
Many companies promote the installation of ergonomic stations on which their employees take turns in order to reduce sitting time. Some employees work on exercise balls: not only do they burn calories, they are more active and focus better. Make sure people get away from their computers (literally) several times a day.
Encourage mindfulness
Meditation and mindfulness are effective tools for getting employees to better manage stress. Workshops, online programs, or on-site training are available everywhere online. You can also hire a yoga teacher during the lunch period (or after work), create a place where your resources can practice mindfulness, or simply find a place to relax. You will be rewarded with a workforce that is more stress-resistant and therefore more productive.
deal with trickier problems
Smoking and being overweight contribute to the development of life-threatening conditions, such as diabetes, cholesterol, heart disease, and in some cases, cancer. Difficult to address, these personal problems are now the subject of numerous workplace initiatives such as weight loss challenges, or collective resolutions to stop smoking.
The multinational GE paid employees to quit smoking. The results surprised everyone: employees were more than three times more likely to quit and the incentives totaled $750 (a relatively minor sum compared to the insurance costs associated with smokers).
Call on professionals
Nowadays, a variety of physical or digital resources exist especially in order to educate adults in the labor market to eat healthier, to integrate more physical activities and to create a work-life balance. Hire a healthy lifestyle advisor to provide practical and simple tools to integrate to adopt healthier behaviors.
Healthy employees create healthy businesses. Programs to promote a healthy balance, both physical and mental, are important guarantees of performance and commitment on the part of your employees. You can only get a lot of benefits from it, and that's the case for your employees.
