As an employer, the health of your workers should be important to you. Most times when you don’t consider the wellness of your employees your business will certainly be at risk. Employee wellness programs are programs carried out by an employer in order to improve the health of their workers. It is a program that is meant to help individual employees overcome any health-related issues.
Employee wellbeing programs should be initiated by all employers to offer mandatory employee training, staff seminars or even offering a variety of wellness programs. Employers need to understand that employees are assets to their company. So as an employer you must ensure their excellent mental and physical health. When the well-being of your workers is checked it enables them to perform well.
However, the health and wellness of your employees always have an effect on the productivity and profits of your company. Most employers understand the importance of looking out for the health of their employees and they are willing and ready to spend money on such programs.
Why is Employee Wellness Important?
Workplace wellness is as important as making a profit in our company. Most times employees spend a lot of time at work and this might start affecting their well-being. The health of your employees impacts more than just medical costs. However, healthy employees are productive, less stressed, and happier. The best workplace wellness programs help employers to achieve all these for their employees.
Benefits of Employee Health and Wellness Programs
The advantage of an Employee wellness program cannot be over-emphasized; employers are not to take chances when it comes to the well-being of its employees. Healthy employees bring lot of benefits to the companies they work for. So let’s take look at these benefits below.
- Reduced health risks: employers help their employees to adopt behaviors like eating well, exercising, and avoiding tobacco. They need to be taught that all of these reduce the health risks.
- Building bonds among workers: some programs offer employees the opportunity to experience other activities outside from work. And these include things like going to the gym, participating in a sports team, or eating lunch together.
- Reduced absence from work: companies with good wellness programs get to experience less absence from work due to employees being healthy and fit.
- Improve recruitment and retention of employees: Good staff wellness program helps companies to hire and retain the best employees.
- High employee morale: A wellness program helps to make employees feel valued and appreciated. It also makes them happier whenever they feel appreciated and valued.
Lastly, one other benefit of this kind of program is that it enforces more productivity. Employees who eat healthily and exercise regularly will always be more productive than those who do not exercise at all.
Example of a Wellness Program
Wellness programs are meant to promote or improve the health of a person. This is the kind of program employers should adopt to ensure the health of their employees. Examples of a wellness program for employees include the following below.
- Weight loss competitions
- Stress management
- Resiliency education
- Exercise
- Smoking cessation programs
- Wellness assessments
These programs are designed to help individuals or employees eat better, lose weight and also improve their physical health as well.
List of Staff Wellness Program at Work
Most Employee wellness program is mostly done at work. This program helps your employees to be more effective and agile. Let’s take a look at a few examples of employee wellness initiatives that can be done in the workplace.
- Assistance programs
- Health Lunch and snacks
- Community service activities
- Fitness activities
- Naps
These are some programs employers can adopt at their place of work to improve the well-being of their staff.
Steps to Take When Launching an Employee Wellness Program
As an employer, there are certain steps you need to take to launch an Employee wellness program. The following are the basic steps needed to implement a successful employee health and wellness program.
- Set up a dedicated team
- Set goals that will benefit both the company and the staff
- Communicate the program
- Acquire feedback and adjust the wellness program
- Make a plan
- Collect data
Workplace wellness does not increase productivity but leads to increased engagement, improved employee morale, retention, and reduced health risks.
