The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for organizations to enhance their current wellness program offerings to improve and maintain employee health. By adapting your wellness program to the current times, you can help your organization thrive in 2020 and beyond.
Make wellness services accessible from anywhere
Chances are, many of your employees are working remotely or from their homes. Onsite webinars, fitness classes and wellness fairs may become a thing of the past – at least for the time being. If this pandemic taught us anything, it’s the importance of adaptability. When employers increase the accessibility of virtual wellness programs for remote employees, there is an opportunity to engage other household members as well. After all, the ultimate goal is to make wellness obtainable for all.
Listen to your employees
Your employees are your company’s greatest asset. It is important to have your wellness provider assess your employees’ health risks, and evaluate their interest in well-being and behavior change, so you can develop programming based on the needs of your population. The information gained from this process will allow you to create a comprehensive strategy to promote desired health outcomes and establish goals and objectives to reach them. When implementing a program, it’s important to use a combination of online resources, personalized attention, onsite support and virtual programming to ensure programs are accessible to a wide range of employees. Once your program is established, continue to listen to the needs of your employees by requesting feedback through evaluations and surveys.
Offer incentives
What’s in it for your employees? Unfortunately, for many, positive health outcomes are not enough. Research shows that wellness programs that provide incentives are more successful. Employees are more likely to commit to their wellness goals if there is something in it for them such as a gift card, company merchandise or an extra PTO day. Incentives also encourage your employees to be healthy at work and at home.
Provide guidance to keep employees on track
During a busy work week, things inevitably come up. Even employees with the best intentions may push their well-being goals to the side to take care of work or family matters. Keep employees on track and motivated. Let them know it is okay to take a break from work to attend an online nutrition webinar or meet virtually with their health coach. Communicate weekly through e-newsletters or an online wellness portal where employees can track their progress and stay motivated.
Make wellness part of your company culture
If your company promotes well-being as part of its culture, your employees will be more motivated to prioritize wellness, especially if employees know wellness is important to company executives and management. It’s important that these individuals participate in wellness initiatives and that their participation is visible to employees. Additionally, if wellness initiatives such as healthy food options, fitness challenges and educational webinars are all workplace norms, wellness becomes easily ingrained in your culture. And healthy employees lead to a more productive, engaged and satisfied workforce.
Wellness Workdays works with employers across the country to improve employee health and well-being. Our highly credentialed staff has seamlessly transitioned wellness programs for organizations whose employees are now working remotely. Contact us to learn more.
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