by Employee wellness programs are programs undertaken by an employer in order to improve employee health and also to help individual employees overcome particular health-related problems. The employer can offer compulsory employee training, staff seminars, or even work with a third-party provider offering a variety of wellness programs.
Benefits of Employee Wellness Programs
Even though the advantages of an employee wellness program may be hard to see at first glance, employees who are healthy usually bring a range of benefits to other employees and to the companies they work for. Here are some of the benefits of an employee wellness program.
High employee morale
Wellness programs make employees feel appreciated and valued. Employees are happier when they feel appreciated and valued by their employers. The offer of wellness programs usually leads to more enthusiastic employees at work.
More productivity
Employees who eat healthily and exercise regularly are likely to be more productive than those who don’t. Poor health behaviors are usually linked to high levels of unproductivity and ultimately lead to higher health risks and chronic diseases.
Improve recruitment and retention of employees
Good wellness programs will help companies to hire, as well as retain, the best employees. Many people are strongly influenced by the presence of health offerings and other benefits when they choose an employer. Wellness plans also play a vital role in employee retention, by helping to keep the employees loyal.
Reduced health risks
Helping employees to adopt healthy behaviors such as eating well, exercising, and avoiding tobacco lowers health risks. Low health risks lead to reduced health care costs.
Reduced absenteeism
Workplaces with comprehensive wellness programs experience less absenteeism, due to employees being healthier and suffering less stress, leading to cost savings.
Building camaraderie among workers
Some initiatives offer employees the chance to experience other activities unrelated to work, such as participating in a sports team, going to the gym, or eating lunch together. The interaction of co-workers facilitates bonding that helps teams work better together.
Model:
Assessment
Program success and employee engagement require information to be obtained about the workplace, either formally (i.e. needs assessment) or informally (i.e. conversations with employees), collecting data regarding individual lifestyle, work environment, and organizational details. Data should be collected for both employee interests and available aggregate data about health status, health issues or cultural survey data. Engaging employees, including the leadership team, from the beginning of program planning and development will help drive commitment, responsibility, and participation; as well as, creating a culture of health and great place to work. Additional information to assist with workplace assessment can be found using the CDC Assessment Module.
Program planning
Next is to develop a strategic plan that considers the pertinent assessment results from a vantage point of both the individual’s actions and environmental context in accordance with the direction from the governance structure. This should always be completed prior to implementation or evaluation; however, keeping the end in mind (how will I evaluate this program to know it was successful?) will help drive the overall plan. The recommended strategy for “direction leadership and organization” by the CDC includes: leadership support dedicated to championing wellness and modeling behaviors; workplace Wellness Committee, Coordinator or Council; development of a resource list of available assets; defined mission, vision, goals, objectives and strategies; comprehensive communication plan; evidence-based practices; and data collection and analysis. A thoughtful strategic plan will select and deliver interventions, policies, and programs that are most advantageous to the particulars of the employee population. Additional resources can be found by visiting the CDC’s Planning/Workplace Governance Module.
Implementation
The implementation stage is where the rubber meets the road. Employees often see this stage as the “Wellness Program”, and typically do not understand what goes into the process to provide a comprehensive strategic plan. Therefore, implementation occurs when the strategic plan executes the opportunities to support an employee’s health. The CDC recommends four main categories for interventions or strategies that successfully influence health: “health-related programs; health-related policies; health benefits; and environmental supports”.
Evaluation
To determine impact and success, evaluation is crucial to the longevity of a workplace wellness program. Everything from programs to policies to environment must be evaluated to determine return on investment (ROI), value on investment (VOI), health impact, employee satisfaction and sustainability. “According to the CDC (2016), evaluations can often be overwhelming, time-consuming and expensive; so, focusing on relevant, salient, and useful information is key to quality evaluation practices. An evaluation tool should be designed to support the program process, quality improvement, and identification of gaps for future strategic plans.”
