How Can A Company Institute An Employee Wellness Program?

Our employees form an integral part of our business. They are the reason behind the success and growth of our business. Therefore, we must always try our best to keep our employees in good health both mentally and physically, to ensure their optimum productivity at all times.

Employee wellness, therefore, should not be ignored by companies. Rather, it should be treated as the most crucial element of any organisation. A recent study has shown that approximately 24% of employees are exhausted, fatigued, stressed and drained after a day’s work. We cannot change the work commitment expected out of the employees. However, we can create an effective employee wellness program that focuses on the overall wellbeing as well as the holistic growth and development of the employee.

Nowadays, employees expect much more support than just a month’s pay from the company. They expect moral and financial assistance from the company to fulfil their objectives. Therefore, an effective employee wellness plan would ensure that the company supports the employee in their physical and mental wellbeing as well as in their financial endeavours. Here, we have compiled a list of tips that will help you to create an effective and inclusive employee wellness program.

1. Communicate the culture and values of the company.

For an employer, it is important to highlight their values, their vision and their company culture to the job-seeking candidates. The candidates should have a clear idea about what the company expects from its new hires in terms of company culture and values. More often, these expectations become the deciding factor in accepting the letter of employment. Therefore, employers should make it a point to effectively communicate their core values and company culture during the recruitment process. It is better to highlight the expectations at the start itself rather than hire a wrong candidate who is not a culture fit for the organisation.

Company culture generally comprises goals, objectives, behaviours, operational workflows and the work environment offered to employees at different levels. The company should showcase their culture at different social media channels and other review websites which your candidates generally refer to, to seek more information about your company. This way, you are highlighting your company culture to ensure that only culture fit candidates apply for the job.

By communicating your core values and company culture, you build a great candidate experience for the new hire during the entire recruitment process. It gives a wonderful start to an impeccable employee wellness program.

2. Listen to your employees.

Employee wellness starts by listening effectively to your employees. Listening is a very crucial skill, which can be used effectively and can certainly give a positive shift to your employee programmes.

According to research conducted by a well-known HR company, approximately 88% of HR managers and recruiters believe that routine checks and regular feedback are necessary to build a connection with the workforce. By listening to your employees’ ideas and taking effective action on their vital inputs, employers would be able to fulfil the internal as well as the external aspirations of their employees. This approach lays the foundation for a good employee wellness programme.

The employer must implement different research-based employee solutions, such as health programmes and maintaining a work-life balance. They must also implement remote work opportunities and flexible work timings. Also, if you have a fitness plan for your employees, you must implement it in a way that it reaches the maximum employees. This strategy is a wonderful way to show that you listen and care about overall employee wellbeing.

3. Provide employee assistance programs.

Effective company wellness programs should offer an employee assistance program for counselling employees on the different issues that they face at work. Employees may require counselling on various aspects, such as stress management, health programs, nutrition, medical care, personal financial issues and many more. An employee assistance program will understand and solve the tricky issues that employees find difficult solving, resulting in the employee’s physical as well as mental wellbeing at work.

Moreover, EAP being a voluntary option, it gives greater independence and flexibility to employees to choose the service as and when they want, giving them a sense of freedom in deciding their physical and mental wellbeing. It results in better employee wellness in the workforce.

The best way to encourage your employees to use EAP is by integrating with employee benefits. Even job-seeking candidates try to find out whether the company provides employee wellness programs and employee assistance programs. Therefore, EAP is also a great way to attract better employees into your organisation, by highlighting the true benefits the EAP has on plate as a part of the compensation and benefits package for employees.

4. Support milestones and personal growth among employees.

Employee workplace wellness programs involve much more than basic health and wellbeing checks. They also include strategies to provide assistance and support to employees on achieving their professional and personal goals. Your employee wellness program should provide better learning and growth opportunities within the organisation. These opportunities can help employees improve the status of their personal life and wellbeing, such as getting a new house or car, paying off the loans, going on a holiday. These activities will eventually positively impact their lives and subsequently, their performance at work.

Recently, there has been an increase in demand for wellness programs to cover financial milestones as well, which predominantly involves assistance in buying a home. If an employee is in the initial stages of their career, then they may not have favourable credit scores or outstanding sticking debt that refuses to go away. However, it can still be possible to buy a property with bad credit, but that would not be an ideal situation later.

Therefore, employers who provide discounts on the closing cost or form partnerships with real estate companies or breakers to make the buying process seamless and easy for their employees could support them in reaching their desired milestone, achieving the employee wellness goals in the process.

5. Promote positive mental and physical health programs.

Physical health
A perfect balance between personal health and career is the best ingredient to boost productivity and efficiency among your employees. It also helps prevent stress, fatigue and burnout in employees. Therefore, employers should focus on creating and implementing various fitness programs for their employees as part of their employee wellness program. It has been provided scientifically that physical fitness among employees are directly proportional to an increase in productivity of that company.

More often, employees become dull and slow due to the consistent monotony in their work routine coupled with the prolonged hours they speed at the office seated at one location. It eventually shuts the performance of the company as a whole. Therefore, including a physical and mental health plan into your employee wellness program will not just help the employees but would also help the company on the whole.

Mental health
Mental health is one aspect which is often overlooked by people for fear of being ridiculed or shamed for suffering from a mental problem. But it has become increasingly prominent in recent times due to constant exposure to stress, pressure and anxiety in daily life.

As an employer, you can ensure the mental wellbeing of your employees by providing them with a better work-life balance. Further, you can implement different strategies for employees to cope with mental problems in their daily life. These could include counselling and mediation sessions for employees to improve their overall wellbeing.

Productivity and efficiency are mainly about being alert and energised at work at all times and delivering maximum efficiency at all times. So employers should actively engage their employees in different mental and physical exercises at the office. They should look to actively invest in a good mental and physical health program to ensure employee wellness and boost their productivity.

Employee wellness programs should be designed, keeping in mind the long-term objectives of the company. Identify your goals, and accordingly, create the programs to support your long term objectives. And once you have an established wellness plan, be flexible with it and customise it to help your employees.

A clear objective ensures that the wellness plan is understood and followed by your employees. Whether your plan is to prevent burnouts or minimise work-related stress, stay focused on your approach. Determine which are the top health and other issues recurring in the organisation and then devise the wellness program to fill specific gaps. This approach will ensure a focused and holistic solution to the underlying problem in your workforce, which would eventually result in better efficiency and productivity for the company.