How do wellness programs impact employees within an organization and what impact does it have on the overall performance of the office? The wellness of an employee often takes a backseat when compared to other activities at the workplace. What we need to understand is that wellness should be a major initiative. If employees maintain a strong level of health and wellness, it works collectively towards better outcomes in the office. Several wellness programs catering to the specific needs of each person, be it their physical or mental health, are being introduced in companies. Designing an effective wellness program involves taking many aspects into consideration.
First, let’s look at a few things that go into creating a wellness program. A program is started off by gathering basic health information about the beneficiaries. A baseline of their present health, their past medical history, a brief idea about their psychosocial wellbeing, and family background. With this information, wellness programs can be designed in a well-structured manner that is beneficial and has programs that are impactful.
The data can be collected by conducting surveys and providing relevant questionnaires. Health risk assessments can also be conducted to understand the probability and possibility of developing or the presence of a particular health problem. Auditing the health of the employees with relevant factors gives an idea about which aspect needs immediate attention and which aspect of health is well managed and at the desired levels.
How do wellness programs impact employees?
Adopting a wellness program by the employer really shows the interest of the employer in its employees’ wellbeing and health. The leaders of a company have a critical role, not only in making the company successful but also in considering the health of their colleagues. Employees must know that being enrolled in a wellness program is important in keeping their health on track. Therefore, they must be encouraged to participate in the wellness program offered by their company. They must also be aware of the consequences of having a poor health profile and the best way to tackle this would be to participate in the program.
- Wellness programs can lay down certain rules that must be followed to improve the physical, mental and emotional aspects of a person’s health. It can be difficult if the employee himself chalks out a plan to improve his health. Sometimes, increased work commitments can play havoc with the schedule and there’s more tendency to skip the activity time.
- Wellness programs can help work around these hurdles by providing suggestions of how to introduce activity time and mindfulness time into an employees’ schedule depending on how hectic the workweek looks. Thus, it can be easy to transition into work mode and then wellness mode accordingly without thinking of it as a herculean task.
- A wellness program gives in insight into a person’s present health situation. It makes him aware of his current health status and what could be done to improve the situation according to his convenience.
- It improves the productivity of the person and offers goals towards reaching their targets at work and in their health. It gives the employee a sense of being in control of his health and where they currently stand. This indirectly helps them know where they can improve in those areas. It’s a constant cycle of understanding and improving, finally reaching a place where the employee has control of his health and wellness.
- Health trends keep changing over the years and between different companies depending on several factors. For example, the current wellness trends focus more on the pandemic and the changes that it has brought about. Working from home is one of the novel changes that employees have had to adapt to. Thus the focus would be how to ease into a new work environment comfortably.
Wellness programs impact employees in a positive way, both for the employees health and wellness, but for the companies success.
