Corporate/Workplace Wellness: How to Establish & Design a Wellness Program

Wellness, health, fitness, meditation, yoga, stretching, nutrition, wellness days – these are all buzz words in the corporate world these days as employers strive to find sustainable wellness programs for employees and employees strive to find wellness while at work. This can be a tricky balance of give and take on both parts, yet there are easy and quick solutions that can be implemented right away and even a small step or plan can make a huge difference in the moral at the office and the wellbeing of the employees.

Why?

As health care cost continue to escalate, both employees and employers are searching for ways to keep these costs down and to make them as manageable as possible. Prevention is the key and preventative health and wellness benefits are used to help maintain and/or improve the overall culture and attitude of both the employees and the employers as well as help both to achieve better health and to reduce overall health risks. By preventing illness and/or health issues among employees, companies can hope to save on their long-term health care costs and this in turn is a positive for the employees.

The basic premise of a wellness program helps employees to adopt positive behaviors that improve their overall health and wellbeing thus creating a happier, healthier, and more productive workforce.

Here are five key benefits of having a Corporate Wellness Program in place:

1. Reduced costs: If the employees are healthy, health care costs overall are less expense for employers. Current studies show that in the US, nearly 30% of adults are obese, 18% smoke cigarette and 23% do not get enough exercise. All of these factors increase the risk and incidence of chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer – both high health-care costs.
2. Reduced stress: A 2015 New York Times article on the health insurance company Aetna cites a 28% reduction in stress levels, a 20% improvement in sleep quality, and a 19% reduction in pain because of its mindfulness programs.

3. Greater productivity: Overall, wellness programs have shown the potential to reduce absenteeism, improve productivity and boost job satisfaction. A healthier workforce leads to less time off for being sick, and better organizational performance.
4. Increased morale: Wellness programs demonstrate goodwill incentives from an employer towards the employee and this in turn has a positive effect on employee morale. Some organizations even offer financial rewards or compensation for participation in wellness activities.
5. Improved relationships: A study done by Georgakopoulos and Kelly examine the effect of workplace wellness to reduce instances of bullying at work. Their initial findings revealed that employees saw wellness as a “formidable component of the health and success of employees” and that they perceived “workplace bullying as a serious threat to physical and mental wellness.” By helping employees reduce stress, fatigue, anxiety, and other negative conditions that lead to conflict and bullying in workplaces, wellness programs improved relationships among employees by minimizing the conditions that can lead to bullying.

Rejuv At Work offers a Stress Management webinar and series as well as several options for ongoing Yoga classes and other mind-body options such as Meditation, Tai Chi and Pilates. These are all ways to help reduce and manage stress and anxiety.