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Employee wellness programs can provide great benefits to both employees and employers. Wellness programs show employees that a company cares about their health and the health of their families, which can result in increased morale, lower turnover and improved productivity. By encouraging employees to become healthier, employers can reduce the cost of health care and diminish the number of health-related absences. Unfortunately, employers are often unwilling to implement any additional employee benefit programs because of the high costs associated with them. However, wellness programs don’t have to be very expensive. There are many small effective steps an employer can take to promote wellness at the workplace: providing healthy snacks for meetings; offering on-site flu shots; starting a pedometer challenge and offering prizes to the winners; giving bonuses to employees who quit smoking; reminding employees to have regular check-ups for cancer and other diseases.
In order to spend the limited money wisely, it is important to assess what needs of employees are the most critical and therefore should be addressed first. Need assessment can be done by asking employees to fill out a Health Risk Appraisal form or by conducting a survey asking employees what kinds of health initiatives will be the most valuable to them. It is also important to ensure that employees buy into the program and are willing to participate in it. As with any initiative, the best way to do that is to lead by example. The management should show that it is serious about the initiative and is committed to it.
After the wellness program is designed and implemented, it is important to evaluate how successful it is. The obvious indicator of success is the level of participation of employees. An employer can also conduct a survey on how satisfied employees are with the program. Additionally, measuring productivity levels and absenteeism rates can also provide valuable information about the overall success of the program.
Articles used: How to build a wellness program; 8 ways to promote wellness at the workplace .
Picture from: http://h2ksports.com/corporatewellness
Olga,
ReplyDeleteI too believe employee wellness programs do a great deal of good for employees. Besides all the benefits you've stated, a well rounded wellness program can also help employees lead a healthy lifestyle and improved overall health.
I work for a company who has recently won a major award for their wellness program and I truly believe that wellness programs work in making employees aware of risky behaviors that affect their health and allow them to do something about it. Most of our plant employees refuse to see a doctor regularly and on-site screenings and incentives have encouraged employees to get checked out and engage in programs that have helped them create a healthier lifestyle. For example, many employees have taken advantage of our smoking cessation program due to the covered medication and supplies that help make it a success.
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