Nowadays, a healthy lifestyle becomes a priority for people of all occupations since it is getting easier to be exposed to various diseases and mental problems. The workspace is the place where everyone spends a big part of their life; therefore, it needs to be upgraded in terms of disease prevention and wellness ensuring. Thus, it is HR’s responsibility to establish an employee wellness program and incorporate it into an already existing organizational course in order for it to be beneficial.
Usually, employee wellness programs represent a set of practices targeted at improving of the staff’s health in general. Along with being beneficial to increasing physical well-being of the workers, these programs also tend to affect their mental health positively. It is considered, that wellness programs help employees to be less stressed at the workplace, perceived organizational support, and, therefore, leave possible turnover intentions behind (Varga et al., 2021). This kind of employee education is reported to boost working culture to feel healthier and more professional (Kulik, 2019). Additionally, it enhances employee retention, which is beneficial for lowering recruitment costs (Kirby, 2022). Thus, the implementation of a corporate wellness program is advantageous for all the parties involved.
After the approval from the management, the HR department can introduce on-the-job trainings, hold seminars or invite a third-party specialist. The structure of the corporate wellness programs may vary, as well as the rewards for their accomplishment. However, it is crucial to make this program fitting to the needs of the employees and make them involved (How to establish and design a wellness program). Moreover, wellness programs do not always require sizeable investments, since there are a lot of low-budget activities available (Tips for promoting school employee wellness). Therefore, they can be implemented in any organization.
In conclusion, it can be stated that employee education regarding healthy lifestyle, wellness and disease prevention fits in any organization’s HR program. This can be proven by the fact that corporate wellness programs contribute to achieving both health and business results by the means of investment in any company’s most valuable assets, that are their employees. Making workers happier and healthier should be the main goal of a responsible HR manager.
References
How to establish and design a wellness program. (n.d.). Society for Human Resource Managers. Web.
Kirby, A. M. (2022). Viewpoint: How one company’s new wellness program took off. Society for Human Resource Managers. Web.
Kulik, C. M. (2019). Workspace wellness program empowers self-leadership. Sigma. Web.
Tips for promoting school employee wellness. (n.d.). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web.
Varga, S., Mistry, T.G., Ali, F. and Cobanoglu, C. (2021). Employee perceptions of wellness programs in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 33 No. 10, pp. 3331-3354. Web.