Introduction
Workplace wellness encompasses all health promotion organizational policies and activities to support positive behavior among workers and improve health outcomes. Such programs can be offered through various techniques, including compulsory employee training, third-party providers, or staff seminars (Song & Baicker, 2019). Employee wellness is continually becoming significant in business today. Although the advantages of the initiatives cannot be realized immediately, healthy workers add value to their colleagues, employers, and the broader organization. The benefits of employee wellness programs include increased productivity, high worker morale, improved retention and recruitment of employees, reduced healthcare costs and risks, enhanced satisfaction, and healthy workplace culture. Organizations should adopt best wellness practices and consider current trends to obtain maximum returns from these programs.
Practices in Workplace Wellness
The corporate wellness industry has been growing tremendously, with organizations focusing on having the most comprehensive and effective programs. One feature of a suitable wellness approach is consistency to enable people to develop habits. Although individuals have different needs, the regime should universally be consistent. Establishing stability makes it easy for workers to build a routine around the program, thus boosting attendance (Song & Baicker, 2019). Secondly, wellness programs should be results-oriented; following the first session, operators should collect and analyze meaningful data. Consequently, they develop suggestions to increase program enrollment, develop person-centered sessions for all employees, customize and coordinate care plans, and provide feedback to relevant stakeholders. Another best practice of workplace wellness is integrating health and wellness benefits into the overall organizational culture. One way to do this is by including frequent, meaningful reminders of the significance of wellness in the office’s communication channels. Companies should merge available health improvement resources and recognize the roles of each participant. Subsequently, this will result in joint planning to ensure a seamless end-user experience that invites individuals to the appropriate material at the right time.
Current Trends
Trends in workplace mental health have been significantly shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020. The first shift is that wellness programs are focused more on improving workers’ mental health. The coronavirus era had a substantial impact on the working conditions of people, leading to additional anxiety and stress, which pressured their mental health. To resolve the overarching implications of the COVID-19 outbreak, organizations’ wellness programs provide people with 27/7 access to confidential helplines and affordable sessions with qualified therapists. Further, they are developing holistic mental health solutions that encompass well-being apps, self-care and fitness, and employee assistance programs (Grossmeier & Johnson, 2020). Secondly, telehealth is continually being incorporated into any organization’s wellness program. The technology involves delivering health education, information, and care services through remote technologies. Many employers intend to invest more in telehealth. Since the COVID-19 pandemic is still around in many nations, telemonitoring is an excellent solution for many employees and employers. It allows one to make virtual appointments and consultations with their healthcare providers.
Another critical workplace wellness trend today is focusing on prevention rather than treatment. Organizations establish measures that create suitable work environments for workers to avoid being stressed or strained at work. Instead of companies sending employees to therapists and counselors to help relieve their work-related stress, managers should promote the creation of a safe and stress-free environment. In addition, awareness of physical activity and workshops on healthy eating, reducing binge drinking, and quitting smoking are being promoted. Financial wellness has also become a significant aspect of today’s workplace wellness programs. The phenomenon describes the overall financial health of a person and the absence of stress related to lack of money. Money-related pressure has increased tardiness and absenteeism at work because workers who worry about their finances are mentally absent from work (Grossmeier & Johnson, 2020). With the coming of the pandemic, many people’s finances were affected. Some companies suffered losses and could not pay bonuses and increase salaries; some people’s partners and family members lost their jobs. Consequently, organizations lost money due to reduced employee productivity catalyzed by financial stress. As a result, wellness programs began paying attention to their staff’s financial wellness through workshops, perks, and dedicated partnerships.
Challenges Faced by Workplace Wellness Programs
However, organizations still struggle to establish wellness programs that maintain employee engagement with time. One of the challenges faced in running these activities is insufficient or lack of funding. Most of the time, the cost of running the initiatives is often low because the participants undertake free activities, such as group walks. Nevertheless, some special wellness activities like inviting financial experts cost money, which might be challenging to raise (Sawchuk et al., 2020). Another challenge faced by wellness activities is limited leadership support. Organizations’ senior executives do not visibly and actively promote the initiatives. Although they have approved and endorsed the events, they do not volunteer to lead the sessions. As a result, employees lose interest. Lastly, workplace wellness suffers from inconsistencies because some of these approaches do not have a solid structure. The program structure should include the number of challenges, defined expectations, timeframes, and effective communication on the rewards and incentives. Therefore, they lack predictability, and people cannot form habits out of them.
Recommendations
One recommendation to solve the financial problems related to wellness programs is allocating funds in the company’s budget to cater to wellness programs. Since these activities have proven beneficial, employers should be willing to reserve money for wellness. Secondly, the leadership of the organization should be dedicated to wellness activities. The organization should designate a senior executive member as the head of health and well-being and encourage other leaders to participate. Having a committed management team promotes a supportive culture that encourages employee participation (Sawchuk et al., 2020). Further, the organization should appoint the most seasoned executive with the respect of most employees as an influencer. The senior manager will unite the team for the greater wellness cause and encourage healthy habits. Finally, wellness programs should have consistency to make it easy for workers to build a routine around the program, thus boosting attendance. Although specifics of the activity, such as challenges, might change, participants should know what to do, where to get updates and sign up, the program schedule, and how to earn rewards. Additionally, the organization can organize an annual companywide event for employees to attend wellness sessions together.
Conclusion
To conclude, there is a positive correlation between a company’s performance and employee wellness. The advantages of workplace wellness programs include increased productivity, employee morale, retention and engagement, and reduced health risks. An effective workplace wellness program should cater to individuals’ financial, physical, mental, and emotional needs and the whole organization. The overall benefits of implementing a comprehensive approach to employee wellness surpass the costs incurred. Based on the current trends on the topic, it is anticipated that employers will continue to invest in the welfare of their workers in the future. Consequently, this will enhance their health and trust in their organizations. Employers and HR departments of organizations should develop comprehensive workplace wellness programs that include a combination of continuous communication, committed leadership, and a well-designated structure. Additionally, the program should cater to the individual needs of employees and allow them to visualize the progress of the program and each one’s performance.
References
Sawchuk, N., Russo, J., Ferguson, G., Williamson, J., Sabin, J., Goldberg, J., Madesclaire, O., Bogucki, O., & Buchwald, D. (2020). Barriers and bridges to implementing a workplace wellness project in Alaska. Rural and Remote Health, 20(3), 5946-5946.
Grossmeier, J., & Johnson, S. S. (2020). Factors Driving Exemplary Workplace Health and Well-Being Initiatives. American Journal of Health Promotion, 34(1), 105-106.
Song, Z., & Baicker, K. (2019). Workplace wellness programs and health outcomes—reply. JAMA, 322(9), 893-893.