Why Should My Office Run A Wellness Program?
An in-office wellness program promotes health, as well as increases engagement, productivity and overall happiness.
According to research from Virgin Pulse, Workforce and Human Capital Media, 72% of organizations offer wellness programs, and 96% of organizations are increasing or maintaining their spend on wellbeing over the next three years. This means that more efforts - such as nutrition workshops, workout classes and detailed programs - will be seen in more offices.
Why is this important?
Wellness programs help employees become more aware of their overall health and can lead to healthier choices. Furthermore, these programs can lead to an increase in engagement, productivity and happiness.
After focusing on wellness (physically, emotionally, mentally and so on), your employees will then be able to better focus on on securing sales, engaging with fans, selling products, marketing a service and offering positive customer service.
To work towards this, a wellness program should be seamlessly integrated into work, inside the office, during business hours. One huge factor that will help lead to success here is communication. Only 25% of organizations communicate about health/wellness more than once a month. With clear communication - happening on a regular basis! - participants will know what is expected, how rewards can be earned and where goals are being met.
At the beginning of a program, hold a meeting to announce it to your team. Go over in detail why it is being done and what participants will get out of it. Over the course of the program, track everyone’s efforts; you can go old school with a whiteboard that lists out everyone’s names, or you can digitally track the results and email them out regularly.
Of course, participants will expect to see tangible rewards after they put in the work, and leaders are 60% more likely to offer incentives when it comes to these efforts. This is a great way to encourage wellness in the workplace, as you can give employees T-shirts after completing a course, you can enter everyone who is seen making a healthy lifestyle choice into a contest to win a speaker, or you can encourage people to participate in a fun run by handing out branded water bottles.
One of the more popular incentives that can be given is wearable technology, as there has been a 173% increase in wearable ownership since 2014. Watches, pedometers and fitness trackers work for any age, any gender, any location and any industry.
So think about a wellness program in your office. Decide on the details and the efforts that will help make sure your employees are becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. And turn to Geek Tech Branding for all the fun imprinted products that can be given out as rewards!
