What Is The Importance Of Workplace Wellness In Your Organization

Workplace wellness is gaining the attention of every manager in the corporate industry. The trend is due to the increasing health issues that employees face due to an unhealthy work environment and strict deadlines. Work-related problems can affect employees’ mental, physical, and emotional health, and if not attended timely, it may result in life-threatening cases. Employers realized that fostering a healthy ecosystem leads to a productive workforce and excellent employee retention.

The bottom line for the organization is employee productivity. And employee health often acts as a roadblock and comes between their productivity. So they are mindful enough to understand this aspect. Hence encouraging workplace wellness within an organization has become a global priority at present times. Enrolling in a wellness program can prove a worthy investment for employers to solve the issues faster.

A survey by Harvard Business Review shows that 79% of employees confirmed that wellness programs created a positive impact on them. Hence the corporate wellness programs play a vital role in forming holistic development within your organization.

What is Workplace Wellness?

Workplace wellness is a combined effort of health promotion by employers, employees, and society to create overall mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing for the people at work. It can be an organizational activity that comprises various events like health coaching, fitness programs, employee wellness program, etc.

Importance of Workplace Wellness

Employees spend their majority time in your office. An unhappy, unhealthy employee will result in a lousy performance, which directly affects your organization’s outputs.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that:

• 59% of employees lack minimum exercise in their daily life
• More than 50% reported high cholesterol levels
• 27% have cardiovascular problems
• 26% reported BMI as overweight
• 24% face difficulties because of high blood pressure

Do you know that around 70 to 90 percent of healthcare costs are begotten by preventable to moderate health risk? It has cost trillion dollars over the lost productivity. So employee wellbeing impacts more than just medical bills. Having a culture of wellness is of utmost importance in an organization. A healthy workforce is a productive workforce.

Establishing a culture that encourages wellness among your employees helps decrease job turnover, job satisfaction, managing stress, reducing absenteeism, etc. It also helps in cost saving the extra expenses on preventive employee illness.

One way for leveraging the culture of wellness in your organization is by providing employee wellness programs.

According to a study by the American Psychological Association, the five elements that determine a healthy working environment are Work-life balance, Health and safety, Employee growth and Development, Employee Recognition, and Employee Involvement. Hence including all the aspects of wellness must be an essential factor while designing wellness programs.

Here I have listed the top 5 benefits to grab your attention.

Benefits of having Employee Wellness Programs

1. Decreasing Health Risks

The prolonged period of inactivity always harms lifestyle. Some jobs require their employee to sit for long hours, which may have adverse effects on employees’ health and wellness.

Employee wellness programs keep a regular check on employee health. It can be through biometric screenings, health campaigns, or contests, etc. It helps avoid high-risk diseases early, hence keeping your employees agile and active at your workplace.

2. Elevated Employee Engagements

Employers are trying hard to engage their employees in the workplace. Hence an employee wellness program can act as a catalyst to engage the active participation of all employees.

It includes various walkathons, sports events, health fairs, weight loss challenges, which gives a holistic approach to choose a healthy life. It empowers the employees and helps in creating a strong bond with the organization.

3. Reduction of Stress and Depressions

Cases of stress and anxiety are among the employees. Now and then, work burnouts lead the employees to do job turnover. Unaccomplished deadlines or failed deals can create depressions, which can prove fatal at times.

Introducing Workplace wellness programs, including meditation, yoga, or one to one sessions with a health coach, can help de-stress and create positive results in employees’ mental aspects.

4. Saving Health Care Costs

Increasing health care costs has left everyone scratching their head. Employers are now enrolling in wellness programs that help in reducing health costs to a more considerable extent—employees who participated actively in such programs resulted in leading a healthier life than before. A subsequent decrease in medical bills and checkups helped save a fair amount of personal healthcare costs.

5. Low rate of absenteeism

Wellness programs make healthy employees less prone to health issues. It helps in becoming more focused and productive at work. It decreases the rate of being absent at the workplace, which directly impacts the organization’s growth.

Ways to Promote Workplace Wellness

1. Cycling to and from Work

Research suggests that cycling is right for your health and the environment. It increases endurance and decreases the level of pollution coming from vehicles.

Hence employers can take advantage of this opportunity for their employees. Employees who live close by the organization can opt to commute by cycles. Also, employers can organize small cycling events that promote the cause of having good health.

2. Using Health Apps

With the advancement of technology, curating health issues has become just a matter of a few fingertips. Various health apps can help in providing expert advice regarding health issues. Corporate Health apps have become a smarter choice among tech-savvy corporate employees.

Vantage Fit is a health and wellness app that fulfills all the requirements of having a smooth and user-friendly experience. It comes with advanced features that track the performances in real-time. Employers can create customized contests fostering hassle-free workplace engagements.

Build a Healthy Workforce!

Download app

3. Giving Importance to Flexibility

Working nonstop in a 9 to 5 job may sound daunting. Thanks to technology, that made work from home a possible reality. Now people can work day night from any corner of the world.

Then why are the cases of burnouts so common?

It’s true that not all employees can follow work from home routines. Hence employers must have a study that learns what work culture suits well with their employees. Encouraging flexibility creates a positive environment for your employees. It will help them to be more productive with their work, which directly boosts the work-life balance.

4. Using Stairs instead of Elevator

When did you use office stairs last?

Can’t recall? Limiting the usage of the elevator has significant benefits in the body. It helps you burn lots of calories and also strengthens your joints and muscles.

Employers may encourage using stairs for his employees at least one time during the day. It will help in creating a physical activity among your power-drained employees.

5. Communicating with your Employees

Smooth communication is a prime factor for an engaged and healthy workplace. Creating a culture that encourages sharing concerns and feelings will boost the morale of your employees. Implementing proper feedback sessions in your workplace will improve communication and align your employees to share the company goals and values.

To know more: 21 Cost-Effective Wellness At Workplace Ideas For 2020

Conclusion

The outbreak of pandemic CoVid 19 has taken a heavy toll on everyone’s life, but the high risk is threatening your employees the most. Leading a sedentary lifestyle has become a new normal for everyone. Employees are following work from home regimes, which has resulted in several health issues.

From cases of work burnouts, depressions, obesity to fatal situations of Heart Attacks, and even Cancer, creating a community that encourages wellness plans has become the need of the hour.

Now I would like to know from you:

How did you create workplace wellness in your organization?

Let me know in the comment section below!

This article is written by Rangana Atreya, a Content Marketer at Vantage Circle. Having a creative mind with a spiritful life, she takes inspiration from travelling and learning languages. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com