Being a Meditation Teacher and a Career+Wellness Success (Life) Coach I help my clients develop strategies to maximize their health and productivity but there are often limitations with their work environments not allowing these positive changes to fully realize.
A comprehensive wellness program is a vital component for organizations to consider in order to keep their employees satisfied, engaged, and productive; ultimately paving the way for higher sustained performance and better employee retention. It’s a no brainer right? Invest in your people and show that you really care and it will pay off ten-fold with increased performance and loyalty. It’s a win-win!
Today, I’ve teamed up with @CaptivateTalent to give you our favorite 20 approved wellness implementations. We’ve chosen these options because they engage healthy goals for the long-term, while putting the power in the hands of the employees.
The Basics Of Effective Wellness Programs
Wellness programs are about more than just exercise. “Wellness” incorporates physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health. Even financial stability plays a role. In fact, Fidelity’s 2016 Employer-Sponsored Health and Wellbeing Survey reported that 76% of 128 large employers reported there was a “financial security” component to wellness.
An effective wellness strategy starts with leadership. Culture changes cannot occur without the commitment of leadership. This means that everyone in higher level offices needs to demonstrate healthy work practices themselves. Leaders can meditate around the office, they can host walking meetings, go to the local gym, and walk around with their branded water bottle. Beginning with leadership setting the example is the first step to creating a culture of wellness.
It’s important to note that most corporate wellness strategies are designed to keep employees in-house longer. “Healthy options” like napping and meditation rooms and free healthy dinners are the corporation’s way of saying: we’ll keep you healthy as long as you’re at work.
However, the strongest corporate wellness strategy is one that actually gets people out of the office: flexible work. Flexible work can reduce burnout, lower stress, improve health, boost satisfaction, and more.
Giving workers the autonomy to self-schedule, take unlimited vacation days, work part-time, or work from home is one of the easiest and most effective means of ensuring a strong ROI on your wellness strategy.
Finally, before choosing and implementing any plan, you need to look at the ROI. What will success look like? You need to choose specific metrics to understand how, where, and why your program is or isn’t succeeding. Be sure to look not only on the impact on health but also on employee morale, company loyalty, employer reputation, improved retention, heightened recruiting, and lowered costs.
Below you’ll find our 20 easiest and most cost-effective wellness strategies that show results for any organization.
Wellness Strategy Ideas
1. Offer initial assessments so employees and employers can understand their personal health risks. This creates a baseline to set goals and provide customized wellness plans for each individual.
2. Bring in a meditation teacher to conduct a proper meditation course (not just one session) where employees will learn a meditation technique that they can be empowered to practice meditation daily which will directly combat stress as well as improving productivity and morale around the workplace.
3. Subsidize wearable trackers, like FitBit. This helps individuals track their progress and notice unhealthy patterns. They can also team up with their friends for ongoing competitions, trying to outstep each other throughout the day.
4. Assess in-house ergonomics. What are some risks and concerns while people are working in their offices? Use this workplace assessment tool by Comfortable Computing Initiative to see how your workspaces hold up.
5. Offer standing desks. There are a number of health hazards of sitting, negatively impacting overall metabolic health. Provide desks that can smoothly transition from sitting to standing.
6. Provide healthy dining options in-house. Create a list of healthy dining options in a 2-mile radius of your office. Partner with nearby healthy restaurants to offer discounts to your employees.
7. Stock the break room with healthy food. Keep healthier options closer to home.
8. Provide safe, lockable bike racks in your offices. Encourage your workers to bike to work with promotional materials that show why it will help their health, the environment, and their wallets.
9. Give out branded water bottles to get people to drink more water. This will also save the expense and carbon footprint of plastic water bottles. Check out Bevi, which dispenses a variety of waters.
10. Have a wellness newsletter that provides research, science, and trends in health. It can also highlight employees who are living healthy lives and building a culture of wellness.
11. Create a corporate sports league. Offer to pay the entrance fee.
12. Participate in a 5K run or walk as an organization.
13. Partner with a local gym to offer discounts to employees.
14. Offer on-site yoga classes weekly to get the energy moving in order to offset the sedentary work environment and reduce stress and boost a sense of community.
15. Schedule recess. Pick a 15-minute time slot when everyone goes outside to socialize and get moving. You can also encourage people to take a 5-minute walking break every 90 minutes. Breaks are proven to lower stress and improve productivity.
16. Take meetings on-the-go and get out of the boardroom. In fact, research has shown that walking makes people more creative.
17. Host time management seminars.
18. Put plants in the office. Greenery provides fresher air, improves emotional state, and reduces office illness. One study found that offices with plants increased employee productivity by 15%.
19. Provide in-house doctors and dentists. This can ensure people can make it to doctors without feeling they need to miss an entire day of work. Offer in-house flu shots and preventative measures as well.
20. Create relationships with local nonprofits. Promoting a paid volunteer day or after-work volunteering is a great way to improve team bonding and happiness levels. Volunteering is one of the greatest ways to build a community, lower stress levels, and improve mental and emotional health.
The Bottom Line
Not sure what wellness program will work for your company?
Not sure how to get leaders on board?
Not sure how to balance cost and implementation?
Talk to Captivate Talent about how wellness is part of their retention strategy. They look through a lens of recruiting and retention as well consulting with myself and other resources on the wellness component to make a formidable team in order to see how your organization can benefit from a wellness culture overhaul.
And if you are looking to combat stress and bring meditation into your workplace I teach a 3-day "Learn to Meditate" course (only 90 mins for 3 consecutive days) which empowers your employees to build a daily meditation practice which will have them less stressed, more energetic, focused, positive, and productive.
Furthermore, if you are looking to up level yourself and work with a life coach (or know someone who does) or you are wanting to hire a meditation/wellness speaker for your next corporate event you can contact me via my website. Excited to hear from you
