Employee wellness programs refer to the set of events conducted by the employer to improve the employees' physical and mental well-being.
As per a survey, 70% of employees who attended wellness programs have higher satisfaction levels than those who have not participated in the wellness program conducted by the employer. 38% of employees responded that they had taken a few sick leaves after being a part of the wellness program organised by their employer.
Many HR leaders are still unaware of the significance of employee wellness programs. Let us take a few minutes and read the entire article to understand the fact of a wellness program and how it will contribute to your organisation becoming the best working place.
What are the benefits of employee wellness programs?
These are the main enlisted benefits of the wellness programs:
- The first and foremost benefit of an employee wellness program is that it enhances employees' health and lowers the risk of falling ill. It ultimately reduces the absenteeism rate and improves productivity levels. 56% of employees had taken a few sick leaves because of the wellness programs.
- The best employee wellness programs also consider organising activities, events, or sessions that help improve satisfaction levels among the employees to make them happier individuals at the workplace. The more they are pleased with the workplace, the better results they will produce. Companies with the best wellness initiatives attain 11% revenue more from each employee who attends the program.
- Employee wellness programs also help create a strong positioning in a competitive marketplace. Individuals are always searching for companies that value them and thinks of their welfare.
- People always expect to work at an organisation where they can improve their physical and mental health for career growth and lead a practical life. Wellness programs aim to satisfy employees and make remarkable improvements in their performance levels while also multiplying their loyalty to the organisation.
- These programs help achieve the objective of corporate social responsibility. Employees attending wellness programs get encouraged to serve society with great benefits.
10 examples of excellent employee wellness programs
Below are companies that have introduced some of the best employee wellness programs. These will keep you up-to-date and firm in improving wellness at your workplace.
1. De-stressing sessions
Reducing stress is very crucial in maintaining productivity. It helps to improve mental and physical wellness.
Facebook has various activities and sessions that help reduce employee stress. The company has developed three primary strategies to improve health and wellness. These create a peer to peer supportive culture, improve awareness, and elevate access to care.
2. Wellness challenges
Organizing wellness competitions and challenges enable individuals to face the reality of their physical and mental status. It helps enhance their morale to participate in the wellness programs conducted by the employer.
Oracle, the most prominent IT giant, introduced the "My wellness" program in which the employees can participate at the competition level. The company also conducts several webinar sessions on improving nutrition and adopting a healthy lifestyle to bring work-life balance for employee wellness.
3. Employee assistance programs
Wellness in terms of employment does not necessarily mean physical wellness. It includes the minds of the people too. Providing a high level of assistance for people to perform well on professional fronts while developing happiness in their personal lives tends to improve overall well-being.
Accenture offers confidential support for employees who suffer from anxiety, depression, substance abuse and depression.
4. Paramedical services
Facilitating medical services on organizational premises demonstrates that the company is very keen on taking care of the employees' health.
Google provides on-site medical and healthcare services. It has also created medical, chiropractic, physical therapy, fitness, massage, and yoga centres to maintain employees' health.
5. Smoking cessation
A smoking cessation program is considered one of the major initiatives taken by organisations to improve the workforce's health. Habitual smokers who want to quit smoking never get the right way to end up in the bad habit. Thus, employer efforts in doing so are highly appreciable.
Intel technologies take up many initiatives to maintain employee health. It provides several amenities and facilitates healthy programs that help employees quit all bad habits that cause adverse effects on their health.
6. Motivational sessions
Motivational sessions help inspire people. Mercedes-Benz has performed several strategies to motivate its employees. These strategies include ‘process motivation’ and ‘content motivation’ approaches to improve employees' satisfaction.
7. Gym and yoga
Microsoft believes maintaining the physical and emotional health of employees is critical. The company has started yoga and meditation centres, and opened a gymnasium on its premises so that employees do not have to take out time to go far to maintain their health and wellness.
8. E-learning for well-being
Hilton, a hospitality organisation, started its initiative named thrive@hilton. This program involves creating daily pop-ups on wellness and developing articles to improve immunity to fight flu proved to be very helpful in elevating the health standard of the individuals at the organization.
9. Flexible working culture
Many employees prefer to work from home locations, as they find them the most comfortable places to bring productivity to their work. After the emergence of the pandemic, many companies are setting flexible work arrangements for their employees to raise their satisfaction levels.
Nearly 60% of the Dell workforce takes advantage of flexible work arrangements. The company does so to improve mental satisfaction and enhance the quality of its outputs.
10. Financial education
Every employee seeks to learn how to manage their funds and elevate savings—getting financial education from the employer assists in amplifying their level of understanding of financial matters.
Lidl, the supermarket giant, provides its employees an effective platform to learn about managing funds.
Do wellness programs work?
The purpose of wellness is to keep the mind and bodies of the employees healthy, which promotes their zeal and motive for working in the organisation. In a fast-paced post-pandemic work culture, nurturing employees becomes the need of every business organization.
Cutthroat competition generates immense opportunities for people to look for new employment. They would only want to stay within a company that cares for them and treats them well.
Wrapping up
The employee wellness programs at these companies go the extra mile to promote health, happiness, and productivity. Another way to improve employee morale is to create employee development plans. Read on to know more.
