Article: Four key ingredients to making employee wellness programs engaging

A Brand Reachout InitiativeCorporate Wellness Programs

Four key ingredients to making employee wellness programs engaging

Whether large or small, companies across the board are today prioritising employee well-being across the board. But how can they ensure employees engage with their wellness programs?
Four key ingredients to making employee wellness programs engaging

Building robust wellness programs remains only one-half of the equation to what makes them successful. The other half lies in how you can raise employee engagement and ensure they adopt wellness initiatives. This has been a challenge for companies even before the pandemic. But while the pandemic has accelerated the need for holistic care, companies still face the problem of low engagement levels. 

In the recently released Wellness 360 research report into the wellness landscape, employee engagement remained the top goal for wellness programs: The report revealed that for over 78% of companies, the primary goal of their wellness programs has been to increase employee engagement. In addition, driving employee adoption and engagement was a significant challenge for over 52% of companies. 

Building engaging wellness programs that can lead to better adoption and usage rates are the vital link between investing in employee well-being and noticing its impact on employee productivity, fall in absenteeism and an overall increase in employee satisfaction.

Expand the scope of well-being

Companies must respond to employee demands to raise engagement levels. As employee preferences evolve and the post-pandemic world of work creates different wellness needs for different employees, companies stand to raise engagement by expanding the scope of their well-being programs.

Looking beyond the physical well-being of employees and including other dimensions like mental, social, and financial well-being creates a more holistic approach toward wellness. Initiatives to raise adoption and improve engagement must be meaningful to employees. 

Digital solutions today help companies expand their wellness portfolio and create personalised offerings. Moving beyond the checklist-based wellness offerings to providing employees with the healthcare options that make sense to them is crucial to raising engagement levels.  

Create multiple wellness touchpoints

Like other employee benefits, wellness offerings must be readily accessible to employees. Curating a wellness program that caters to how employees experience the entire process creates a spurs engagement. Engagement levels rise when employees can experience a concerted effort to address their wellness needs across multiple channels. 

Using digital tools for easy accessibility, regular health check-ups, confidential access to emotional well-being services, creating wellness committees, providing flexibility at work, and listening to what employees have to say are some of the many touchpoints companies can create to improve employee engagement.

Leaders need to stand tall

Leaders set the tone of how relevant employee wellness is within the organisation. Having senior leaders walk the talk when it comes to prioritising health and well-being creates the necessary precedent throughout the company. By bringing wellness to the front and centre of their agenda, leaders can help create a cultural shift that prioritises holistic well-being and tackles the stigma of availing healthcare and wellness benefits that employees might not readily pick up earlier. 

Just like how leaders have transformed businesses and raised productivity levels in the past by prioritising upskilling, hiring, and employee engagement, they need to stand tall and help lead their companies to a healthier future. 

Celebrate wellness

The final and perhaps the most crucial step in creating impactful wellness programs are supporting such initiatives with a culture that celebrates wellness. To unlock the potential of wellness programs in creating an engaged, healthy, and productive workforce, HR leaders need to celebrate wellness. This means capturing stories of change, facilitating team leaders and managers to prioritise well-being, and holding conferences and road shows to raise awareness. These all help companies create the necessary mandate for employee wellness. 

Read full story

Topics: Corporate Wellness Programs, Employee Engagement, #Wellness First With MediBuddy

Did you find this story helpful?

Author