Employee wellness programs have many benefits, including increased productivity, higher employee retention rates, and more engaged, energized employees overall. But planning, implementing, and maintaining an employee wellness program is a big undertaking. How can you do it successfully and reap the rewards it brings?
4 Steps to Creating Employee Wellness Programs
Here are four steps to developing effective employee wellness programs for your company.
Step 1: Use Goals as Your Foundation
As with any effort, you need to have clear goals set in order to effectively reach them. Start by evaluating why you need an employee wellness program and what you hope to achieve by starting one. Only once you define what success will look like can you choose the right type of program for your needs. There are a variety of program styles to choose from to best fit your organization’s needs, including:
- Fitness and/or wellness challenges
- Healthy lunch and snack programs
- Smoking cessation programs
- Employee assistance for stress, depression, mental health
- Health testing (including full blood workups and biometric testing) and vaccines
Once you’ve determined which type of program would further your goals, the next step is garnering enough support to make that program a long-term success.
Step 2: Round Up Your Supporters
An employee wellness program that relies solely on employees, management, or executives for support is doomed to fail. It should be supported on every level, which can be accomplished with the following steps:
- Executives should always be up-to-date on program progress and the executive team should take opportunities to celebrate the company’s successes
- Middle and upper management should afford employees the time and resources to participate in the program
- Employees should have a part in shaping the program, which will empower them to engage and participate
When everyone is on the same page and willing to give their best effort to make the program a success, everyone benefits.
Step 3: Create a Wellness Committee
It’s important to avoid letting your efforts to promote wellness fall to the wayside at any point. On that note, appointing a wellness committee is the best way to keep things on track.
This committee should be led by a capable coordinator and include staff from various departments such as human resources, management, and administration. This group will be responsible for handling communications between management and employees, planning and promoting program activities, and facilitating program evaluation to collect internal feedback.
Step 4: Advertise & Educate Employees
Once all the details are ironed out, it is time to spread the word about your new employee wellness program. To do this, you might use:
- Internal newsletters and email campaigns
- Presentations and workshops
- Informational posters, pamphlets, etc.
Keep in mind that you don’t simply want people to know what the program includes, you also want them to get excited and invested in it. So, highlight the benefits they can expect from joining in.
Start Designing Your Employee Wellness Programs
Ultimately, when you take care of your employees, they take care of you and your customers–because they have more energy, motivation, and tools with which to do so.
Would you like to start an employee wellness program for your company? Contact us today and we’ll be glad to walk you through our various workplace wellness services to find the best fit for you and your company.