How Gen Y Employees' Physical and Mental Health Concerns Affect Workplace Wellness

Generation Y, or Millennial, employees put great emphasis on their physical and mental health. So, they want their employers to provide health benefits in a specific manner, namely, an accessible, holistic, action-oriented, and purposeful approach to wellness. These preferences should encourage employers to structure responsive wellness offerings, which they can accomplish through dynamic wellness apps for employees. Givhero’s employee wellness platform is such a resource, one which encourages well-being among all workplace staff.

Here, we discuss the functionality that Gen Y employees look for to address their physical and mental health:

Need for Accessibility

It’s no secret that Millennials want access to everything through personal technology, particularly smartphones. Indeed, fully 74% of Millennials prefer virtual doctor appointments to in-person ones, largely for the sake of convenience. Likewise, Gen Yers want online accessibility to explore and participate in wellness programs.

They also value accessible means of tracking their health goals. In a 2020 survey, Millennials comprised 42% of all health app usage, the highest percentage of any generational age group. So, they can use Givhero’s health wellness app to track their caloric intake, hours slept, and active minutes among other popular statistics.

Well-Rounded Features

Compared to their forebears, Millennials have a greater interest in and enthusiasm for non-Western medicine. They are willing to explore alternative wellness avenues besides the traditional routes offered by a primary care physician. For example, they may seek a holistic health approach that includes acupuncture, chiropractic medicine, and emotional therapy. These ‘whole health’ practices create healthy lifestyles that support well-being and diminish the risk of illness.

Additionally, Gen Y employees are concerned with their work-life balance. While they value a fulfilling career, Millennials view their work as part of their lifestyle rather than a source of income alone. Work-life balance directly affects employees’ mental health, so wellness programs must consider it.

61% of Millennials worked from home in 2020, and their concern for work-life balance grew. Yet employees can benefit from supporting one another in shared efforts towards wellness. Givhero facilitates cooperative initiatives for wellness challenges during and outside of the workday. Companies can create accessible health goals for employees: reaching a daily step count, drinking a target amount of water, or taking time out to meditate and destress.

An Action-Oriented Approach

Part and parcel of a holistic approach is an action-oriented mindset. Millennials like to get involved with, explore, and discuss their health concerns. In addition to an expert’s opinion, Millennials research medical questions and draw their best conclusions. Social media platforms bolster this shift, providing a space for users to share their practices and learn new ones with peers and diverse health professionals.

Workplace wellness apps function in a similar way on a smaller scale. For example, the Givhero platform allows companies to track goals across their organization while individual users can split into teams as they wish. Furthermore, the app can deliver announcements and updates through push notifications and its news feed. These features create a community-centric approach to wellness and foster friendly competition.

Social Wellness Compatibility

Millennials tend to job-hop more than people in other generations because they pursue personally fulfilling roles. Indeed, this ambition for a fulfilling career can factor into their satisfaction with workplace initiatives. Millennials are 3 to 5 times more likely than members of previous generations to participate in employee wellness initiatives.

However, Gen Yers report the lowest satisfaction with traditional wellness programming among all participants. You can boost Millennial engagement and happiness in your wellness initiatives by tying your efforts to a charitable donation drive or another social wellness program. Research shows that Millennials derive greater satisfaction from wellness initiatives that support charitable causes.

Givhero’s platform allows organizations to make charitable giving a reward for wellness program participation. Its functionality leverages these intrinsic motivators to increase staff engagement—a responsive feature that suits the evolving needs of modern workforces.

Givhero: A Supportive and Inspiring Wellness App for Employees

How Gen Y Employees' Physical and Mental Health Concerns Affect Workplace Wellness

Employee wellness programs are a crucial part of employee recruitment and retention these days, and Givhero recognizes the challenges associated with administering them. We developed an innovative wellness app for employees that integrates intrinsic motivation to boost employee well-being. Our corporate wellness software simplifies your workplace wellness programs with customizable goals, improves the health of your employees, increases company involvement, and contributes to social causes with one unified platform. For more information, call us today at (240) 801-5927 or schedule a call!