Balancing employee health and wellness

Most full-time employees devote a significant portion of their lives to their careers. They spend their weekdays in an office, or similar professional setting, interacting with colleagues and customers and representing their company. As a supervisor or manager, you owe much to your staff—why not support them with well-being programs for employees? Doing so imparts multiple benefits to them and boosts your company as a whole.

Below, we discuss the relevance of employee well-being and offer some programs for employees:

Why You Should Care about Employee Well-being

Our culture celebrates hard work, dedication, and professional success. Yet the elevation of these qualities sometimes overshadows the need for balance and personal care. This situation results in employee burnout, absenteeism, and reduced productivity.

Improving employee wellness benefits individuals and the organizations they work for. Indeed, more and more companies are increasingly recognizing the value of employee wellness programs for this reason. Many organizations now boast dynamic programs to incentivize their workers.

Well-developed programs encourage not only healthy diet and exercise but also mental and emotional care. Well-being itself incorporates these less visible aspects of health. So, review the options below and consider which wellness aspects your employees wish to prioritize.

Programs and Initiatives to Boost Your Employees’ Well-being

1. Recognize and Praise Employee Achievements

To create an encouraging and supportive work environment, build praise and recognition into daily activities. Everyone enjoys hearing positive feedback about their work and giving just one compliment can inspire others to do the same. When employees know their efforts are noticed and appreciated, they feel inclined to give their best.

2. Create Inclusive Fitness Challenges

Physical health is a keystone element of well-being. For this reason, many wellness programs provide opportunities for employees to improve their health (for instance, gym memberships). However, you should ask yourself: can all my employees reap rewards from such options?

Like any team, office workers are at different levels of fitness and abilities. While some may appreciate a gym membership, others may be uncomfortable in that environment. To accommodate everyone, look for accessible fitness challenges: if you live in an area conducive to bikes, try creating “bike to work” days. To reduce employees’ time seated, offer to implement standing desks for those who wish. Finally, introduce a step or other exercise challenge to the team, which can create a fun, collaborative atmosphere.

However, consider the employees limited by conditions like age, chronic health, and disabilities. For these individuals, a step challenge may not be viable - so how can you adjust your program? You might try a “movement challenge” or “active minutes challenge” instead, which opens up numerous forms of exercise.

3. Incentivize Healthcare

Physical health involves more than exercise, of course: preventative care should also be practiced. How can you incentivize employees to get their flu shots every year? How can you slow the spread of viruses and other illnesses in the office?

Encourage employees to remain home if they feel sick, and praise those who take such steps. Also, you could use Givhero’s app to reward employees' chosen charities when they receive their annual physical, annual wellness visit, or health assessment (or flu shot). These steps help employees feel safe and free to make their health a priority.

4. Promote Mental Health Awareness and Counseling

Mental and emotional health should also rank high in your wellness programs. Thankfully, we live in a time where positive mental health is recognized and encouraged. This situation creates a lot of opportunities for health programming.

If employees are mindfulness-oriented, you can set daily goals, activities, or challenges, bring a coach into your office (or sign up for a virtual event) for a session. The same goes for guided meditation, yoga, resilience training, or other emotional well-being activities.

Also, determine how your company’s work feeds into your employees’ intrinsic motivators. This term refers to activities that one does for the joy of it—whether that be sports, reading, volunteering, or something else. Assigning work that appeals to your employees’ intrinsic motivators makes it more rewarding for them.

Even offering a work-from-home option or flexible hours can support increased mental health. These benefits afford a better work/life balance, allowing employees to handle personal matters as they arise.

5. Encourage Social Wellness Through Volunteering Days

A lesser-known aspect of well-being is called social wellness, which refers to your relationship with your community. While offices have their own culture, think about the community outside of the office. Socially responsible giving has distinct meaningful benefits.

Volunteering outside the office allows employees a chance to give back. Furthermore, Givhero’s platform allows users to raise money for their favorite charities by completing wellness goals and team challenges. This may serve as another intrinsic motivator for your employees, particularly in remote settings.

Accessible and Supportive Well-being Programs for Employees

Your employees, no matter their seniority, put forth a great deal of time and effort for your organization. You can incentivize their work and improve the company by offering well-being programs for employees. And to make your initiatives accessible to all, reach out to Givhero. Our team is committed to helping businesses get their health initiatives up and running with our approach to social wellness. Givhero’s intuitive interface allows you to create wellness goals and benefits to keep employees engaged. Moreover, we offer emotional and social wellness options alongside standard physical wellness. Call us today at (240) 801-5927 or schedule a demo to learn more!