by Nicole Paulie, Psychologist and Co-Founder of MyMoodandMe
When starting out with a new company, we’re often anxious and excited to find out what fun new perks and benefits we’re going to receive. Will my new employer provide health benefits? How many days of holiday will I be provided with? But what about an employee wellness programme? Chances are both employers and employees often haven’t given the last one a second thought. Sure, employee wellness programmes sound great, but are they really necessary? As it turns out, yes it is.
Healthy Employees Cost you Less
According to a 2009 study by Milani and Lavie in the American Journal of Cardiology, 57% of employees who were categorised as a high health risk reached low-risk status solely by completing a 6-month long workplace Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Programme (CRET). Completing this programme saved the company an average of $1,421 in medical costs per participant even though none of the employees completing the programme were actually heart patients. Another study from January of this year studied a comprehensive worksite wellness programme (focused on improving exercise, better nutrition and behavioural changes) amongst teachers in the United States provided a benefit to cost ratio of 3.3. This means that for every $1 spent on the Employee Wellness Programme, they saved $3.60.
Overall, the healthier and happier your employees are, the more like it is that:
- They won’t burn out at work, therefore staying motivated and productive
- They’re less likely to call in sick to work
- They’re more effective at their jobs
- The turnover rate at your company will decrease (meaning you save money in lost cost from recruiters, training, lost productivity, etc.)
Happy Employees are Better at Their Jobs
As popularised by Shawn Achor in his Ted Talk “The happy secret to better work“, It’s not being successful that makes us happy, being happy makes us successful; and when your employees are more successful, your business is more successful. The researcher from Harvard goes on to include that happier employees are 37% better at sales and 31% more productive. If each of your employees were able to improve their sales and productivity by about a third… imagine what kind of impact could that have on your business? Research also shows that happier people are healthier people. So in essence, there is a feedback loop that is created. If employees are happier, they’re healthier; when employees are happy and healthy, it means better business for your company.
5 Ways to Improve your Workplace Well-Being Now
Promote Preventative Care
Allow employees time off for check-ups and doctors appointments. See if you can also encourage employees to take healthy preventative actions such as getting the flu vaccine each year.
Get People Moving
As the research has clearly shown, exercise is an important part of a healthy workforce. If your workplace doesn’t already have it, try to add bike racks so people are encouraged to cycle to work, or provide a place where employees can freshen up after exercising. Maybe even see if a lunchtime walking club can be started.
It’s all well and good to encourage people to engage in healthy activities, but they also need to know why it’s important to do so. Try to educate your employees about the importance of wellness by having experts come in and talk and explain it to them.
Provide Incentives
Try to offer your employee some sort of incentive for passing important milestones to encourage them even further. It doesn’t have to be anything huge like a discount on their health insurance. It could be something small like a gift card to a local lunch shop or even just public recognition of their hard work.
Check-In
Lastly, don’t forget to check in with your employees and find out what they think would help them. It’ll also allow managers to ensure that the needs of their employees are being met in general, and the staff is left feeling like you really care about how they’re doing. Personal and professional stress can have even more of impact on weight gain than eating a chocolate bar.
About the author
Nicole Paulie (Reg. Ps.S.I Psychol.) is a Counselling Psychologist and Co-Founder of MyMoodandMe, an online corporate wellness programme aimed at helping employees to Move, Nourish and Inspire.
