Post covid-19 many companies are rethinking their employee wellness program because employee wellness in 2022 means agility, inclusivity and relatability. Let me tell you that there is no ‘right’ wellness program that you can take inspiration from. How usable, timely and necessary your wellness activities are to your employees must be the goal for any HR designing it.
Here are some ways to enhance the employee experience, retention and overall improved wellbeing of employees that you can incorporate.
Seamless accessibility to wellness programs
Many employers do provide wellness programs in their company, but they are underutilized. Three reasons that could be attributed are,
- Difficult to access and use
- Lack of awareness
- The program is not relatable or addressing the needs of employees
Accessibility and usability are one of the most important metrics to understand the success of your wellness initiatives. When you design a program, you should also look at how easily this can be availed by your employees. The easiest way to do this is by getting an employee benefits management platform. As these platforms are backed by technology and involves fewer manual efforts to make the user experience pleasant.
Also read: Guide to understand, design and implement corporate wellness programs
Another important aspect of accessibility is educating and communicating with stakeholders on the need for the program and how to use it. HRs have to communicate with employees regularly about their programs. And you can employ multiple interactive and fun ways to do this. For example, trivia or fun Friday games.
There are chances your wellness program needs to be updated or tweaked to solve your employees’ needs better. Surveying your employees to get insights on how effective the current programs are and what needs to be improved will help a lot. Remember to make your program as inclusive as possible to meet the requirements of your employees who are from different backgrounds and are of different age groups.
Prioritise and streamline healthcare benefits
Health is the biggest asset and it’s time that organisations focused on a comprehensive healthcare program. That would include majorly group health insurance, online doctor consultation, and mental health support. Other things that can be included are group personal accident insurance, travel insurance, group term life insurance and stress management.
The drastic shift to a hybrid working model and remote work has changed the way we define a workplace. With more companies working from home, this creates new challenges in employee health and wellness and paves way for digitalizing employee wellbeing system.
Axel Hernborg, CEO of Tripplo, said “Wellness activities must be a part of your culture in 2022, whether your employees are in the office full-time or part-time. Offering activities that may be done either in the workplace or remotely is a trend in employee health that will grow next year.”
Giving a comprehensive healthcare program allows employees to take care of different issues they are facing. This is as inclusive as it can get and HRs don’t have to worry about customization. As an organisation, you provide the avenues that your employees will use as per their requirements.
Also read: 8 Successful Mental Wellness Activities to Inspire yours
Focus on financial wellness
A employee wellness survey found that 57% of employees are struggling financially and have suffered in the last two years.
We have seen how the pandemic has changed the way we regulated our finances. In this post-pandemic world, it is of utmost importance that people learn to manage their finances. Therefore, employers must also start educating employees about financial wellness. Providing tools and resources to employees, conducting live sessions on financial planning, and implementing one on one sessions on ‘How to save on our earnings’ are some of the ways employers can encourage financial wellness in their company.
Companies like Prudential are educating their employees about financial management, helping them plan their retirement by using platforms like Payactiv.
Goodly, which is a student loan benefits provider are allowing their employees to save towards their children’s college tuition, in the hope that it will help them avoid taking out student loans.
Drive with diversity, equity and inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion aka DE&I are the main drivers of employee wellbeing. Efforts on DE&I are important for the health and wellness of the underrepresented employee groups.
One of the biggest threats to employee wellness is the emotional issues where employees at work feel that they have to guard themselves against bias or discrimination. This leads to stress, anxiety, ambiguity, unable to socialize, fear and ultimately to unstable mental wellbeing.
Employers must focus more on the basics of diversity, equity and inclusion and move towards creating a strong inclusive leadership team. Diversity at the workplace must focus on having underrepresented groups recruited and retained within the company, distinctly in leadership roles.
The company should provide training and growth opportunities to help develop leaders. Inclusive leaders help in talent acquisition and also retaining employees, creating a positive culture, enhancing employee wellness, and increasing performance. Right from diversity in recruitment to inclusion of all employees at a workplace must be managed and encouraged in the company.
Pazcare for your wellness program
Pazcare provides bespoke corporate wellness programs customised for your organization. Webinars with industry experts, doctor consultation, therapy, women’s wellness and a lot more. All of these can be easily accessed by employees using the Pazcare app.
Help your employees stay relaxed and productive by offering a comprehensive wellness plan with Pazcare
