How to Build an Employee Wellness Program

Happy workplaces are created when the employees are happy. Building good employee wellness programs by adding the right elements into it can make the employees happy and also show them that you care for them beyond their work. In fact the productivity of an employer can be increased by building wellness programs for employees.There are different companies that offer different programs, but it is always important to know which works best for your organization. So here are the points to make yours one of the best employee wellness programs.

Employee Wellness Programs Benefits

Building an employee wellness program can increase employee productivity and also show them that you care about them. This can create an improved work culture, increase employee engagement and improve their health. This can also give the employee job satisfaction and increase their loyalty to the organization. Also due to the inflating medical costs, employee wellness programs like providing a group health insurance can help the employees during emergency hospitalizations. Before creating employee wellness programs it is always important to do your research and establish your budget, because funding is a crucial step in building wellbeing programs for employees.Budget breakdown will look like provider fees,incentives for participation, fitness trackers, meeting provisions and promotion costs.Additional steps that can be taken before deciding the budget is knowing if the employees are ready to pay for an aspect of these employee wellness programs. This can be known by conducting a survey. Also get to know whether your group health insurance provider is having any employee wellness programs, as often these programs are included along with the premiums paid.

Employee Wellness Programs Examples

Fitness Activities and Nutrition

Your team must lead a healthy lifestyle to avoid chronic diseases and lifestyle diseases. The work from home situation has made everyone sit and work in the same place for long hours. This tightly packed busy work schedule along with the need for taking care of their families during the covid-19  pandemic has made employees stressful. With the covid 19 india pandemic situation closing fitness centres and gyms many are lacking motivation to do fitness activities. Creating a fitness activity program by partnering with fitness centers or healthcare providers online and creating a sense of competition between the employees to maintain a streak provide motivation and make them enthusiastic to participate in such activities.Eating clean and being fit go hand in hand. There is no use of doing physical activity without eating healthy. Hence, as a part of your employee wellness program webinars or one on one consultations with nutritionists can be arranged for creating an awareness about the importance of nutrition.

Mental Health Programs

Overall health of a person is determined by their physical and mental health. Employee wellness programs are incomplete without proper mental health programs. The current work from home situation negatively impacts the mental health of people. Also some employees experience mental health problems in workplaces.Keeping this in mind many companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google have come up with employee wellness programs that focus mainly on the mental wellbeing of employees. You can remove the stigma around mental health by introducing a mental health program and one can even notice the increase in employee mental health. And several employee wellness program case study indicate how this increase has benefited them. Providing employees with therapy sessions, meditation sessions or a hotline number for consultations and counselling are some of the ways this mental wellbeing program can be executed.

Group Health Insurance

Group Health Insurance is a better way of letting the employees know that you care for them and their family. This can benefit them a lot during medical emergencies as medical cost inflation rate is getting high annually. A group health insurance can be very versatile. Providing cashless hospitalization facility plays a major role. They can cover expenses of hospitalization, diagnostic charges, room rent and even cover pre-existing diseases without a long waiting period. Another major advantage of a Group Health Insurance policy is that it can be availed without a medical check up and can be provided to the family of the employees as well. These can benefit your employees greatly financially during the time of need.

In the end

Employee wellness programs can be better planned and implemented by getting suggestions from the employees itself. This can be carried out through surveys and creating a committee that focuses mainly on wellness programs. The importance of wellness programs for employees is to improve their health and wellbeing. At Paz Care we are happy to help your organizations build the employee wellness program and offer group health insurance for employees. Get in touch for more info.Also read what is an employee wellness program?