Corporate Wellness Programs

Corporate wellness programs can help your employees and improve your company.

Read more to find out the advantages of wellness programs, types of wellness programs, how to choose a wellness program, and the most popular programs available. If you are looking for effective ways to help your employees maintain a healthy lifestyle, boost workplace morale, and increase employee engagement, consider a corporate wellness program. A wellness program is benefits, classes, or routines a workplace implements, designed to encourage well-being, fitness, or good health. Naturally, you may wonder how exactly this can help your business and your employees at the same time, the types of wellness programs, how to choose a corporate wellness program suited to your company, and popular wellness platforms to track information.

What are the Advantages of Corporate Wellness Programs?

If you select the right corporate wellness programs, you can reap numerous advantages for your business, namely:

  • Improving Employee Engagement: Employee engagement is how connected and committed an employee is to an organization. If you have strong employee engagement in your business, you likely see high levels of productivity, creativity, and retention. One of the ways to improve employee engagement in your workplace is to show your employees that you care about them. A corporate wellness program that benefits your employees in many ways is a great way to accomplish this. 
  • Increasing Productivity: Healthy employees are more likely to show up on time for work, be able to complete a variety of tasks, be innovative or creative, collaborate with peers, and interact with clients in more effective ways. 
  • Improving Recruitment and Retention: If you have programs in place that benefit employees, new talent is more likely to jump on board and employees are more likely to stay. Wellness programs offer value beyond a paycheck for employees. 
  • Lowering Costs: It goes without saying that if you have a healthier, less stressed workforce, you may have to pay out less workers' compensation over the long term. Physically and mentally well employees are less likely to have accidents, become ill, or burn out from stress.

Likewise, your employees will see many benefits such as:

  • Increasing Wellness Knowledge: Many individuals wish to improve their health or fitness, yet do not have the resources or do not know how to implement healthy habits into their life.
  • Reducing Risks of Severe Illness: If employees have a chance to improve their well-being, they may reduce their risks of chronic illnesses. 
  • Boosting Morale: Employees who feel valued in their workplace are generally happier to be a part of the company and reach for company goals. Corporate wellness programs indicate you care about your employees and their wellbeing.
  • Building relationships: If you organize activities where employees collaborate, communicate, or even compete, they will form strong bonds. In turn, they will feel more at home in the workplace, and they will even become healthier from a positive social environment. 

Types of Corporate Wellness Programs

There are many different types of corporate wellness programs. Depending on your company, you may wish to incorporate one or a few of the types:

  • Health Screenings: Providing employees with access to health screenings is a simple way to promote awareness and knowledge. Individuals may not consider going for regular check-ups on their own.
  • Health Benefits: An excellent health insurance program is crucial for any workplace. It allows employees to be able to access physical and mental care and support.
  • Fitness Room: Large businesses may benefit from incorporating a fitness facility right into the office. If this is not feasible for your business, consider reduced-rate gym memberships.
  • Transit Options: In some cities, you may be able to take advantage of reduced rate bike rental programs for the office or you may offer incentives for employees who bike or walk to work.
  • Mental Health Workshops: Companies that place mental health at the forefront of their business may invest in mental health workshops, meditation guides, or yoga classes.
  • Healthy Eating: Set your employees up for success by including a kitchen or cafeteria stocked with fresh fruits and healthy snacks. You may be able to implement a program with a local catering company that provides fresh food every day.
  • Fitness Challenges: Healthy competition is always a great idea, even if you are simply encouraging employees to compete against their own personal bests. You may incorporate cash bonuses or prizes for those who do well.
  • Group Activities: Organizing fun activities for your employees can help improve fitness levels, reduce stress, increase socialization, and increase wellness knowledge. 

How to Choose a Corporate Wellness Program 

It can be difficult to choose, design, and implement the perfect wellness program in your business. Fortunately, there are a few steps you can follow to determine which programs and challenges would work the best for your company and employees. 

  • Ask Your Employees: Asking your employees about their health challenges, struggles, or desires is the best way to determine what would benefit them the most. An easy way to collect and organize the answers is to conduct an anonymous workplace survey. 
  • Create a committee: A designated wellness committee ensures your initiatives continue to benefit your employees on a consistent basis. They can also reassess certain portions if they are not working the intended way. 
  • Partner with a Wellness Platform Provider: Some wellness platform providers can customize and set up wellness programs for you and other platforms have pre-designed plans. Either can be of great help for you and your employees, as they provide accessible information, health tracking, assessments, and more. 

Popular Wellness Platform Providers 

Wellness platform providers can be helpful for tracking various elements of health, assessing health risks, measuring progress towards goals, and more. Your employees may also enjoy having access to all their health information in one spot. Consider these popular corporate wellness platform providers:

  • WellSteps: WellSteps is one of the most-used wellness platform providers. They offer various campaigns, challenges, and tools. 

  • BSDI: BSDI offers a comprehensive platform with flexible, customized programs.

  • Wellable: Wellable is a great customizable option, combining physical, mental, and even environmental aspects of well-being in one place. 

  • WellRight: WellRight is an excellent option for employees who desire to form healthy habits. They offer health assessments, challenges, activities, and coaching.

  • CoreHealth: Join millions of users around the world when you opt for CoreHealth. If you own a large company, this is perfect for you as it combines many services all in one place including programs from other vendors.