Employers today are trying to implement employee wellness programs that prioritize holistic health and happiness within the workplace environment. These initiatives aim to enhance overall well-being, productivity, and job satisfaction.

They address physical, emotional, and mental health needs. A supportive culture and a place where employees can develop personally improve morale, reduce stress, and help employees make friends faster.

Besides, when proactive and prevention measures are in place, people can thrive not only professionally but also personally. Investing in employee well-being, through an EAP program, healthcare incentives or flexible working will benefit your business, and your employees too.

Often, employee wellness programs are part of the HR manager’s responsibilities. Still, employers who want to nurture a healthy, fulfilled, and motivated workforce should also keep an eye on such initiatives. So, let’s see which are the most important ones, and how you could implement them.

Flexible Working Hours

Startups and a few young companies believe in this concept, but older and larger corporations don’t seem to. Forcing employees to work fixed hours when their roles don’t even require it seems outdated.

Many jobs don’t adhere to the 40-hour workweek anymore, so employees juggle their multiple commitments like education, childcare, or even commuting.

Flexible schedules can help alleviate stress and improve employee wellness. Even with some minor adjustments in place, such as working only four days a week, productivity can increase significantly.

Example:

• Raytheon, an important cybersecurity firm and defense contractor, understood how important it is to balance work schedules among employees. They introduced the “modified workweek” flexible working schedule. The only condition is that they work 80 hours per bi-weekly pay period.

Remote Work

Flexible workweek is not the only successful employee wellness program. For instance, you could consider remote work, too. While this might not suit every employee or role, many organizations have asked their employees to work remotely as a valuable component of their employee wellness program.

Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic has also proven that remote work arrangements are more effective. Studies reveal that employees, even if they work from home part-time, are happier at their jobs.

Example:

• Anthem, a top health insurance provider, recognizes how limiting it is to confine employees to their desks. They implement a remote work program in all their offices across the country. Some Anthem employees work remotely full-time, whereas others – only a day or two a week. The remote work program has attracted only top talent, so it facilitated not only recruitment but also employee retention.

Celebrate the Success of Your Employees

Celebrating work achievements, whether these are important milestones or just minor victories, is very important for keeping your team engaged and in high spirits. When employees struggle to achieve their work goals but no one recognizes them for their success, they’re not motivated, and their enthusiasm drops.

Show your employees that you appreciate them and their hard work by incorporating celebratory activities. Whether this means local outings, organizing trips, in-office gatherings, or sending a monthly newsletter, your gesture will surely encourage a positive work environment.

It’s also important to showcase your team’s success outside the company too. So, post relevant social media updates, share videos on specialized platforms, or publish press releases.

Example:

• Cisco, a top IT corporation, understood how important it is to celebrate success within the workplace. To make things easier, they now allocate a “fun fund” to their teams. This fund is for organizing parties and some other activities that celebrate achievements, such as reaching goals, hitting milestones, and completing successful projects. The fun fund doesn’t only motivate employees during challenging projects but it’s also a way for Cisco to show that they appreciate their employees’ hard work.

Financial Education

Experiencing periods of financial stress is common and can impact many life aspects, including job performance. When one of your employees worries only about money, they can no longer keep themselves involved at work, not to mention they no longer focus on wellness.

Make sure you offer financial education to your employees if you want to get rid of this problem and equip them with the most important life skills. Your gesture will surely be appreciated. You can do this by paying financial advisors to train them.

They will surely benefit a lot from learning about how they can keep a budget, invest, or plan for retirement. Developing financial education programs to meet the needs of your employees will surely increase productivity and their overall well-being.

Example:

• Wegmans, an important east-coast supermarket chain from the US, recognized that employee well-being is much more than physical health. For this reason, they came up with a comprehensive employee assistance program that supports more than traditional benefits. They implement a new program that includes short- and long-term financial planning and assistance with planning for elderly and dependent care costs.

Workplace Fitness Accommodations

Focusing on your team’s health doesn’t only involve offering programs tailored to physical health. While in the past, companies approached physical health and their employees’ well-being with discounts at local health clubs, their efforts didn’t bring them much success.

Most employees already have their own gym memberships. A more impactful strategy involves investing in on-site fitness centers. Besides, granting employees an hour of exercising a day during work hours encourages not only physical activity but camaraderie among colleagues, too.

Example:

• Finish Line, the famous athletic apparel retailer, recognizes how important it is for team members to be active in the workplace. The company has some on-site gyms available in a few corporate offices and warehouses, and even some basketball courts. Such facilities encourage employees who don’t usually exercise or visit gyms to take advantage of the more convenient on-site company facilities.

Employee Autonomy

Employee morale and engagement suffer greatly in environments that lack autonomy. Empowering team members to take ownership of their roles and make decisions allows them to invest themselves in both the company and personal success.

This means increased employee well-being and satisfaction. When conducting your next employee wellness program, train your staff in critical thinking, granting them the authority to make decisions. Teach them how to take the initiative and take the next step so that they can achieve their goals.

As soon as they have succeeded in these areas at work, they will manage to apply it in their personal life too.

Example:

• Ritz-Carlton, the famous luxury hotel chain, did something incredible. Focused on customer satisfaction, they gave their team members up to $2,000 to spend per guest. This money was for addressing customers’ issues and concerns, without any approval from a supervisor. When employees learned that they were trusted, they ultimately performed better in the workplace.

Collaborative Workspaces

Your team will surely be more engaged in work and collaborate better in well-equipped workspaces. Close physical proximity to colleagues has been proven to spur creativity and stimulate engagement.

Let your employees get out of their individual cubicles and give them the opportunity to work in shared spaces where they can communicate and collaborate more efficiently. It’s also important to introduce your staff to new surroundings and change their scenery, as this will help them come up with new ideas and change their perspective. Besides, interpersonal connections among coworkers can nurture camaraderie.

On the other hand, it’s important to note that not all employees are happy when collaborating. Some might have problems focusing, whereas others might think their colleagues are being intrusive. So, try to accommodate workspaces for everyone by catering to diverse working styles and preferences of team members.

Example:

• Citibank, the global banking powerhouse, decided to use collaborative workspaces in some of its major international offices. After this, some other industry giants, such as Google, did the same. The results were increased productivity and more creative work outputs.

There are many ways to promote health and happiness in the workplace, and you can even come up with new ideas if you think they would work. Still, if you want to increase productivity and retain your employees, don’t start with the practices mentioned here, as they apply to most work environments and company infrastructures.