3 Reasons Why It Makes Sense to Have a Wellness Program

What started out as an employee perk within large corporations has now become a relatively standard part of many companies’ benefit packages.

Employee wellness programs are a type of health benefit in addition to regular health insurance. Their aim is to encourage all employees to work on maintaining or improving their health. This is done using various initiatives such as the company providing free gym membership or offering incentives such as rewards for health achievements.

Companies are not currently obligated to provide such programs, and they may be on the fence about doing so due to the costs involved. However, wellness programs actually offer a multitude of benefits to the company as well as the employee.

Here are three reasons why you should consider implementing a wellness program:

• Improve Employee Health Behaviors and Lower Healthcare Costs

For a lot of companies, medical expenses consume a high percentage of profits. A lot of this is spent on chronic diseases, some of which are linked to poor lifestyle choices such as smoking, misuse of alcohol, poor diet, and lack of exercise.

Employee wellness programs may help to prevent or manage such lifestyle-related diseases. They can be used to educate employees on various techniques for change and to support these changes to allow those involved to improve their health-related habits.

So while employers may be concerned about the costs of such programs, it’s more than likely that they will actually save money in the long run. After all, it has been well established that preventative care is more cost-effective than medical treatment.

• Increase Employee Morale and Boost Productivity

High employee morale is vital for a number of reasons. When employees feel fulfilled and valued within their workplace, they will be more engaged and productive in their roles. This translates to improved employee performance and better outcomes for the company.

Wellness programs demonstrate to employees that the company is invested in them and their welfare, thus making them feel valued. The overall result is both healthier and happier employees.

Moreover, when someone is in good physical health, and perhaps, more importantly, feels that they have control over their own health, they will be less stressed. In addition, they will have more energy and a clearer mind. All of this means that they will be able to work both harder and more efficiently, and will likely be absent from work less often.

• Improve Employee Recruitment and Retention

Both recruiting and retaining top talent can be quite challenging for many companies. However, the truth of the matter is that if employees are happy and healthy, they will feel more invested in the workplace. This means that they will be far less likely to consider seeking employment elsewhere. So one frequently overlooked advantage of wellness programs is with staff retention.

A lower staff turnover offers companies all sorts of benefits from saving costs on training new employees, to higher morale as coworkers form close bonds and even improved staff performance as employees gain on-going work experience and develop more on the job skills.

Further to this, a strong wellness program could also offer the company a competitive advantage when seeking to hire new talent. If the roles and compensations are seemingly similar between two or more companies, potential hires will likely be more inclined to consider one that clearly demonstrates that they value the health and well-being of their employees over one that doesn’t.

So, all in all, an employee wellness program can make a company’s culture look and feel more appealing to and more supportive of both potential staff and existing ones.