Workplace culture often makes or breaks an employee’s tenure with a company. It’s one area every business needs to pay special attention to if they want to retain employees for the long haul. One of the most impactful approaches to improving workplace culture is found somewhere many organizations haven’t ventured: personal wellness.
When you show employees you care about their wellness, the culture shifts to focus more on employee wellbeing, not just organizational wellbeing. But the benefits work both ways as employee wellness is a major factor in achieving key business objectives. Read on to learn how your organization can build a positive workplace wellness culture.
Change Isn’t Always a Bad Thing
Shifts in workplace culture will not happen overnight. Implementing change in the workplace is often met with resistance. Employees might be set in their ways or don’t want to experience a learning curve for a program or process that in their minds works just fine. However, like when many employees were resistant to working from home in the early days of the pandemic – that major organizational change ended up leading to many positive remote working outcomes and improved workplace culture for those who embraced it.
But what happens when the change is a positive personal opportunity for employees, and not just a required change to their daily office role/routine? A new wellness program that encourages healthy habits in the workplace brings benefits both personally and professionally. For example, when an employer hosts a flu or COVID-19 vaccine clinic onsite at the office, employees don’t have to take extra time outside of work, away from family, to get their shot. It’s convenient for the employee, keeps large teams healthy in the workplace, and employees can enjoy the benefits of avoiding major illness at home, too.
Help Educate & Create Tools for Motivation
Any change requires communication. Start the shift to workplace wellness culture by communicating with your team about the importance of general well-being and the programs that will be available to them soon. Give them the tools needed to engage in new programs and embrace healthy lifestyle initiatives both in and out of the workplace.
- Provide resources. Help employees get started on the wellness path with informative materials about managing stress, starting new exercise routines, maintaining financial wellness, monitoring mental health, and more.
- Build engagement. Host lunch events with healthy menu options and expert speakers who can cover a variety of wellness topics. The large group experience where employees learn together can help new initiatives gain traction, so don’t underestimate the power of a free lunch.
- Encourage movement. Time to step up your step count. Give employees opportunities to get up and move while they’re at work, whether that means converting a recurring status meeting to the walking track around the building, offering standing desks, or something else that works for your space. Even the shift from calling/emailing to walking over and talking in person about a project can pay off.
- Utilize Tools. Give the team – and HR – the tools they need to track wellness and show progress. With the DHS Wellness 360 Platform, we’ve created an app for employees and corporate decision makers to refer to as the single truth for all things wellness. We take baseline measurements of each employee’s heart health, emotional well-being and more and can show how their participation in our programs (wellness coaching, breathing classes, yoga, various health challenges, etc.) impact attendance, productivity, and the like. This means the app makes it easy for participants to access services and stay engaged throughout the year while also delivering key metrics for management to measure the success of that engagement. The platform is affordable and serves as the driver of a high-performance workplace.
Value Your Employees’ Health & Well-being
Onsite wellness services from Discovery Health give organizations of all sizes a solid starting point for building a culture of wellness. DHS offers diagnostic health screenings, biometric measurements, health care professional consultations, vaccinations, and much more to meet people where they’re at. These curated services meet individual needs and make employees feel more appreciated at work.
It’s true that people of all shapes and sizes have the ability to hit a higher monthly sales goal or land a new account. But these onsite health solutions give employees the opportunity to improve their overall well-being, which often leads to them feeling happier at work. A box of donuts in the break room every Friday might seem like a nice gesture, but it’s a surface-level perk that isn’t adding any personal benefits. Truly valuing employees’ health and wellness requires personalizing their experience and offering tools and programs that will make positive waves both in and out of the office.
Value Employee’s Time
Offering wellness clinic services on site at the workplace shows employees that the organization values more than their health and well-being, too – it also values the employee’s time. Time is a big barrier that prevents people from conquering health and wellness goals. Depending on how far a person travels to the doctor, and how long they wait at the appointment, one visit could take a half day alone. Or, they’ll have to spend time outside the workday to squeeze in these appointments.
When employers “kill two birds with one stone” and deliver the wellness services during business hours, employees feel appreciated, happier and in turn, more productive. They not only feel better while at work, but they gain back valuable time after hours to spend with family and friends, or working on a hobby, etc. Over time, as employees recognize these benefits, they’ll associate them with a positive workplace culture that prioritizes wellness.
Discovery Health Wellness Clinics
Building workplace culture around wellness takes time and intentionality, and it’s easier to achieve with the right partner. Talk to Discovery Health about how to improve workplace culture with on-site health solutions like biometric screening, vaccine clinics, weight loss programs and much more.