Small Changes to Improve Employee Wellness in the New Year
With the new year upon us, you and your employees may follow the annual tradition and make well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions.
Some of the most common resolutions include eating healthier, being more active, losing weight, and to quit smoking. While the intentions are good, and you start out wholeheartedly, that can be hard to maintain. You don’t realize there’s a lot of commitment and work in making these changes. As a result, you become discouraged and unfortunately, many will lose interest by the end of January or mid-February.
This is where you can come in and help your colleagues reach their resolution goals by improving employee wellness at work. Employee wellness programs are becoming more popular for businesses looking to save money. Even companies starting a program for the first time can do so with relative ease.
Once you have the program laid out, feel free to make adjustments along the way. After all, the point is to encourage employee participation. The company aims to keep them motivated for a happy, healthy life which will carry over into the office. Here’s where we come in to help.
The changes to the program should be based on employee’s health goals and participation. Even the smallest changes can have a significant impact.
Incorporate Healthy Options in the Vending Machine
The items in your vending machine can make a difference in work performance. One of the best “upgrades” you can make is to switch out the goodies in that machine for healthy alternatives.
Instead of filling the snack machine with candy bars, soda, chips, and another sweet snack, hire a vendor that offers a variety of options. Some of these might include protein bars, veggies and hummus, dried fruit, and mixed nuts. This way, you’re removing the temptation, as well as providing a good selection that encourages a healthy lifestyle.
Keep it Simple
People already feel bogged down in life. They are busy and most of the time life seems to get busier. This only causes your employees to be more stressed, which isn’t what you want. So, make your wellness plan, easy so that anyone and everyone can participate.
How?
Easy, only focus on a few of the foundations. These include health assessments, screenings, communication, health education, and accessibility. When you concentrate on these factors, you’re likely to increase participation and have an overall positive and productive work environment.
Allow Personalization
This is one of the most important things to offer if you want more employees to participate in corporate wellness program. It’s essential to take your employee’s current physical fitness into account when designing a program. In one sense, it shouldn’t be a “contest” because everyone moves at their own pace and has different health issues to contend with.
For example, some of your coworkers prefer to swim, instead of walk, or cycle, instead of jog. Personalizing the program to their preferences is a way to encourage participation and keep your workers motivated. While exercising at least 3-4 times a week is ideal, as long as they’re exercising, movement counts.
Your employees deserve recognition for their efforts once in a while.
Having a wellness program in your business is a great way to motivate your staff to stick with their New Year’s Resolutions. You’re also supporting them and encouraging them in the process showing that you value them.
Looking for other ways to improve health at your business? Passport Health can help! Give us a call at or fill out a contact form for more information.
Written for Passport Health by Sabrina Cortes. Sabrina is a freelance writer with a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgian Court University. She currently lives in the Smokey Mountains of western North Carolina.
