Corporate wellness programs are strategies companies implement to promote healthy lifestyle habits among their employees. Of course, depending on the company’s size, resources, objectives, tasks, and characteristics, the measures to be taken within this corporate well-being strategy will vary. Read more about it in this post.
What are corporate wellness programs?
As we have just mentioned, they are one of the most powerful tools available for an organization to function healthily and, therefore, to have sustainable productivity and differentiate itself from its main competitors. Of course, these corporate well-being programs are executed according to the needs identified in the workforce (which would be an initial phase of the strategy). They also depend on the objectives set concerning their health and the goals set according to the type of ties employees are expected to establish.
| Characteristics of corporate well-being | |
| Differentiates productivity from performance | It is not intended as a gift to employees as compensation for their efforts. Instead, it aims to strengthen people’s well-being as a tool for sustainable productivity improvement rather than improving productivity in any way and consequently at the expense of people’s well-being. |
| It is holistic, complete, and integral | It considers a comprehensive concept of physical and psychological well-being more in line with the real definition of health. It adapts to the characteristics of the workforce members and considers their needs when defining the measures to be implemented. |
| It is organised and purposeful | Corporate well-being is not a random consequence of attaching a certain importance to employees’ physical and psychological health. On the contrary, it responds to an explicit plan, which starts with the identification of needs, goes through the making and execution of decisions aimed at taking care of the employee’s health, sets realistic, concrete, measurable, and scheduled objectives, and has a specific methodology for evaluating and communicating results. |
Why do corporate wellness programs exist?
Corporate wellness programs facilitate employees’ lives by providing them with tools to solve problems, satisfy their needs, and provide them with pleasant experiences. By doing so, the expectation is that their work capacity will improve and increase their commitment to the company, thereby encouraging the company to achieve an adequate return on its investment in corporate well-being.
Why is a corporate wellness program important?
A corporate wellness program can benefit employees in many ways. Having mental health support leads to improving various aspects of life both inside and outside work.
What should we consider when implementing a corporate wellness program?
– Individual needs
– People’s complexity
– Combine physical and psychological aspects
How does a corporate wellness program benefit companies?
Healthy employees are much more productive, as well as committed and motivated. This affects the company’s overall results and employee retention.
All corporate wellness programs must start with two general but necessary questions
- what motivates people?
- what does well-being do for them?
It is not difficult to find preliminary answers to these questions. What motivates people and makes them feel good at work is the satisfaction of basic and not-so-basic needs and receiving something else: that extra affection that is so necessary for relationships so that they are satisfactory and do not remain empty. This also applies to the relationship between a company and its employees.
That is why it is so important to find a way to provide them with a well-being experience beyond the minimum standards of correctness required in any job and beyond the economic salary stipulated in the contract with the employees.
What should corporate wellness programs consider?
1. People’s complexity
Corporate wellness programs have to take into account the complexity of any individual. Although we may consider it rather basic or primary, all human beings have different aspects that influence our physical and psychological well-being.
We are always alive as employees because we are always alive as people. Our needs, tastes, and life circumstances are influenced by many factors and therefore change over time. The important thing is that this professional life is worth living, not a half-lived one.
Corporate wellness programs have enormous importance in injecting that energy that pushes us forward and helps us move our companies forward.
2. Specificity of individuals
Corporate wellness programs must consider the specificity of the employees, that is, what differentiates them from the rest of their colleagues. It is always a mistake to misunderstand that what motivates or helps a person have an easier life (and this is almost like saying “what helps them have a more fulfilling employee experience”) is what we imagine and what helps the rest of us, their colleagues.
It is essential to have an effective internal communication strategy, pay attention to people, listen to them, spend time with them and use valuable tools to measure their work environment. Teams must be motivated, and the possible influence of psychosocial risk factors that may affect employees’ psychological well-being should be identified.
3. Combining the physical and the psychological
Corporate wellness programs must consider the physical and psychological aspects of health. People have a body that allows them to be in life and experience it. Still, thoughts, emotions, motivations, and needs give life to that body and provide content to our experience as people and as employees.
Corporate wellness programs that only address the physical part of well-being (mainly food, sleep, physical activity, and sport) are beneficial but are not maximally efficient: they are incomplete.
Now more than ever, it is necessary for companies to implement corporate wellness programs that address the multiple factors that influence the psychological well-being of the people who are part of the company and make its mission possible every day.
Emotional well-being program for companies
At ifeel, we know that work should not disrupt people’s well-being. That is why our team of psychologists, experts in well-being at work, has created an emotional well-being program for companies that positively impacts talent retention, reduces absenteeism, and combats employee stress.
You will find helpful material in our Resources section, such as podcasts, HR guides, or interviews with HR managers. In addition, we have a Psychosocial Risk Factors Template, which you can use to comply with the requirements of the Labor Inspection.
Thanks to our emotional well-being program, your company’s HR managers can receive personalized, data-driven advice on improving the psychological well-being of their teams. In addition, this program offers employees a 360° mental health care service structured at different levels according to their needs. Try our program today to see how it could help you.
We hope you found this post about corporate wellness programs interesting. If you would like more information about our emotional well-being program for companies, request it, and we will contact your team as soon as possible.
