In any business, your employees represent your “human capital,” which is the body of skills, knowledge, abilities, and personality they bring to their jobs to keep your company running. In many ways, your success depends on their ability to function well on a daily basis. In addition to your personal desires to have people you work with live healthy lives, your company has a vested interest in them doing so also. This is why it is so critical for your company to have a wellness plan for its employees.
If you aren’t sure how to get started, a call to your health insurance provider and a survey of your staff to see what might interest and motivate them will help generate ideas. Some components of a program might include:
- Hiring medical personnel to come to the office to perform basic wellness checks, such as blood pressure and body fat measurements.
- Overhauling the workplace to make it healthier. For example, requesting healthier items for your food and drink vending machines.
- Encouraging fitness. One way you can do this is by purchasing everyone pedometers and forming walking groups for before or after hours.
Research shows companies can see great benefits from implementing a wellness plan. These include:
- Employee wellness programs can lower your overall health care costs as an employer. This may free you up to offer monetary incentives for the program, such as lowering health care contributions for participants.
- Healthier employees are more productive in the office, which is so crucial at this time when we are all being asked to do more with less.
- Instituting a wellness plan will decrease absenteeism and lower sick leave costs. Educating your employees on illness prevention can pay off in spades for both them and your bottom line.
- Having a wellness program shows your employees that you care, which will increase employee morale and loyalty to your company. So what are you waiting for? Get started today!