Wellness can be defined in many ways and that definition is dependent on one’s personal inclinations.
Physical wellness? Mental? Fiscal? So, how can a corporate wellness program be one size fits all?
My hypothesis is that a wellness program should be called a quality of life program. Why should some executive define what wellness is for their employees? What if knitting provides me great comfort and eases the stresses of the day better than tracking calories and posting my weight for our wellness coordinator? Am I not better off? How about fishing, hunting, cooking, taking an art class or working in my garden?
Corporate wellness programs cannot be solely about wellness.
They need to be designed in order to benefit all employees who want to improve quality of life. Certainly companies understand the importance of investing in products and services, but it’s equally important to invest in employees.
While you may not find the return on investment in a specific financial line item, you will see its tremendous impact by the dedication your employees have toward the company. By challenging employees to explore quality of life, the company is encouraging them to be themselves, while putting the proverbial money where its mouth is.
That matters.
In 2014, reports showed only 11 percent of employees at our company, then Metropolitan National Bank, were utilizing the wellness program. We predicted the lack of participation was due to employees being unaware of the program or they felt the program did not benefit them. Both were true. We recognized it was far greater than a lack of participation in the program; it came down to our culture.
Many companies are recognizing corporate wellness is more than ensuring employees run on a treadmill or attend the gym an allotted number of times per week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Work-related stress is the leading workplace health problem and a major occupational health risk, ranking above physical inactivity and obesity. Productivity losses linked to employees who miss work cost employers $225.8 billion, or $1,685 per employee, each year.”
Like us, some organizations are beginning to take wellness a step further and challenge their employees to explore their personal and professional quality of life.
We realize defining quality of life can be a bit challenging. So, we empowered a team of our employees to reach out and explore what this means in our company for our teammates. We needed to ask them. This encouraged teammates to pursue their passions, find new hobbies, explore the many dimensions of wellness and have some fun.
There are many dimensions of wellness, and the impact is generated by the motivation to improve quality of life, including health. According to the CDC, “Chronic diseases and conditions – such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and arthritis – are among the most common, costly and preventable of all health problems.” After the first year, our health risk assessments improved drastically. We witnessed teams launching monthly challenges with their teammates to explore a specific dimension of wellness. This might include a 10,000-steps challenge for physical wellness, allotting time for “no cellphone or media” to keep work-life balance in check or entering expenditures in a budgeting app to track financial wellness. The teamwork and professional and personal growth we saw was remarkable, and it impacted our culture. It wasn’t a scientific method or something we could apply from a manual. It was teammates helping teammates.
To truly build a wellness program, it has to continually evolve. The program has to be supported from the company’s biggest cheerleader – the CEO – on down. It has to be on the forefront. The focus has to shift from ensuring all of your teammates are aware of the program, to it being one of the greatest things discussed throughout the company.
As our quality of life increases, so will our performance. Happy employees are productive employees, and that increases the bottom line.
Tiffany McClain is the strategic initiatives manager at Bear State Bank in Springfield. She can be reached at tmcclain@bearstatebank.com.
