Don’t underestimate the importance of employee health and wellness, it has a considerable impact on your company’s productivity, staff retention and unplanned absenteeism costs. In today’s workforce, a significant portion – about 85 percent – of US organisations with more than 1,000 employees have in place some level of corporate wellness program. 

Companies, both big and small, are constantly seeking out ways to adopt strategies or programs that contribute to the wellness of their employees. To keep abreast of what’s trending in corporate wellness, here are five trends you need to know about:

Creating a healthy workspace

Have you ever worked in an office with harsh fluorescent lighting, furniture that doesn’t support correct postures or air conditioners set at uncomfortably low temperatures? Chances are that a full day’s work will leave your body sore, your eyes tired and you prematurely looking for a better place to earn your crusts. Now, imagine what impacts an inconducive work environment can create on employee wellness, engagement and productivity over the long run. A rising number of companies, ranging from startups to established corporations, are making it a priority to create a healthy workspace for their employees. Measures taken include providing ergonomic work furniture (Facebook has more than 250 employees using standing desks), guiding employees towards making healthier meal choices (Google includes colour-coded labels on salad ingredients at the company cafeteria), and giving out tools that help employees concentrate better at work (Tictail provides employees with noise-cancelling headphones).

Customise, customise, customise

Different employees have varying fitness levels, lifestyles and motivations, so it is likely that a large majority will find it a challenge to participate wholly in a one-size-fits-all wellness program. Certain employees may need greater assistance in nutrition, others require more encouragement to adopt an active lifestyle, while individuals with families will prefer flexible routines that provide them more time with their partners and children. To ensure a high level of employee engagement you need relevance, it is critical that companies tailor their corporate wellness programs to meet the personal preferences and interests of their employees. Such is the approach undertaken by Johnson & Johnson. In implementing “Energy for Performance in Life”, a training program educating employees on how to maximise their energy levels for work and home, the organisation undertook a practical, lifestyle-oriented approach to create an engaging, video-rich online course. Tapping into the personal motivations and needs of its employees made the wellness program a success, resulting in employee participation increasing significantly to reach 90 percent.

Flexibility is key

In order to promote employee engagement and participation in corporate wellness programs over the long run, flexibility is critical. A 2015 Workplace Flexibility Study undertaken by WorkplaceTrends.com and CareerArc revealed a rise in the number of companies increasing their investments in work flexibility programs, with 53 percent of organisations surveyed in 2014 indicating that they had plans to make greater investments in such programs in the following year. The study also showed that workplace flexibility holds a greater importance to employees than employers think: 75 percent of employees surveyed ranked workplace flexibility as their top benefit, while only 50 percent of employers surveyed indicated that this was the most important benefit that their employees wanted. Employers are also seeing the benefits of investing in workplace flexibility programs: 87 percent indicated an improvement in employee satisfaction, 71 percent saw a rise in productivity levels and 65 percent stated that the program helped them to retain current talent. There are a variety of ways in which workplace flexibility can be implemented. Large organisations, such as Intuit and Salesforce provide employees with the option of working from home. Others, like Buffer, has an entire team of employees working remotely from locations all around the world, or provide their employees unlimited vacation days (Pocket).

Giving an innovative twist to corporate wellness programs

Recognising that the needs of employees are becoming increasingly diverse, more and more companies are implementing innovative and holistic corporate wellness programs that can address a wide spectrum of physical and emotional needs. Organisations such as Google are taking a dedicated approach in this aspect — the company has created a People & Innovation Lab to conduct research and development on its employees, in order to discover unique programs that can be carried out to improve their wellness. Such measures need not be complicated. Simple but effective strategies that may be undertaken include providing employees with tools and courses for stress management, or offering discount vouchers for purchasing healthy meals. Companies seeking to improve the fitness levels of their employees may take a leaf out of Zappos’ book – the organisation’s Wellness Adventures initiative involves gathering a small group of employees from different departments to embark on fun-filled, hour-long activities such as laser tag or trampolining.

Health tracking with wearables 

The influx of technology in our daily lives has led to health tracking being an emerging trend in healthcare*. Increasingly, companies are including health wearables as part of their corporate wellness programs. This measure enables both employees and employers to achieve their goals. Individuals gain immediate feedback about their health and fitness, which helps to spur them towards taking action to improve their physical fitness. Companies benefit from gaining insightful data intelligence about their employees’ health, which puts them in a better position to design corporate wellness programs that cater to the needs of their employees – a critical factor in boosting employee participation, wellness and company productivity levels.