Human Resource professionals have to cover a lot of ground in corporate culture today, including employee wellness. There are literally hundreds of wellness programs, gyms, and even snack companies looking to eat up (pun intended) little chunks of your budget and time. And with so many offerings it’s important to understand what actually works in the realm of health and wellness programs. Because the truth is that the vast majority of them are at best “feel good” solutions that waste your time and your company’s money trying to improve your employees’ well-being.
Most companies seem to combine a patchwork of short-term solutions that make employees feel good but don’t make much of an impact and hardly anyone uses. Things like providing “healthy” snack options, a once-a-week Zumba class, or a doctor coming in to do a PowerPoint on employee wellness tend to be one-size-fits-all bandaids that may or may not benefit a handful of your employees. Your triathlete and your couch potato probably won’t see the same results from or be as motivated by using the same wellness app, or the office weight loss challenge. An office gym is nice, but without guidance, most people are lost as to what to do with it besides pick up a few things every now and then. Even having a personal trainer available only does so much since a mere 8% of what makes a person healthy has to do with exercise while the other 92% is behaviors/lifestyle and nutrition. And with the rising tide of preventable chronic conditions costing the companies billions in healthcare costs and absenteeism, it’s becoming imperative for companies to have health and wellness programs that aren’t simply “feel good” solutions to increase employee loyalty.
Investing in an effective long-term wellness program that incorporates exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle coaching is a great alternative to the standard hit-and-miss patchwork wellness programs.
- Targeted on the individual level
- Every employee gets what they need
- No cookie-cutter solutions
- Built-in accountability
- Reaches deep into your employees’ lives
- Improves employees’ health and sense of well-being at work and at home
- Long-term sustainability
- Focusing on the behavioral change that leads to results
- No blanket challenges or one-off results that don’t last
Real results don’t come from patchwork solutions in any area of business or life. It takes a united effort on multiple fronts to succeed in a sustainable way in any endeavor. Why would it be any different with a corporate wellness program?
If you’d like to learn more about what OPEX Baltimore South has to offer, give us a call or send us an email. We’d be happy to hear from you.
About the Author:
Adam is an OPEX CCP coach at OPEX Baltimore South with 15 years of fitness experience ranging from Yoga to CrossFit. He’s also a Certified Nutrition Coach (PN1), specializes in corrective exercise (FMSC) and is a parkour trainer/practitioner.