How to Rock Your Health & Wellness Program in the New Year
If your organization does not already have a corporate health and wellness program, your top New Year’s resolution should be to implement one! And if you do have one in place, look at ways to optimize it for 2020. How? Let’s get started…
What is a Corporate Health & Wellness Program?
The goal of any wellness program is to foster a structural culture of overall health. This applies to businesses as well as schools, healthcare facilities and other organizations. Cultivating healthy habits starts with education. Education is a big part of any corporate wellness program as well as providing your employees, students or volunteers with the tools they need to be successful in accomplishing their health and fitness goals.
Why Do I Need a Corporate Wellness Program?
Not only can a corporate wellness program help to alleviate healthcare costs by improving employee health, but it can also have a very positive effect on your business. Efficiency, engagement and even morale tend to increase along with overall health. Healthy employees are happier employees, and happy employees are more productive.
How Can I Build a Corporate Health & Wellness Program Fit for the 20s?
Implementing a health and wellness program sounds like a no-brainer, right? But where to begin…
We’re entering a new decade. Every day we gain more knowledge in the medical community through advancements in research and technology. A corporate wellness program (whether you have one in place or not) needs to be alive; it needs to change and adapt to the times. Here is how you can get started for this new year:
1) Education
Holistic health always starts with education. We don’t know what we don’t know. It’s your job as the head of your organization’s wellness program to create awareness for health issues beyond simple fitness. Educate your employees on wellness of the whole person: body, mind, spirit.
2) Motivation
Once they’re aware of potential health risks, the next step in your corporate wellness program is to motivate them to diminish or even eliminate those risks. Offer incentives to help them along their path to overall health.
3) Skills & Tools
Teach health-promoting skills and offer tools to help them stay on track. The idea is to create a setting conducive to comprehensive health both in the office and beyond. Online tools and materials can aid in this goal as well as an overall health-conscious workplace environment.
4) Support
Now that they have the information, the incentives and the tools, it’s time to support your team. Create a healthy culture and encourage social support. This means integrating wellness into the company structure and making it part of everyday life at the office. You may want to offer health screenings and ongoing education as another way to support the program and your employees’ efforts. Encouraging a work/life balance will also help show support for their holistic health.
5) Improvement
Part of any good corporate plan is seeking avenues for improvement. Your health and wellness plan should be no different. For every piece of the puzzle, good data collection is crucial. Set goals, document progress and evaluate the overall effectiveness. You may even choose a functioning wellness committee to assess the impacts of your plan and outline opportunities for optimization.
What Are Some Essential Products for My Corporate Wellness Plan?
There are tons of branded items that you can use to help drive your wellness plan home. Employees will appreciate the gifts and find them useful in their endeavors to lead a healthier lifestyle. Here are some of our top picks for corporate wellness gifts:
Fitness Trackers
Smart watches, Fitbits® and other fitness trackers are essential to helping your employees remain accountable for their physical activity. These items can also help you with your data collection for the duration of a particular fitness challenge or event.
Reusable Water Bottles
A big part of whole-body health involves drinking plenty of fluids. Reusable water bottles help your employees stay on top of their fluid intake by making it easy to stay hydrated even on the go. Choose from a variety of functional bottles – everything from standard water bottles to infusers and hydration backpacks. And an added bonus: they’re good for the environment.
Exercise Equipment
Giving your employees free stuff to help them accomplish their fitness goals will motivate them to exercise. Fun items such as this calorie-counting jump rope or these wireless earbuds will make the workout more enjoyable too. For those in need of a lower-impact workout, try a simple yoga mat.
Food Storage Items
Anything that makes it easier for employees to bring a healthy lunch to work will have a huge payoff. Buying lunches not only comes with added cost, but often added sodium, preservatives and less-than-healthy choices. Hand out convenient food storage containers, lunch boxes and salad kits to make bringing lunch to the office an easy choice.
Stress Relievers
Because health isn’t just about eating right and exercising, stress relievers are a great choice to help your employees reach their holistic health goals. Processing emotions and enhancing a spiritual well-being contributes to physical health factors such as lower blood pressure as well. Be sure your wellness plan incorporates all forms of health – the physical as well as the mental – for a truly holistic approach.
Get in touch or visit epromos.com for more ideas on how to rock your health and wellness plan in the new year!
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