Workplace Wellness : What is Employee Wellness?

Company wellness is evolving.

Early efforts to create healthy worksites focused on safety at the worksite and injury prevention for staff members.

More recently, wellness programs are designed to assist staff members to select healthier behaviours like being more physically active or quitting use of tobacco.

Campaigns to increase awareness, educational sessions to increase knowledge, opportunities to learn new skills, and changes to policies to make it easier for employees to make healthy options are often included.

This approach is taken because the workplace is a good way to reach individuals , since most adult American Citizens spend a big part of their day at work.

While safety and lifestyle programs are two aspects that contribute to the health of workers, company health promotion is more effective when a third factor is brought into the equation-the environment at work.

Precisely how the worksite affects health.

Increasingly, it is recognized that the worksite itself has a powerful affect on people ’s health. When people  are satisfied with their job, they’re more productive and tend to be healthier. When personnel feel that the environment at work is negative, they feel stressed.

Stress has a large impact on employee mental and physical health, and in turn, on productivity.

Consultant Graham Lowe has identified five components of workplace culture that directly affect employees’ health and the health of the corporation overall-credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and friendship.

The underlying idea is that organizations must genuinely care about the wellness of their workers.

Organizations today who want to attract and keep good staff members have leaders who understand the connection between employee satisfaction and employee health and believe that company health promotion is a corporation strategy.  

Their senior management practices include making reasonable demands on time and energy, involving staff in decision making, rewarding work well done, openly communicating, and providing support to balance work and home life.

Employers know that staff are looking for jobs that pay well, have good benefits, are fascinating, and include excellent health and safety programs. So in today’s competitive hiring market, it’s become more important than ever for companies to enhance job satisfaction and ensure that staff enjoy being on the job.

Corporate wellness benefits both businesss and staff.

Just how does employee wellness benefit the company?

A health promotion program can help a corporation to -

• Attract and keep employees;

• reduce the costs of disability, drugs, and absenteeism;

• reduce the effects of a stressful workplace;

• reduce health care costs or keep them contained; and

• improve morale by creating a happy, supportive environment.

Precisely how does employee wellness benefit employees?

Workers of organizations that have a health promotion program are likely to have -

• increased awareness and knowledge of ways to improve their health;

• A better (less stressful) workplace;

• increased protection from injury;

• improved health and wellness;

• higher morale and greater job satisfaction;

• increased productivity and effectiveness at work;

• lowered personal health care costs; and

• A more relaxed/flexible approach to health issues.

Both businesss and personnel have a responsibility for building a healthful worksite. Employees are expected to arrive at work in good health, and the business is expected to provide an environment that authorizes personnel to maintain good health, enjoy their work, and contribute to the company’s success.

Company wellness is more than a “lunch and learn” program. It’s about developing a “individuals  first” approach to doing business.

It’s about taking care of employees, establishing a positive work environment, and paying attention to the factors that keep employees healthful and happy at work.

A good wellness program has an impact on employees’ mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.