There is more to employee wellness than regular weight checks, counting steps, arranging health camps and having an in-house doctor. The holistic well-being of an employee creates a happy work culture, impacts employee engagement positively and increases productivity to a huge extent. An employee who is physically fit and healthy will surely help improve the company’s bottom line.
It is now time to go the extra mile and invest in the holistic well-being of your people which includes the physical, financial, emotional and social well-being as well. These components are interrelated for a healthy individual.
Here’s how you can expand your perspective about the word ‘wellness’ and then work towards doing the right thing for your people.
The Base For A Happy Life
Physical well-being does not always mean not suffering from a disease. It also includes the energy that someone possesses to complete their everyday tasks.
Exercise, nutrition, and a healthy lifestyle – Help your employees prevent diseases and nurture healthy eating habits.
Desk yoga, gym facilities, a room with board games and music, protein snack bars instead of chocolates in the vending machine, a designated area for recreation during office hours, a library – The list of things that you can incorporate within the work premises is vast.
Financial Security Matters Too
If someone is tensed because of their bad finances, it is going to affect their emotional as well as social state and is going to impact their overall productivity. According to Green Path Financial Wellness, 58% of employers agree that financial ‘illness’ plays a vital role in employee absenteeism, while 71% of employees state that one of their top sources of stress is managing personal finances.
When you educate your people on the importance of financial prudence, you are guiding them towards making smart financial decisions. Thus, helping them channelize all the nervous energy into a positive outcome. One of the things that can be extremely useful in such a situation is ‘Mentoring’ – Providing assisting with tax calculation and tax benefit schemes, giving them the flexibility to choose tax saving components like meal coupons and introducing schemes for their Retirement planning like NPS.
Mindful Fitness
Though many employers and employees dislike talking about mental health, it is crucial to address it none the less. Being aware of their emotions, feelings, and thoughts and at the same time accepting what they are going through helps employees gain a better insight into their lives.
Sometimes people push themselves to a limit and then the damage the follows is much bigger to self as well as the organization. Positive mindset does help a lot in the overall well-being of a person. For example, Infosys has a HALE (Health Assessment and Lifestyle Enrichment) initiative that provides its employees with emotional support via counselors. What is your company’s Employee Value Proposition?
Humans are Social Beings. Social wellness is the most commonly ignored aspect by organizations. If a resource feels lonely at work, he/she is probably going to be under-productive and will soon feel disconnected with the job. Work relationships are very important since the employee is spending more than half of his awake time at work. Quarterly team outings or activities at the workplace, food festival and pot lucks, celebrating festivities just like achievements, these are the smaller joys that lead to an increased amount of overall engagement.