Advantages and Disadvantages of Employee Wellness Programs

Around the country, businesses everywhere are implementing employee wellness programs. There are several advantages to offering an employee wellness program. The health of a company’s employees will have a large impact on productivity, absenteeism, job satisfaction and the bottom line profit. Implementing a worksite health promotion program is an excellent place to start.

An employee health and wellness program can be as intricate or as simple as you desire. Once management has expressed interest in a shared wellness vision they should appoint a wellness committee to oversee the wellness initiatives. This committee should create a plan, and set goals. They should conduct an employee wellness survey and after reviewing conclusions from the survey they should introduce several wellness activities. An easy way to get started is by offering health screenings and health risk appraisals for free at work once a year. For those who are not healthy enough to work out you should provide them with literature on disability management so that they can participate in the program as well.

There are several barriers to promoting a healthy lifestyle at work. Aligning cultural touch points will aid in the effort to promote overall wellness. From resource commitment to rewards and recognition, it is the job of the employer to support a healthy lifestyle as much as possible. The Fairview Alive initiative is a good example of a total health management program. It introduces employee wellness and in the end produces wellness benefits. It was designed to create an environment and opportunities for personal health management. Employees are a company’s most valuable assets and it is important to create opportunities for personal health management, with an emphasis on shared responsibility.