What is a Employee Wellness ?
A Employee Wellness is an inclusive program to help and support employees in implementing healthier lifestyles. This may include increasing employee awareness on health topics, scheduling behavior change programs, and/or implementing business policies that support health-related objectives. Programs and policies that promote increased physical exercise, tobacco use prevention and cessation, and healthy meal selections are a few examples.
Dimensions of Wellness
Wellness is much more than fitness alone. In addition to physical fitness, the scope of good health include:
• Spiritual Wellness,
• Emotional Wellness,
• Social Wellness,
• Intellectual Wellness
These dimensions are frequently depicted as a “life wheel” with examples of health components that include fitness, diet, purpose in life, monetary planning, social health & reinforcement systems, stress management, mind-body health, career planning and constant learning. The key behind personal health is keeping the “life wheel” in alignment. A comprehensive workplace wellness program addresses most, if not all, of these dimensions.
Why Employee Wellness ?
employees invest much time on the job, and the fact of the matter is that our traditional work-week is growing. In fact, the everyday American now works about 47 hours per week. Plus, innovations such as modems, laptop computers, cellular phones, voice and email have confused the work-life boundary. These realities diminish the amount of time that the average individual is able to spend on health and wellness pursuits, and yet employees are predicted to be top of their game when at work.
A new study by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses saw that workplace wellness or Employee Wellness are successful in assisting employees to make positive health changes due to several factors such as convenience, environmental reinforcement, and co-worker or social acceptance.
What’s the Association between Wellness and the Workplace?
Programs and policies that promote healthy lifestyles have the potential to make a tremendous difference on employee wellness AND have an effect on the business’s bottom line. Studies have shown that for every dollar invested by employers in Employee Wellness /wellness programs, there were savings ranging from $1.49 to $4.91 with a average savings of $3.14*. In business terms, that’s more than a 3:1 minimum return on investment – a number that is tough to disregard, and a best practice that should warrant serious consideration from employers. In fact, a Employee Wellness literature review published in Health Promotion Practitioner Journal saw:
• 19 research studies saw a 28.3 percent reduction in sick time
• 16 research studies determined a 5.6:1 return on investment
• 23 showed a 26.1 percent decrease in healthcare expenditures
• 4 saw a 30 percent decrease in direct healthcare and workers’ compensation claims
There is little doubt that a accross the board wellness program optimized to meet a business’s specific needs can save money by reducing absenteeism, lowering health care costs, lowering employee turnover, and expanding work rate.
• The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003
