How health and well-being initiatives enhance engagement

Among many reasons, the absence of work-life balance and stress is one of the factors why your best talent can leave your organization. Poor health conditions, increasing stress and absence of work-life balance results in absenteeism, deteriorating performance, sinking motivation and disengagement.

Why are Health and Well-Being programs important?

Poor employee well-being is linked to high levels of sickness absence and turnover, and poor performance, whereas good employee wellbeing is linked to reduced sickness absence and turnover, and high levels of productivity. A paper on ‘Implication of Population Ageing for Economic Growth’ suggests that between 2005 and 2050, the share of the population aged 60 and over is projected to increase in nearly every country in the world. The workforce is becoming older, more women are working, so well-being initiatives are likely to be even more beneficial.” 

Companies are encouraging their employees to be fitter and healthier in the workplace and are increasingly seeking new ways to enhance the well-being

Not only physical well-being but ensuring employees’ mental and emotional well-being is equally important. If employees’ are always stressed out and mentally exhausted they will lack the drive to achieve their goals. Today, companies are encouraging their employees to be fitter and healthier in the workplace and are increasingly seeking new ways to enhance the well-being of their employees. For e.g. Companies giving staff wearable technology such as fit bits and pedometers to track their activity to the provision of standing desks, cycle-to-work schemes, gym memberships and exercise classes and massages in the office.

Here are few reasons to consider adopting a wellness program for your workforce:

Identify Slack and Improve Productivity: Mobile apps can allow you to track employees’ wellness by letting them input information about their activities. It also allows the organization to deliver wellness messages to create awareness.

Real-time feedback to track one’s health:  Gamification is an emerging new field in wellness adopted by companies to widen the benefits of well-being programs. Games and competition foster participation in health and welfare programs and provides a real-time feedback to employees on progress towards their individual wellness goals.

Uplift employee’s mood and energy level: Organizations are also modifying the physical look of their offices and creating trendy workplaces to offer plenty of space to employees so that they don’t feel trapped at their cubicles. A well-designed office space promotes happiness and comfort and a sense of well-being. An office with bad lighting, dull colors, etc. can affect employee’ moods, cause irritability, eyestrain and corrode energy levels.

Enabling connect with health conscious generation: Today more and more people are opting for one or the other activity like gymming, swimming, playing a sport to keep themselves fit. A lot of companies are providing their employees with facilities of in-house gym, nutritious food in the canteen, fitness break, etc. This will not only help organizations to encourage people to adopt a healthier lifestyle but will also help them to connect with them and understand their needs and concerns.

Employee well-being is an important parameter that enhances your employees’ engagement and thus their performance. Investing in well-being programs can lower not only the absenteeism rates but will hugely impact the attrition rates.  Therefore, in order to retain your star employees and enhance their productivity, well-being should be treated as the foundational block of employee engagement.