Wellness Blog

Corporate wellness programs are offered by companies for two purposes mostly – to give the employees the help they needed to avoid illnesses and to generate that feeling of security, that the management indeed cares for them, in their minds. If this mix works well, naturally the employees should respond with improved productivity and efficient working hours, which in turn means more profits and growth for the company. See this article in Forbes magazine to see how companies are doing the cost/benefit analysis on corporate wellness programs. But, how far the managements of today realize the exact nature of corporate wellness programs? Pick up a  Forbes subscription to keep up on the ROI side of wellness programs.

For some, such wellness programs just mean a state-of-the-art gym in the company premises, where the employees can sweat out whenever they want. And they assume that if people go there for regular workouts, it will take care of their wellness automatically.

But corporate wellness programs are much more than what is offered in the four walls of a gymnasium. It should include a mix of everything from yoga, Pilates, and fitness to body condition, recreation, and even sports and injury prevention. End of the day, the wellness program must be capable of taking care of the body and mind of the employees.

Studies conducted in the corporate world have revealed that only 1 out of 9 corporate wellness programs are seen to be successful. In other words, 88.89% of the corporate wellness programs are failing to produce results. The reasons for this are three pronged: One, companies don’t pay enough attention in building an effective home wellness program. Some invest simply, as mentioned above, for a gym and sit idle thereafter, and certain managements don’t even care to invest for the same. Even if they put together a corporate wellness program in place, that may not be sufficient or balanced. A wellness program must take care of all the health aspects and its various dimensions of the employees, and that is a solid work in itself. It just cannot be shaped together overnight.

Secondly, the corporate wellness program that a company installs must be appealing to its employees. It should be fun, entertaining, and matching their requirements and tastes for most parts, if not entirely. Hence it is important to gather employee feedback, which most of the managements does not do before planning the wellness program. When companies have a wrong/flawed program in place, naturally the employees will turn their back towards them, and the entire exercise turns it into a bad investment/waste of money. 

Finally, the corporate wellness program must be educative and the employees must feel that they have learnt something by going there in addition to boosting their fitness levels. It should have a professional trainer to teach/direct the members, and the employees must have ready access to information relating to health, fitness, and wellness in general.

In short, if a corporate wellness program is not working as it should be, the primary blame must be put on the program design itself – hence the management - and not on the employees. It is the program that must cater to the employee’s requirements/needs and not the other way around. Hence, the envisaging must be done with proper planning, through professional assistance, and after taking the employees into confidence. Remember, a wellness program that worked for a company may not work for others.

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