Super employee to the rescue!
Okay, so, workplace wellness programs don’t turn your employees into super heroes—flying around in capes—but such programs do offer other benefits.
They help reduce employee care costs, make them more productive and efficient at their work, and help you attract and retain top talent.
The business community in general appears to be in agreement, which is why over the last few years companies have started spending more on wellness programs.
However, for wellness programs to be truly worthwhile investments, it’s important that employers work smart towards the execution of their wellness initiatives. This is something not everyone is adept at. Employers make mistakes along the way that limit the effectiveness of their workplace wellness programs. Some of these mistakes are so costly that they render the entire program completely ineffective.
We’ve summarized the common mistakes employers make when designing their wellness programs.
Going in Without a Plan
This is the biggest and most common mistake that employers make. They don’t really have a plan of what they want to achieve in specific from the initiative, how they are going to achieve it, whether their ‘what’ and ‘how’ even fits in with the way their organization is being run and what things they are going to keep track of to ensure the program is working. They just push the boat, eager to get started.
Ultimately, they fail!
The Allotted Budget isn’t Sufficient for the Deployment
Truth be told, you will have to invest resources to make your wellness program a success. Yes, there will be few bumps in the road here and there, but that’s probably it. The deployment on whole needs to be backed up by adequate funding. Yet organizations fail to acknowledge this.
Part of it can be attributed to a lack of plan, with organizations ending up with a program not tailored to suit one’s budget. As a result, the program is often abandoned.
The Program Lacks Variety in Offering
No two employees share same interest or have similar level of motivation for performing a task. Designing a one-size fit all wellness program as such leaves a lot to be desired on execution. This is something which employers don’t realize in the planning phase.
Let’s say, you decide to offer discounted gym membership as part of your wellness program. Sure, people who love going to the gym would appreciate it, but what about those who don’t?
Therefore, you always need to design a program that offers variety. However, be wary of making your program too complex to manage in the pursuit.
Anything else you feel need to be on the list that you might have experienced in your case and would like to share with others? Feel free to leave a comment; we all want to hear your thoughts.
