Your wellness program will only work if employees are participating in it. For many HR personnel, their greatest challenge is to device a sustained employee engagement with their wellness program.
Employee participating just isn’t there. It is important to not expect unrealistic results such as 100% participation. You can’t have every person participate in your wellness program, because it is normal for some people to not bother with it at all. But there are things you can do to make things different.
The key is to understanding the reasons why employees don’t participate in wellness programs.
Skepticism
There will always be a large group of people with their fair bit of skepticism. They don’t believe your strategy will work because of unfamiliarity with the program. What’s making them even more hesitant to participate in your wellness program is your demand to access their health information. The best way to work around this is to ensure that you will respect their privacy policy. This is to ensure you earn their trust.
They Aren’t Ready
There are some people who are simply not willing or ready to make healthy live choices. Such people are few and far between, incentivizing the wellness program doesn’t help much. They couldn’t care less if you improved your wellness program even if they were to reflect those set up by Fortune 500 companies. It is okay to count such employees out and to focus your efforts on employees who do want to improve their lifestyle.
They Think It’s Irrelevant
What makes your weight loss program or diet strategy better than what is already out there? Why bother with your programs at all when they can get a better plan elsewhere? There might be some truth to this, but such employees don’t really take advantage of other health plans. This is the entire point of introducing an in-house employee wellness plan.
At time the wellness policy comes across as too ‘basic’, such as an exercise program where employees walk outside for a few minutes. This will make your program look less authentic and many employees won’t participate as a result. To appear more authentic, it is a good idea to hire healthcare consultants to give tailor made programs for specific groups in your office. You will have a better shot at increasing the participation rate.
Poor Communication
You can’t expect employees to follow your ‘to-do’ list and call it a day. It is very important to communicate each task in detail such as how it helps and why it helps. It is also a good idea to discuss the benefit employees will get if they do as they’re told. This will earn your employee’s trust and promote the participation rate.
Too Boring
Many wellness policies are simply too boring for employees to concern themselves with. Try to make the program more fun by utilizing different programs and strategies. Using the same tired old strategy will induce nothing more than boredom, and employees who previously showed interest will show more detachment.
To design more optimized wellness programs for your employees, get in touch with consultants at JS Benefits Group today.
