What does "Workplace Wellness" mean to you? Is it a business necessity or just a fluffy HR benefit?
Over the past few years, as health care costs continue to spiral out control, wellness has become a buzzword in the HR lexicon. But when you try to define "wellness program" you get a lot of different answers, just look at a few that I pulled from across the web:
- "Supporting every employee in the improvement or maintenance of their current state of health."
- "Big-Brother monitoring my health."
- "Offering health prevention programs and services to employees as part of their benefit packages. Things like health assessments, coaching, fitness classes, and support groups."
- "Tofu recipes and aerobic classes."
- "Weight-loss competitions."
- "Helping employees and their families live healthier lives."
In fact, even the definition of wellness is vague. The dictionary defines wellness as “the quality or state of being in good health.” But what does it take to be in a state of good health? Is it just the absence of disease? Or is it something more?
With all this uncertainty and ambiguity surrounding workplace wellness, it's easy to get overwhelmed. So how do you make sure workplace wellness moves past that "flavor of the month" mentality?
To start, stop thinking about it as a program. Employee wellness shouldn’t be a short-term solution; it's a long-term strategy. Wellness needs to be part of the culture of an organization - it’s more than biometrics, healthy recipes and gym memberships. Employees need to see workplace wellness as a partnership - it's a special situation where employees' personal live intersect with the goals of an organization. Workplace wellness has many benefits including healthier and happier employees who are more productive. It really is a win-win for both the employee and employer.
Second, recognize there is no standard or "perfect" solution. Wellness should be customized to the culture and norms of the organization. It's important to do a thorough evaluation of your employees and workplace. The assessment should include absenteeism rates, claims review, health care costs, health risk assessments, cultural audit and focus groups.
Finally, the concept of wellness continues to evolve and in order for wellness to be more than just hype, employers need to take careful steps to adequately define what it means to them and determine how they will measure success. As a health promotion professional, you can help define wellness for your organization.
Defining Wellness
One of my favorite definitions is the one shared in the document "Healthy Workplace: A Model for Action "(WHO, 2011), "A healthy workplace is one in which workers and managers collaborate to use a continual improvement process to protect and promote the health, safety and well-being of all workers and the sustainability of the workplace."
What about you? How do you define workplace wellness?
Image Credit: Pink Sherbet Photography / D. Sharon Pruitt
