An extended workday isn’t necessarily and agreed-upon amount of time. In fact, the definition is that the workday is longer than “normal.” Many employees who work extended workdays work 8-12 hour shifts, but they typically don’t work five days every week.

Even employees who work a “normal” work schedule don’t always work regular hours. In fact, employees who work a regular 40-hour work week usually end up working 47 hours every week on average. This is especially true for salaried employees who don’t necessarily log hours or get overtime payment.

Technology is officially everywhere. It’s always new. It’s always trendy. And, it’s always changing. Keeping up with the tech world can be nearly impossible. Combine that with the always changing atmosphere of the wellness world, and we’ve got a real challenge on our hands.

Tech and wellness can complement each other nicely, but it’s important to remember not to sacrifice function for the flashiness of new trends. If you’re thinking about working the latest tech trends into your corporate wellness program, consider these three areas of wellness. 

Odds are, you’ve heard the warnings before. Stress is harmful on a variety of levels. Aside from being damaging to your mental health, stress in the workplace can:

• Destroy opportunities for teamwork
• Reduce productivity
• Diminish quality of work
• Harm the physical health of employees

We’re not naïve enough to suggest eliminating all stress from your workplace because some situations are just stressful no matter what you do. It is important, however, to recognize when your workforce is under too much stress and take steps to help employees alleviate that stress.

While the holidays can be the most wonderful time of the year, they can be the worst when it comes to maintaining healthy habits. The hustle and bustle of holiday preparations can really take a toll on everyone.

To help you handle the holidays like a champ, we’ve created a comprehensive holiday healthy guide. Download the guide for tips and tricks to stay physically, mentally, financially and emotionally healthy this holiday season.

Today’s social society means it’s no longer just you and your business who determine if you’ll be successful. Business success encompasses so much more than what goes on inside the four walls of your office.

Things like who you know, your brand image, community engagement, corporate and charitable partnerships, your experience and so much more play a role on your company’s bottom line. Business has ultimately become a more rounded field in which consumers expect you to do more than just what you do business-wise.

As promised, we’ve released the final chapter of our #TWGardenProject Toolkit. This chapter is an excellent summary to help you learn along with us as you plan your garden for next year.

You’ve hit the afternoon lull, and you need just a little burst of energy to push through to five o’clock. You think running to the vending machine to grab a pop is harmless and will give you that kick you need, right? Wrong!

Regularly drinking pop (or soda depending on where you live) and other sugary drinks is a huge health hazard. Not only does pop contribute to poor dental health and obesity, but it even increases your risk to develop diabetes, gout and heart disease.

As the wellness coordinator at your company, you know what we’re talking about when we say things can get crazy. We want you to know that we support you, and what you do every single day is worth it to help your coworkers live happier, healthier lifestyles.

Check out these quotes to keep you pushing, even when the work gets tough:

“The most important things cannot be measured.” –W. Edwards Deming

“Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” –Theodore Roosevelt

Evaluating your corporate wellness program is important on multiple levels. Obviously evaluation helps you to decide what in your program really works. Aside from affirming your success, evaluating your program allows you to:

• Try new things with research to back them up.
• Avoid wasting resources on things that simply aren’t working.
• Prove yourself and your success to potential funders or program supporters.

So as you can (hopefully) see, evaluation is important. But it can be a daunting task. Don’t worry too much, though, because there are a number of tools that can help.

It’s time for corporate wellness programs to become human again. Yes, metrics are necessary to help us find out where we’ve been, where we are and where we want to be in terms of goals — but they are not the be-all and end-all of our efforts.

Let me explain.

Your employees drive everything your company does. Without them, you probably wouldn’t be able to do what you do, and you definitely wouldn't be able to do it as efficiently.