Stress is common—especially in the workplace. Your wellness program should address some of the stress-related health problems your employees are facing. Even if it means admitting the workload is a bit rough.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cut everyone’s workload to something super easy. You can use your wellness program to address stress by educating yourself and your employees, encouraging stress-relieving habits at and outside of the office, and recognizing that stress can play a role on the physical health of your employees.

Check out this infographic to learn how stress can affect the body. There are even some bonus tips for relieving stress at work and at home. Enjoy!

With all the miracle diets in the world, it’s important to consider some of the simple benefits of getting back to the basics. Opting for a plant-based diet is one way to do just that.

Alright, alright…this isn’t something you can really mandate in your corporate wellness program. But, it is something that’s important to consider and share with your employees. The more knowledge your workforce has, the more healthy decisions they’ll be able to make. So, let’s get started.

Getting feedback about your wellness program is important in all stages of implementation. It’s helpful to ask your employees about the program before it starts, while it’s going, and after new initiatives. This will help you be sure you’re giving your employees things they truly want and need.

So, easier said than done, right? Here are some TotalWellness tips for getting employee feedback about your program.

Workplace morale is a huge factor in employee health. It’s also a great predictor of company productivity. While there are a number of long-term company changes you can make to develop a positive company culture, we know those are easier said than done.

Here are a few quick and easy ideas to improve employee morale and create a happy office environment right now.

If you have a wellness program, you should definitely have regular biometric screenings. A staple event at these screenings is a blood test to measure things like cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides. These metrics give employees a baseline to help motivate them toward healthy behaviors. 

If you choose to do an onsite screening event, there are a few different ways to get a blood sample for these types of tests. You can draw blood with a fingerstick, or a venipuncture blood draw.

It’s important to look at the two options carefully and decide which works best for your company. You might want to consider what your employees wanted from wellness when you sought feedback from them (and you should’ve sought feedback!).

Sometimes there’s a fine line between what you should and shouldn’t encourage your employees to do. After all, you’re a part of their work life, so you shouldn’t go traipsing into their personal life too much. That doesn’t mean you can't care about their well-being in all aspects of life. 

So, how do you address something like a healthy diet? Here are some ideas that can help you encourage healthy eating without being too pushy!

Everyone makes mistakes, and that’s just fine. But, when it comes to biometric screenings, why not learn from other people’s mistakes? That way, you can save your precious mistakes for something smaller…like opting for the cheapest (and worst-tasting) coffee for the break room.

Mistake 1: Not Screening Regularly

Regular screenings are what help you to catch health trends among your employees. If you don’t offer health screenings regularly, you won’t be able to measure improvements or stop declines in their tracks. Even though we’d love to see you every single month, we aren’t saying you need screenings quite that often. Aim for one health screening each year so your employees have time to make some adjustments and really see the outcomes of their efforts.

Odds are you’ve heard the hype about Apple’s latest gadget, the Apple Watch. With its release originally scheduled for this week, we thought we’d give you some insight into how the Apple Watch compares to regular wearable fitness trackers when it comes to employee wellness.

Early wearers have provided mixed reviews about the infamous Apple Watch. Does it really stack up as a benefit for the average employee? Take a look at our pre-release analysis.

Financial wellness is an aspect of employee wellness that’s often forgotten. It’s important that employees feel healthy financially for many of the same reasons they should feel healthy physically.

To get started, let’s take a look at what financial wellness means. For an employee, financial wellness includes:

• Minimal feelings of financial stress
• A strong financial foundation (little or no debt, emergency savings and living below their means)
• A plan to follow to meet future financial goals
  

Having a positive culture in your workplace can play a huge role in the well-being of your employees and the quality of the work they do. When designing a wellness program, a lot of times just doing a screening or Health Risk Assessment isn’t enough to make an impact. If you really want to help your employees live healthier lifestyles, you’ll need to create an environment conducive to those choices.