How can you integrate wellness programs with other HR initiatives and policies?

As a doctor turned health care manager it's my opinion that employee health and organizational growth are interdependent to a great extent. Health not just the physical but mental health of employees can significantly affect the trajectory and growth of an organization and vice versa. When employees are in their best mental and physical health their productivity increases by as much as 15 %, decision-making is faster, and creative thinking is at its peak which in turn translates to better company outcomes and better employee engagement. Good EAP such as expert talks with nutritionists, doctors, and counselors helps health awareness in preventive care which leads to lower insurance claims

Legal Compliance: Ensure that wellness programs adhere to relevant legal requirements, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Uma etapa prévia ao levantamento dessas informa??es consiste em avaliar o grau de maturidade e abertura da organiza??o em rela??o ao tema. Apesar de avan?os, esse tema ainda está muito associado a estigmas e isso dificulta todo o processo de implementa??o dessas práticas.

Needs Assessments are a quick and easy way to establish your current position, strengths, barriers, and opportunities for a wellness program. Identify any existing well-being data from your HR counterparts. This might include data from health risk assessments, current engagement rates for EAP usage, population health screenings completed each year, and much more. Use this to shape and create your 'baseline' of current activities. Keep the diversity and background of your population in mind. Locate any compliance and/or regulatory requirements associated with your employee population. Having these in place from the start lets you build your program(s) on a legally sound and inclusive foundation.

My experience of the kitchen pantry for healthy options when I decided to start eating whole foods was terrible. Whilst its perfectly natural to add a fruit bowl to a bad vending machine none of these really provide the substance the body needs. I recommend companies to instead consult with a health food consultant with experience of a health menu creation and vendor procurement. The experience of both is essential as 1 allows a deep understanding of nutrition needs for eg protein vs sugar as a snack. Whilst the other provides experience of knowing what is commercially viable, this includes shelf life. I often find my corporate clients pleasantly surprised how creative healthy snacking can be.

This goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway if you expect people to sign up just because it's there you're not gonna succeed. People typically have a trust issue with anything coming from corporate, so your culture needs to first be of one that people expect good things from. Then find the vendor that understands who you are and what you all like to do.

There are countless ways to do this because each organization is slightly different in their culture and values. One (of several) approaches includes identifying leadership or 'wellness champions' as your program ambassadors. These individuals help to spread the resources, communication, and successes of the wellness program. A wellness program for a global workforce of 25K hybrid / remote SAAS employees looks very different than a regional trucking company with 400 employees. Point being, your programs should take into consideration the barriers, attitudes, and knowledge of your current employees.

Muitas vezes, principalmente, em organiza??es multiculturais, identificar o fit cultural é desafiador. Nesse sentido, um trabalho de identifica??o desses valores organizacionais é uma etapa importante no diagnóstico pré-implementa??o de qualquer programa.

Wellness programs should be tailor made as per the focus groups/organizations as culture is bound to play a major role in designing the programs

Companies that truly care about their team and their impact have it written into their policies, processes, and the way they work. Their products are sustainable, they're contributing widely to the greater good, and therefore have a higher value for both employees and consumers.

Use wellness programs to attract and keep good people by offering perks like gym memberships or mental health support. Connect these perks with HR rules about health, leave, and career growth. Also, link wellness programs to HR systems, like payroll or learning platforms, to make things smooth. Think of wellness as more than just exercise, use it to motivate and help everyone grow and feel included at work. For example, offer yoga classes for physical wellness and workshops on mental health awareness for overall well-being. Colab with fit pass to provide access to different fitness classes, or nutritionist consultations and more

Wellness programs are basically HRs "Brahmastra" to boost productivity and get people aligned to organizational goals. There is always scope to customize the program, it needs HRs hand in hand coordination

Um levantamento holístico das áreas é fundamental assim como entender a dinamica de comunica??o entre elas. Entender se essa vis?o global já existe é importante, assim como entender como construí-la caso ela n?o esteja estabelecida.

The 1st best step for this point is to get the applicable HR leads together and identify all the policies, procedures, and resources that support a culture of total wellness. From there, find a centralized location to host all 'employee experience' resources. Most HR roles support wellness in some way: DEI&B Leaders operate separately from a Benefit leaders. Both roles serve to enhance the employee's experience, yet many times they operate without collaboration from the other. Increasing employee's performance, growing skills through training, and fostering diversity / inclusion can all be associated with one or more of the 8 traditional pillars of wellness. Identify where each HR support activity supports the employee's wellness.

Everything you're doing for your team should work together in harmony. When there are too many programs, no time carved out to use them, and no knowledge, there can be a hesitation to utilise them.

Culture starts at the top. Model the behaviour you want your team to follow which includes having a work-life balance and making the most of any wellbeing incentives.

A lideran?a tem um papel central nesse processo. Um passo inicial consiste em acolher e ouvir os próprios líderes e pensar conjuntamente com eles no processo ativo de co-constru??o das solu??es.

No matter if you try the Top-Down or Bottom-to-Top approach, it's important to get true 'buy-in' from your leaders / champions. You can build the best wellness champions by working with and helping them to understand the goals, structure, and barriers of the wellness program. Lead them to the program but let them decide where / how they want to interact with it. Help your leaders / champions learn how they personally benefit from the wellness program. By doing this, you multiply the program's scope of reach within the organization.

Provide dedicated training sessions for leaders and managers on the importance of employee well-being, the specifics of wellness programs, and their role in fostering a healthy workplace. Encourage leaders to actively participate in wellness activities. When employees see leaders embracing a healthy lifestyle, it sets a positive example and reinforces the value of well-being. Establish regular communication channels between leaders and employees to discuss wellness initiatives. Encourage leaders to share personal experiences with wellness and emphasize its impact on their performance.

Wellness starts at the top! Leaders should model healthy behavior and promote a supportive culture, making it easier for employees to participate in wellness programs.

Does the team want spa days or happy Fridays? As Maya Angelou once said, 'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.' Empowerment builds engagement. Consulting with employees to shape wellness programs creates inclusive culture where employees feel valued and heard. Their insights not only personalize initiatives but also foster a sense of ownership, driving greater participation and impact. Let's prioritize collaboration in crafting wellness strategies that resonate and empower our workforce.

Use HR channels to promote wellness initiatives and educate employees about the available programs. This can include newsletters, intranet posts, or workshops.

I’d say the best ambassadors are the team members, not necessarily the management or HR team. Let the team members engage coworkers and let them inspire them with the good things they’ve experienced. And when management notices ambassadors, they might want to consider to mention this has been seen or reward them with a simple note of appreciation that they are an inspirator for the company or so.

Regularly share wellness options and explain the benefits. Make sure employees know how these programs improve their well-being, and give them easy access.

A cria??o de KPIs é essencial. Nesse processo, o uso de instrumentos com evidências de validade psicométrica é importante, assim como o uso de People Analytics para análise da eficácia das interven??es propostas.

Data and wellness programs go hand-in-hand. Creating, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining a wellness program is truly an art made from science. In a simplified-sense, all data can be qualitative or quantitative in nature. Collecting quantitative data helps identify marco-operations of the program. Qualitative often points to the attitudes, beliefs, needs, and opinions of your population. You have to start somewhere, and build from there. Over time your collection of data will help you highlight the highs, evaluation the lows, and adapt your program with the needs of your population.

Integrating wellness programmes with other HR initiatives and policies involves a process of continuous evaluation and improvement. This ensures that wellness programmes effectively meet employees' needs and support broader organisational goals.

Always look for the reports of the EAP utilization, you should be aware of how many sessions and what are all the resources and modules that are being utilised and you can go on to evalutate and justify your investment

Track participation, satisfaction, and impact on productivity. Wellness programs should evolve with your workforce’s needs—stay adaptable and nimble!

Integrating wellness programs with HR initiatives is like weaving a vibrant tapestry where each thread contributes to a more cohesive, beautiful design. Think of it as creating a symphony where wellness programs harmonize with HR policies, each note played resonating with the core melody of organizational well-being. The innovative key? Embedding mindfulness practices across all levels. From mindful meetings that encourage presence and connection, to meditation breaks that rejuvenate the mind and spirit, weaving mindfulness into the fabric of daily work life transforms routine into ritual, task into intention.

Policy Inclusion: Integrate wellness into existing HR policies, such as health insurance plans, paid time off, and flexible work arrangements. Encourage employees to use these benefits for wellness activities.

Flexible Work Options: Promote work-life balance through policies like flexible hours, remote work, or compressed workweeks, which can support employee well-being.

- Ensure the wellness agenda is aligned with the overall people and culture strategy, organizational culture, leadership vision and employee preferences - Focus on creating natural synergy with other people initiatives to constantly reinforce and amplify the impact - Create buy-in on the wellness agenda with key stakeholders including other HR function heads so that they are open to collaborating on various initiatives - Give up on being territorial about your initiatives being driven through wellness and open up to tweaking these as per feedback from other stakeholders to ensure they are aligned and willing to collaborate

You can make all the rules in the world but nothing can substitute a humane ethos. You can differentiate with separate HR and wellbeing departments but eventually it comes down to individuals and interpretations of rules. The HR department itself if based on a humane ethos can either take on the function or coordinate with the wellness department. Understanding and empathy are key. This in turn depends on the culture of the organisation itself. The actual mechanics of process implementation is not that hard.