Measuring and Rewarding Wellness Efforts: Ensuring Success and Sustainability

By Robert Hilliard and Whitnie Wiley

Introduction

As we continue our journey to build a wellness-friendly workplace, it's crucial to remember that creating a culture of wellness continues beyond implementing programs and policies. As a leader, you must focus on measuring and rewarding wellness efforts to ensure these initiatives are effective and sustainable. This fourth installment of our six-part series explores the importance of tracking wellness metrics, rewarding positive behavior, and sustaining wellness initiatives over the long term.

Tracking Wellness Metrics

Tracking specific metrics that reflect employee health and organizational outcomes is essential and empowering for leaders. However, it's important to note that there may be challenges in accurately measuring these metrics, such as ensuring the reliability of self-reported data or accounting for external factors that may influence the results. Despite these challenges, tracking wellness metrics provides a clear understanding of the success of your wellness programs and where adjustments might be needed, empowering you to make informed decisions.

Identifying Key Metrics

Surveys and health assessments can provide you with valuable data on employee well-being. However, surveys and assessments are only as good as the information they collect. To foster an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their experiences, consider implementing anonymous surveys, providing opportunities for open discussions about wellness, and ensuring confidentiality in health assessments.?

Productivity Metrics. Measure productivity-related outcomes, such as employee engagement scores, retention rates, and overall productivity levels. These metrics can help you assess whether your wellness programs positively impact work performance and organizational efficiency. Of course, you'll need to check for any changes to previous levels of engagement. So, start before you institute your wellness program by doing a "climate check of what you want to measure before the launch of your initiative.?

Using Data to Measure Impact

Analyzing Trends. Over time, regularly review and analyze the data to identify trends and improvement areas. For example, if you notice a decrease in sick days and an increase in employee engagement, it's a strong indication that your wellness programs are making a positive impact. However, don't assume that changes are due to your program. Check-in with your employees to validate your findings. Doing this will help guard against confirmation bias, which can hinder your efforts.?

Benchmarking. Compare your data against industry benchmarks or past performance (like we mentioned earlier) to gauge the effectiveness of your wellness initiatives. For instance, if the industry average for sick days is 10 per year and your company's average is 15, this could indicate a need for improvement. Understanding data can help you set realistic goals and measure progress over time. To take it further, you can fine-tune your benchmarking to target your industry's "healthiest" organizations. If those organizations' standards feel out of reach, adjust your goals accordingly. A reasonable stretch is what you are looking for.?

Rewarding Positive Behavior

Remember, people will continue to do what they are rewarded for. Rewards and recognition reinforce positive behaviors and encourage employees to participate in wellness programs. Creating a culture that celebrates wellness achievements can inspire and motivate employees to make long-term commitments to their health and well-being.

Creating Incentive Programs

Wellness Challenges. Introduce wellness challenges that encourage friendly competition and reward employees for reaching specific health milestones, such as steps taken, workouts completed, or participation in mindfulness sessions. Offer incentives like gift cards, extra time off, or wellness-related products as rewards. We mentioned this in part three, but it merits repeating.

Healthy Habit Rewards. Consider implementing a points system where employees earn rewards for consistently engaging in healthy behaviors, such as attending fitness classes, taking regular breaks, or participating in mental health workshops. These points are redeemable for various rewards, including company-branded merchandise and wellness experiences.

Recognizing and Celebrating Achievements

Public Recognition. Highlight wellness achievements during team meetings, in company newsletters, or on internal communication platforms. Recognizing individuals and teams who actively participate in wellness initiatives fosters a sense of pride and encourages others to get involved. "Acknowledgment is the greatest form of currency in the realm of human connection." – Unknown.

Annual Wellness Awards. Establish annual wellness awards to celebrate employees who have significantly improved their health or contributed to the organization's wellness culture. You can present these awards at a company-wide event, emphasizing wellness's importance.

Sustaining Wellness Initiatives

The long-term success of wellness programs depends on maintaining momentum and continuously improving your efforts. By adopting strategies for sustaining wellness initiatives, leaders can ensure that these programs remain effective and relevant to employees' needs.

Maintaining Momentum

Regular Communication. Communicating the importance of health and well-being regularly is not just a task; it's a crucial part of your role as a leader to keep wellness in mind. Use emails, newsletters, and internal blogs to share success stories, wellness tips such as healthy eating habits or stress management techniques, and updates on upcoming wellness activities.

Ongoing Engagement. To keep things fresh and employees engaged, periodically vary the wellness offerings and introduce new activities. Changes could include seasonal challenges, new fitness classes, or guest speakers on wellness topics. You might even consider creating a wellness committee whose duty is to come up with new challenges and incentives,

Continuous Improvement

Employee Feedback. Employee feedback on wellness programs and initiatives is important. To be responsive and make necessary adjustments, use focus groups, one-on-one conversations, and surveys to gain insights into what's working and what needs improvement.

Adapting to Needs. Use the feedback to refine and adjust your wellness programs. For example, consider offering additional counseling sessions or workshops if employees need more mental health resources. This could involve expanding mental health resources, offering more flexible wellness options, or addressing employees' specific health concerns.

Conclusion

Measuring and rewarding wellness efforts is essential for ensuring the success and sustainability of workplace wellness programs. Leaders can create long-lasting wellness cultures that benefit employees and the organization by tracking key metrics, rewarding positive behavior, and maintaining momentum.

As we near the end of this series, remember that prioritizing wellness is not just a one-time effort—it's an ongoing commitment. The strategies we've discussed in this and previous articles are designed to help you embed wellness into the fabric of your organization. Together, let's make wellness a priority that endures.

Call to Action

Are you ready to take the next step in sustaining a wellness-focused culture? Connect with our leadership experts, Robert and Whitnie, to discuss how you can effectively measure, reward, and maintain your wellness initiatives. Together, we can help you lead a workplace where wellness is encouraged, celebrated, and sustained for the long term. Reach out today to start making a lasting impact on your organization's health and success.