It’s a topic that’s on everyone’s mind during these uncertain times, whether you are the owner of a studio, or you work in corporate fitness. We are all responsible for employees and they’re ultimately what drives our business.
That is why in this article we’re going to talk about why you need to invest in the physical and mental wellness of your employees.
There are lots of wearables and apps that are a great way to start a small type of a corporate wellness program. We all know that you could encourage employees to wear an Apple Watch or your Fitbit watch and help them managing their health and wellness by collecting data that way . But is this enough? What can you do to make sure your employees are prioritizing their mental health?
We’re going to deep dive into the theme of mental wellness in employee vitality programs. We’ll take you through a scenario, as well as some of the strategies you can implement right away to begin working on how to support employees’ health and wellness (even remotely).
This is how you can support your employees
What is employee vitality?
So to start off, we need to go over the meaning of employee vitality. It’s a buzzword that some organizations are using and some are not, and it’s often a term used in Europe. Effectory defined it here as:
Vitality can be described as the will to survive, to grow, and to develop. Employee vitality is attributed to people who are lively, enthusiastic and spontaneous. In short, vital people are those who feel good, both physically and mentally. Mental and physical health are inextricably linked to each other.
A lot of people see employee vitality just as a synonym for ‘Employee Wellness’. But it’s more than that. You need to ask; how do I make my employees lively? How do I make them enthusiastic and passionate about the work they’re doing? How do I keep them spontaneous?
If you can come up with an answer to these questions, you’ll guarantee that your employees are not just doing their job, but rather, they’re really engaged in doing their job well. They’re not just going through the flow, but they’re actually being creative and recommending ideas, they’re going to help grow your business.
Employee vitality impact
A recent report from Deloitte highlighted a specific direct correlation between employee vitality and business performance. So essentially what they classified was split into four parts:
- Health
- Physical
- Mental
- Holistic
Lead a culture that creates a supportive environment or that generates growth opportunities, so your employees are focusing on recognition rewards.
Do your best to have a really engaging environment, as the further you go out and get more holistic, the more likely you are to grow and have business impact.
What should a wellness program include?
A lot of people will say they have a physical component to their employee wellness programs, but not a lot of people necessarily back that up with the mental component. Have you ever thought why there’s this hesitancy?
First of all, the physical element is probably the easiest one to do, and it’s been around for the longest time, while the other ones are a little bit more challenging.
Some of the hesitation just comes from a lack of education on where utilizing a mental wellness program can help you succeed. An overall holistic wellness approach isn’t just physical. It isn’t just workouts and nutrition. WHO discusses the topic here .
38% of organizations only have a physical wellness program
During one of our recent webinars we asked attendees if their organizations have staff specifically dedicated to physical and mental wellness.
38% of the total respondents said that they have only a physical wellness program in place. Another 38% said both physical and mental. What’s interesting about this is that most organizations are doing something for physical health - in total 76% of the respondents. They have staff specifically dedicated to help with physical wellness. Physical wellness activities include things like on-site fitness centers, yoga classes, healthy snacks, encouraging alternative methods of transportation, etc.
But it was also very insightful to find out that only 17% of the respondents said that they don’t have any resources to address physical things.
And the biggest surprise here is that 54% of the respondents (more than half of all people surveyed) don’t have staff in place to address the mental wellness of their employees.
We have all found the past few weeks and months to be mentally exhausting and emotionally draining. 83% of the respondents said that they found this time to be mentally challenging.
And so when you look at both of the answers together it’s really interesting to see that 83% of the respondents are struggling a bit with some of the challenges from COVID-19, but 54% of the respondents said that they don’t have any staff dedicated in order to serve these needs.
What should be included in a wellness program?
Being in good physical and mental shape helps set employees up to be more productive at their job. Offering an employee wellness program means creating a culture of wellness, benefits and activities that promote well-being.
This is what your wellness program should include:
- Healthy lunch and snacks
- Fitness activities (gym, yoga classes, Box)
- Stress-release activities
- Meditation breaks
- Team building activities
- Employee surveys
Read more about how you can improve employee wellness with a Corporate Health Program here .
