By Heidi Bowman, Weight Watchers Health Solutions
It’s a quandary your company, like many, may be grappling with on a daily basis: How can you attract—and retain—employee interest in health and wellness?
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Drawing from Weight Watchers’ extensive experience creating healthier workplaces, we’ve found that in order to reach the highest level of employee engagement, employers need to cultivate a culture of wellness. Such a culture must be embedded in the strategic vision of the organization, stemming from the top. It should entice employees to action with a holistic approach towards nutrition, exercise, and weight loss.
Companies that proactively invest in wellness programs report better results from their health initiatives. In fact, 56% of employers with a wellness culture report that their wellness programs have led to higher employee satisfaction, according to Optum’s Sixth Annual Wellness in the Workplace Study. In comparison, only 15% of employers without a wellness culture believe the same is true for their wellness initiatives.
While the benefits of implementing a culture of wellness are clear, cultivating such a culture remains a nascent idea. The same study also found that while 64% of large employers say that creating a culture of health is a top priority, only 19% of employers boast this culture.
But there’s good news.