Many employers offer employee wellness programs with the intent of improving overall employee health levels. Improving employee health has the long-term benefit reducing unplanned absences and can even boost productivity. It can reduce healthcare costs for the employee, which then may, in turn, reduce healthcare benefit costs for everyone. It can have the added benefit of showing the employees that the employer cares about their well-being, which can impact retention.
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But all of this is only true if enough employees participate in the program to have a meaningful impact. How can employers encourage more employees to participate without being too pushy? Let’s take a look at some tips to do just that.
Tips for Improving Employee Participation in Wellness Programs
Here are some tips to increase participation:
- Conduct surveys to determine what types of programs will appeal to your workforce. It may help you to discover ideas that the management or HR team hadn’t yet come up with.
- Focus on the organizational culture. If the culture doesn’t prioritize wellness, it won’t be top of mind for employees. Here are some ways to influence the organizational culture and make a shift toward wellness:
- Strive to be consistent in your goal of improving employee health. For example, if you’re promoting a wellness program, it would be inconsistent to offer only unhealthy food options for lunch breaks or to not allow time to get outside for breaks during the workday.
- Start at the top by encouraging those in leadership positions to participate in the program. If they’re leading by example, it can create a situation in which the employees see that this is a valuable benefit and that the organizational leaders find it useful.
- Assess other aspects of the organizational culture to see where there may be conflicting messages. Just because a wellness program is offered does not guarantee that employees will feel as though they’re able to use it. For example, if employees are routinely expected to work a lot of hours, the culture may imply that the work comes before everything else—including health initiatives.
- Consider implementing other programs that focus on overall well-being, such as mentoring programs, employee assistance programs, stress reduction initiatives, etc. When the organization shows a clear focus on the well-being of the employee, it can impact participation across the board.
- Ask some employees who already participate in the wellness program to act as voluntarily wellness program ambassadors. These are people with whom other employees can turn to with questions.
- Consider offering incentives to participate. (Note: If implementing rewards or incentives, be sure there are ways to earn the reward that take into account differing ability levels and possible disabilities or health concerns.) Here are several examples of possible incentives:
- Extra paid time off (PTO) for either participation or completion of goals.
- Reduced health insurance premiums for participants.
- Free fitness-related products given to program participants, such as step trackers or some type of workout gear or equipment.
- Make it easy.
- Consider adding wellness program components that are fun rather than simply fitness focused. For example, the organization could participate in local team sports and form a company team. Or there could be an internal competition of sorts that focuses on some physical activity or other wellness outcome. Light competition can be fun. (Be aware that there needs to be options for those who may be unable to participate in the activity itself.)
- Consider adding activities that are health focused without requiring heavy exertion, like cooking classes or health seminars.
- Hold some of the activities on-site and/or during work hours, and allow employees to leave their work to participate without penalty. This can eliminate some of the built-in excuses for nonparticipation.
Does your organization offer an employee wellness program? What have you done to encourage participation?