Redefining Wellness to Engage Employees

In yesterday’s Advisor, Alan Kohll, founder and president of corporate health and wellness service provider TotalWellness®, discussed the rising influence of wellness programs and some ways to improve these programs at your company. Today, Kohll shares more on how to redefine wellness to make initiatives appealing to workers.


I want to make this very clear … Wellness does not mean weight loss. Yes, weight loss can be a huge part of wellness. But employee wellness is so much more than that! It goes beyond weight loss. In fact, wellness goes beyond physical health altogether.
Integrating a holistic attitude into wellness activities can ensure the program remains appealing and attainable for each and every employee. If a program isn’t appealing, or if the goals within it aren’t attainable, a large portion of the employee population will likely skip out on the program altogether.
Holistic health information encompasses every part of an employee’s well-being; it includes mental health, financial wellness, social health, and whatever else an employee population might need.
Touching on a variety of aspects of wellness shows employees they are valued by their employer. It demonstrates an investment in who they are completely, not just in how much they weigh. It also opens up doors for positive communication and empowerment rather than scare tactics and risk factors.
All of these things contribute to the intrinsic motivation that leads to long-term, healthy change. This motivation comes from employees’ self-efficacy, or their belief that they can and should make healthy improvements in their lives. If a program can help employees reach this level of motivation, it will skyrocket, and participants will start to make real healthy, happy changes in their lives.
Physical wellness is an excellent place to start and a very important part of wellness. Focusing on more than just physical wellness, however, provides a program that is well-rounded. This type of program ultimately does more for all participants.
The trend toward healthy workplaces is great news! A workforce filled with healthy, happy employees is one that will function positively, efficiently, and productively. Each company addresses employee health differently, but as the workforce evolves, the wellness program needs to as well.
As wellness managers analyze and update their programs, improvements will need to be made. That doesn’t mean a program isn’t successful; it simply means the program is growing as employees grow—and that’s a great thing!
Each individual wellness program will call for different improvements. Updating stagnant wellness activities, drawing on teamwork, and redefining wellness are excellent places to start when it comes to improving a program. These three ideas can help wellness managers inventory their own programs to make specific, worthwhile improvements this year.