About Employee Wellness Programs

Introduction

Employee wellness programs are a popular aspect of job packages these days. Many large companies have always had employee wellness programs in place, but now a lot of medium and small businesses, including private sector businesses, see the benefits that implementing one of these programs has. Employee wellness program can include in-office practices such as healthy lunch programs and ergonomic practices such as ensuring everyone is comfortable at their desk and allow frequent stretches through the day to prevent injury. Employee wellness programs can include a benefits package that allows employees to have insurance on important services such as dental work, eye glasses and prescription drugs. A benefits package may also include a discount at the local gym, sick days and vacation days.

History

The benefits of companies implanting employee wellness programs are numerous. Below are some of those benefits.

1) Employee wellness programs draw potential candidates to a company. This type of incentive is particularly enticing to people looking for work.

2) The programs help employees and their families stay healthy. If employees are healthy, they miss less work and are more productive when they are at work and when their families are healthy, they do not have to take a lot of time of to stay home and take care of them.

3) Healthy employees are happier employees and happy employees do good work. It’s a cycle and employee wellness programs help keep that cycle going in a positive way.

4) Certain aspects of employee wellness programs create a positive, fun and laid back atmosphere that eases tensions and encourages positive relationships between employees so that they can deal with office issues more effectively.

5) Employee wellness programs also reduce the risk of workplace injuries which can be costly to both employer and employee and have negative effects on the business and the people involved.

Features

Some companies even go a bit further with their employee wellness programs. They may have daily, weekly or monthly meetings where outstanding employees and high producers are rewarded for good work. Prizes may be given out, the entire office staff may be taken out to dinner, outstanding employees may be given recognition to help them get promoted in the next round of hiring or they may be given time off for excellence. Some companies will not allow employees to forgo taking a yearly vacation and it is highly encouraged. We all know how energized and refreshed we feel after getting back from vacation. This is very beneficial to employers who do not want tired, bored and overworked employees who are unhappy bringing down the workplace morale.

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