When employees are happy, they are your very best ambassadors.”

 

 Ideas for Employee Wellbeing Activities

In today’s day and age, employee wellness initiatives have become an important priority for organizations looking to optimize employee engagement, and in turn, their business results.

 Beyond just providing for the hygiene factors, many organizations have amped up efforts to ensure their employees feel included, valued and cared for. 

However, sometimes wellbeing in the workplace ideas don’t gain popularity with employees or are unit-dimensional in nature and hence, ineffective. 

By implementing employee wellness activities that improves employees’ lives both within and outside work, it is possible to create true wellness for them.

Often, organizations focus on improving experiences at work, without acknowledging external factors influencing their work-life. According to this Psychology Today there are seven areas of life that affect our overall well-being:

•  family, 
• professional, 
• personal, 
• physical, 
• intellectual, 
• emotional, and 
• spiritual. 

While work falls into the ‘professional’ area of our life, it has an impact on all other areas and vice-versa.

 following sections we will talk about the various aspects related to employee wellness:

1. Employee Wellness- The need for Personalized Wellness Programs
2. Flexibility- The Key to Employee Wellness
3. Corporate Wellness Activities for Employees

Employee Wellness- The Need For Personalized Wellness Programs

The best way to ensure the success of wellbeing activities for employees is to build it around their individual needs. Ask questions and listen in carefully to understand the deterrents to a wellness-driven culture. 

• Are your employees burned out due to mismanagement? 
• Do employees feel like victims to office politics, leading to stress and anxiety? 
• Has organizational restructuring led to confusion or disengagement?
•  Have external factors like civil unrest, natural disasters or a health-related crisis impacted employees at scale?

 Understanding the root cause of unrest can help organizations offer targeted and relevant solutions. For example- providing access to one-on-one counselling to mitigate the impact of personal loss can be more effective than expecting employees to simply ‘get it together’.

Flexibility- The Key To Employee Wellness

Flexibility is one of the key characteristics of a successful employee wellness program. It gives the message of trust in employees’ abilities to handle work priorities while supporting other areas of their life. In other words, flexibility helps employees succeed, their way. It can also be an attractive benefit as part of the organization’s benefit’s package, considering how 20 percent of employees in India are willing to take a pay cut, if that means they get to work remotely. Flexibility is increasingly becoming a pre-requisite for Gen Z employees, who strive to enjoy a healthy work-life balance and meaningful pursuits outside of their day job.

Apart from remote working, flexibility can be offered in work schedules, wellness benefits and perks.

Corporate Wellness Activities For Employees

Some practical ways in which HR can offer wellness support to their employees, be it their physical fitness, mental health or social and emotional support:

1.   Promote corporate wellness activities

A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Promote the value of a healthy lifestyle by encouraging physical fitness among employees. This can range from using signboards to use the stairs, to organizing walkathons, marathons and sports events. However, given the nature of today’s hybrid work structure, encouraging employee wellness with health tech to track and reward fitness activities can be very effective. Using gamification, organizations can reward tthe fittest individuals and teams through digital badges, public recognition and social mentions. Having senior management take the lead on wellness programs can encourage others to follow suit. It can also give younger employees the message that wellness need not be compromised in the pursuit of professional goals.

• Offer Wellness Rewards

Employee digital rewards and recognition platforms are becoming increasingly popular, with leading R&R solution providers giving access to hundreds to gift cards and product options. Promoting wellness can mean including reward options that boost well-being. For example, instead of getting pizza coupons to celebrate a project completion, having the option of a healthy snack subscription or herbal tea boxes can subtly promote conscious eating habits.

• Make Wellness Fun!

Employee wellbeing strategies need not be complex, expensive or overly challenging! You can use your creativity to weave wellness into employees’ daily work routine. For example- having a mindfulness ‘bell’ on campus to remind everyone to take a pause and relax their mind, every few hours. Even organizing ‘walking meetings’ or having standing desks, if possible, can encourage more movement at work. Building positive micro-habits can lead to lasting benefits, without involving much effort from HR.

conclusion: 

Employee engagement describes the level of enthusiasm and dedication a worker feels toward their job. Employee engagement can be critical to a company's success, given its links to job satisfaction and employee morale. Engaged employees are more likely to be productive and higher performing.

References:

https://www.google.com/search?q=employee+engagement+in+hrm&oq=&gs_lcrp=

https://www.bamboohr.com/esources/hr-glossary/employee-engagement-in

• Nick Barney, Technology  Writer
• Valerie Silverthorne
• Emma Snider, TechTarg