The WellRight Blog

Motivation. We all want more of it, but few of us can seem to find enough of it. And when we do find that burst of enthusiasm, how often do we use it to improve our health and well-being?

Odds are, you’re not the only one having trouble putting yourself first and taking steps to improve your health; your employees are, too. But imagine what could happen if you could change that—if you could boost motivation among your entire staff, energizing them to take action toward improving their well-being?

It’s a classic scene in just about any office: Meeting requests, incessant emails, rush projects, and late-night work dinners add up to frazzled employees downing a potent mix of coffee, candy bars, and antacids. And that’s if they haven’t called in sick … again.

Luckily, employers have access to a tool that has the power to help employees manage stress and improve productivity, while lowering healthcare expenses and reducing costly sick days. Even better, it hardly costs a thing.

Magic? Nope. It’s mindfulness.

It can be hard for employees to admit to their employers when they have a problem with their well-being, whether it’s serious health concerns, marital issues, or even financial trouble. Yet if they keep their troubles to themselves, it can eventually spill over into their work—compounding the problem for them and creating a new challenge for managers.

Luckily, employees don’t have to tackle these life and work challenges on their own. Employee assistance programs (EAPs) help employees manage everything from legal concerns to work-life stressors—all without any cost to the employee.

Ahh…retirement. When we picture our future without an alarm clock, what does it look like? Maybe it looks like a beachfront condo or a camper on the open road. Maybe it looks like volunteering or picking up a new hobby.

However your employees envision their retirement, you want them to be as prepared as possible to enjoy it. But you know that designing a comfortable retirement isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are finances to plan, health issues to manage, days to fill.

Luckily, employees have you—and your wellness program—to help them prepare. Here’s what they should do … and how you can help.

“You think you’re busy—just wait until you have kids!”

As irritating as this pronouncement can be to those without children, there is a certain grain of truth in it. Having children really does add a hectic new dimension to life.

But, there’s work to be done. And so, new parents must find a way to balance the demands of their job with the demands of their tiny, toothless new overlords. What role can their employer play? How can the company culture support new parents and set up a win-win situation for everybody?

It’s cliche, but true: Gym memberships skyrocket in January, as resolution-makers swear this is the year they’ll get in shape.

And yet by May, nearly 80 percent of new gym members will have stopped going. And by the end of the year, fewer than 10 percent will have felt like they kept their resolution.

As an employer, can you help things be different this year?

The term “carrot and stick” comes from farmers dangling a carrot in front of animals to encourage them to make forward progress. But while farmers rarely let the hard-working animals get the carrot, today’s employers know better.

Instead, they understand that to encourage positive change—like participation in biometric screening—they need to offer the “carrots” employees can actually earn and enjoy.

Wellness is more than a single blood pressure reading or the number of miles we logged last week on our Fitbit. Instead, wellness is a complex connection of systems, with each one affecting the next.

Because of this, companies who take a siloed approach to employee wellness, focusing solely on nutrition or fitness, do themselves—and their employees—a huge disservice.

But imagine what could be accomplished when an employer helps their employees not just eat well and better manage health conditions, but also plan for retirement or college, teach stress management and coping strategies, and develop social groups to keep employees feeling connected.

Impact. Selflessness. Courage. Responsibility.

When Netflix wrote and published the 126-slide deck “Netflix Culture,” it used these words, among others, to clearly describe to employees the behaviors and attributes the company deemed important for success.

Many other companies don’t put anywhere near that amount of thought into their culture … if they put any thought into it at all.

But optimizing your company culture can be one of the most powerful ways to improve not just the wellness of your employees, but the wellness of your company as a whole. 

We live in an age of research. People research purchases big and small, vacation spots, and even potential romantic partners, all from their devices or laptops.