The CEO of the agency welcomes you on your first day and leads you to your workspace. It’s decked out with top-line equipment: a brand-new Mac, an Aeron chair, and a glossy-white desk.
The only thing your new office is missing? Walls.
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.
It’s that Sunday-evening feeling of sickening dread. It’s knowing that no matter what you do at work, it’ll never be enough. It’s taking a day off, only to end up fielding work calls and emails all day long.
“Burned out,” like “depressed,” is a term that is often casually thrown around. And like depression, trueburnout—a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion—can be surprisingly common and completely debilitating.
Imagine being in a high-pressure profession in which you’re encouraged to put other people’s well-being above your own, are required to have a near-perfect success rate, and any mistakes you make could literally kill someone. And if the stress gets to be too much, you’re expected to push it aside and get on with your day.
This experience is the reality for many physicians.
There’s a commonly held belief that married couples often end up resembling each other as they age. As it turns out, this may be true. Researchers who have studied married couples report spouses’ similar facial features are due to the decades of emotions they’ve shared.
But facial features aren’t the only things we share with those we are close to.
We often take on the attitudes, behaviors, and emotions of the people we surround ourselves with in both our personal and professional lives—and this can have a profound effect on our health and wellness.
"The only constant is change."
When Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus made this declaration in roughly 500 B.C., he certainly wasn’t anticipating the way technological advancements would change our lives—seemingly on a daily basis. Just looking at the past 10 years, since the iPhone first debuted, technology has revolutionized the way we pass time, communicate, and interact.
It’s most certainly changed the way we work … and how we approach wellness.
When employees are asked to describe their office space, “comfortable” may not be the first word that comes to mind. But a simple Google search for “smartphone pinky” or “sitting disease” shows why wellness directors need to take another look at the physical mechanics of how we work.
With work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs)—soft-tissue injuries affecting muscles, nerves, ligaments, and tendons—accounting for 33% of workplace injuries and illnesses in 2011, it’s important to recognize the effect our work environment has on our health. But what’s even more important is learning how to prevent these issues from becoming medical problems that decrease productivity and increase costs.
A job with no commute? It’s a reality for an increasing number of people: 70 percent of professionals work remotely at least one day a week, while 53 percent work remotely at least half of the week.
Working remotely offers a lot of perks to employees and their employers. However, remote workers pose a unique challenge for wellness program administrators. How do you engage employees who aren’t physically present?
Just like company procedures and processes have had to adapt to the new reality of remote work, so does your wellness program.
To get ahead in business, many employers will do whatever it takes—like requiring employees to work long days, evenings, and weekends. While this dedicated work ethic contributes to the company’s—and the individual’s—professional success, it frequently comes at the expense of employees’ personal lives.
Today’s employees are becoming less willing to make that sacrifice. Instead, they seek work-life balance: making time for family, friends, and personal activities while successfully meeting workplace demands in a smart, efficient manner.
But finding that balance isn’t always easy.
At some point in their lives, approximately 75% of working women in the United States will become pregnant. But what should be a very exciting time in their lives can sometimes become a challenging one, with physical and emotional changes making daily work tasks difficult. Adding to the challenge is concern over discrimination, which can prevent pregnant employees from asking for accommodations to make things easier.
But by ensuring you have a robust employee wellness program, you can help your employees be more comfortable and productive throughout their pregnancy and beyond.
