A healthy heart is one of the key components of overall health and wellbeing—but year after year, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

And while cardiovascular disease can refer to a broad umbrella of conditions, the most prevalent is coronary artery disease, which impacts roughly 1 in 20 working adults and poses one of the greatest risks to a heart attack.

Beyond the serious health effects of heart disease, it can also be incredibly expensive for both employees and employers to treat and cover. The most recent data from the American Heart Association shows cardiovascular disease costs the U.S. nearly $318 billion per year in medical expenses, and up to $237 billion per year in lost productivity.

Improving and maintaining heart health is vital to overall employee wellbeing and organizational success, yet over half of working adults skip routine checkups and forgo common health screenings. So how can leaders encourage preventive care action and support their employees’ long-term health?

As open enrollment season approaches, HR and wellness administrators are faced with the critical task of ensuring their workforces are well-informed about benefits.

But this basic awareness is only the first step in the cycle of benefits education that should persist year-round. 

Following (and preceding) open enrollment, administrators are undoubtedly busy preparing and evaluating their benefits programs. This review process is crucial to ensuring that enough high-quality resources are sourced to meet employee needs and wants, but also that they’re sufficiently competitive in an increasingly high-stakes labor market. 

However, it’s not always the benefits that need to be reevaluated—sometimes, it’s the way they’re communicated.

Addressing the well-being of your employees involves more than just healing and maintaining the physical body. While a virtual yoga class or full-service nutritious snack bar might help promote a few healthy habits, improving overall wellness requires a strategically planned framework. 

That’s why over half of all U.S. organizations offer corporate well-being programs for their employees.

Unfortunately, many traditional wellness programs fall short of achieving organizational goals by focusing too much on physical health, and their rigid structures often ignore the unique wellness needs of employees. 

On the other hand, holistic strategies take a multifaceted approach to wellness, going beyond exercise and nutrition to provide resources and activities that employees can take advantage of at their own discretion. Not only do holistic wellness programs consider all dimensions of health, but they also meet employees wherever they are on their individual wellness journeys. 

By the end of 2023, Gartner forecasts that nearly 40% of knowledge workers will hold hybrid roles. Meanwhile, McKinsey points out that nine in every 10 employees feel having control over where they work is a top priority—but only 33% describe their current overall well-being as “thriving.”

The truth is stress levels are high, engagement is low, and employees across the board do not feel their employers care enough about their well-being. 

Because well-being and employee engagement go hand-in-hand, the onus is on employers to foster equitable work environments that prioritize employee experience—or EX—across all organizational levels. In doing so, organizations can attract, engage, and nurture talent throughout every stage of the employee journey, resulting in more fulfilled workforces, enriched people metrics, and constructive organizational growth. 

When outlining the key characteristics of an effective employee wellness program, it is imperative to equitably provide the same benefits, resources, and opportunities to all employees. 

While all employees should receive equal access to wellness offerings, no two employees require the same resources or start from the same place. 

Rather, employees bring a wide array of life experiences to their organizations, meaning each individual requires a different, personalized level of support to thrive. 

In WellRight’s recent webinar hosted by Fierce Healthcare, WellRight CEO Neepa Patel sat down with Vanessa Guzman, MHSA, President and CEO of SmartRise Health, and Amelia Bedri, MHSA, Senior Content Engineer at the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), to break down the foundational elements of an equitable workplace. 

Managing implicit bias—both personally and in the workplace—requires a pointed, actionable, and consistent approach.

True equity at work can only be achieved once biases, including racial bias, have been identified, understood, and committed to by all members of an organization. With the help of implicit bias training and other diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, organizations can raise awareness of biases that may affect decision-making and foster a more inclusive culture where employees thrive.

For years, corporate wellness programs were designed to help employees access health care, company-sponsored services, and other benefits to maintain and improve their well-being.

And while that hasn’t changed, the world has.

Today’s employees are dealing with stressors that stretch beyond their day-to-day work tasks. From inflation and pandemic-induced mental health issues to direct and indirect discrimination, employees need different levels of support now than they did before 2020.

Is your wellness program equipped to keep up with what your employees truly need to thrive?

What’s the difference between a 63-year-old employee worried about retirement savings and a 22-year-old employee suffering from depression?

Nothing. Not according to many wellness programs, anyway.

And that spells trouble for employers.

Companies witnessed employees leaving in droves during last year’s “Great Resignation.” In 2022, we’re now entering a “Great Reshuffle,” where employee retention is improving and workers are no longer leaving the workforce. Instead, they’re reassessing their current roles in search of more fulfilling pursuits, like starting their own businesses, finding better pay or more flexibility in a similar job, or making a career change altogether.

At the heart of it all is a job shift where work is starting to collide with personal values and life choices.

Many employers have started addressing this issue by offering more financial perks: higher pay, bigger signing bonuses, upskilling opportunities, and other solutions.

But it hasn’t worked as well as they’ve hoped.

We talk a lot about managing the mental health of employees, but what about the mental health of managers in your organization?

After all, they’re also employees, and with the challenges they have to deal with, it should come as no surprise that managers are struggling just as much as the people they lead.