New Wellness Initiatives
A recent survey conducted by Gartner revealed that 64% of organizations have introduced new well-being offerings to their employees since the start of COVID-19. When you first introduce a wellness program or new wellness initiatives, employees will have a higher level of interest. However, the “new” eventually wears off and leaders need concrete strategies in place to ensure you maintain engagement and participation. Otherwise, your employees are not truly benefiting from the programs you’ve incorporated.
Maintaining Engagement and Participation
Listed below are tips from CoreHealth Technologies Inc. and The Bailey Group on how to keep more of your employees engaged and participating in your wellness program and new wellness initiatives:
- Communication: Clearly communicating how your wellness program works, what initiatives are included and how employees will benefit from participation is the most important step! Employees need to know exactly what they are getting out of the program and how to get involved. Providing program details and reminders, as well as developing programs that address relevant employee concerns are foundational pieces for promoting engagement.
- Incentives: Offering prizes or perks for participating is a great way to jumpstart engagement and participation rates. You can use cost-based incentive like gift cards, charitable donations, or discounts for fitness gear or gym memberships or rewards that are non-tangible, such as offering paid time off or flexible work hours. Incentives shouldn’t be your main strategy, though. The goal is for employees to transition from enjoying these external incentives to developing intrinsic rewards over time, so a healthier lifestyle can be achieved.
- Goal Setting: Whether it’s an organizational goal everyone’s participating in, team goals, or individual goals, all can encourage more participation. As a leader, participate in goal setting and help other employees set their goals too. You can also communicate with employees and see what kind of competitions would be motivating for them.
- Feedback: Often times, employees’ loose interest in a program because it is not meeting their needs. Regularly ask for employee feedback, either one-on-one, in focus groups or through pulse surveys, and make any necessary changes. Engagement and participation rates depend on your level of dedication to creating a relevant and successful wellness program.
- Technology: Companies can encourage employee engagement by using relevant technology, such as fitness trackers and wearables. For an even more up-to-date and attractive wellness program experience, have the trackers sync to a digital well-being platform, such as our All-in-One Wellness Portal.
- Acknowledgment: A surefire way to maintain engagement and participation is to acknowledge, recognize and celebrate with your active participants. Consider announcing wellness champions every month, featuring them on the company website and internal newsletters, keeping track of milestones, etc.
Using these strategies will not only help keep your employees motivated and participating in your wellness program, but it will help you build a healthy, successful workforce for years to come. Click here to learn more!
