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A quick summary:
Are your employees engaging with your new health benefits? Do you want to boost engagement and create a more human-focused culture?
It’s the big day, you’ve invested months looking for the perfect health and wellness initiative to support your people. The paperwork is done. Senior managers are happy. Everything is ready. And… crickets…
In many cases, companies experience low engagement in their wellness program when they fail to motivate their employees, provide the time, or communicate clearly what’s on offer.
Read on if you’re interested in understanding the 4 main obstacles preventing your employees from engaging and the practical steps you can take to address each of these.
1. Unsupportive company culture
In the past 6-months, there’s been a huge change in the way we work. With many people experiencing difficult situations in and outside of work, it’s never been more important to encourage our employees to invest in their health.
Keep things relevant by helping your team to understand how health activities can benefit them in the here and now:
- Meditation to wind down at the end of the day
- Yoga to ease back pain
- Counseling sessions to work through any mental health concerns
Nuffield Health completed a survey earlier this year finding that 80% of Brits feel that working from home has negatively impacted their mental health. Participation in health programs can help to support your employee’s mental health during these testing times, boost team morale, and overall productivity.
2. Lack of time
Investing time in our wellness should be at the top of our priority list.
According to Humana’s Wellness EIU study, 41% of employees given access to a health platform say they don’t have enough time to engage.
Employees often worry about what their manager or other colleagues will think if they take time out of their day for health-related activities.
You can solve this problem by allowing a wellness day off, offering flexible working hours, or a few hours off a week to dedicate time to fitness, letting employees know that the company supports them engaging in wellness activities.
3. You’re using the wrong communication channel
Consider if the communication channel you’re using is the most effective way to get employees engaged.
For example, It’s not easy to get people excited through an email as it can seem impersonal and easily get lost in a busy inbox. A better option would be asking managers to check-in with their team members, discussing how they’re feeling, and suggesting health benefits that might work for them.
4. Poor alignment between what you offer and what your employees want
Health and wellness can mean something different to everyone, so you can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. Offering a health program with a variety of activities such as yoga, 1-1 life coaching, and HIIT workouts, will encourage people with different interests to participate.
Having a “health benefit of the week” segment on your intranet page and circulating updates throughout a team newsletter are great ways to make things more exciting, highlight benefits, and encourage participation.
Next steps...
Now you know how to engage your employees in your health program, it’s time to take action!
Get direct feedback from your team by sending out a survey asking what would make participating more accessible for them. Remember to continuously promote how the health platform can help them through wellbeing workshops, sharing health resources, and hosting virtual demos.
Download our free wellness warrior guide here to learn more about the type of activities that will resonate best with your employees in the current climate and get them engaging in your health program today.
