December 7, 2021 0 Comment

Why should Employee Wellness be important for Organizations?

Employee Wellness is important for Organizations. With workplaces becoming increasingly competitive, it is not surprising that most employees today have various health and wellness issues. Tight deadlines, poor work-life balance and unhealthy habits are key causes of the deteriorating health of the corporate workforce.

Sadly most organizations, still consider employee wellness programs as perks and benefits for employees. What they fail to understand is that the wellness of employees directly impacts their workplace efficiency and engagement. That is why the most progressive organizations are investing significantly in wellness initiatives in a big way.

Why Employee Wellness is so important?

Healthy and fit employees are more productive and show a higher level of engagement. Such employees are also known to be happier and more satisfied with their jobs. Moreover, it reduces the rate of employee absenteeism by bringing down the number of sick leaves availed by them. This, in turn, can impact organization growth and success significantly.

When employees have a good level of physical and mental well-being, they are likely to be more engaged and motivated. Such employees can contribute more towards business growth rather than just going through the motions.

Why are Employee Wellness programs a necessity

The growing awareness has led organizations to make wellness programs an integral part of their benefits packages. These programs provide incentives, tools, social support, privacy and strategies to adopt and maintain healthy behaviour.

At the same time, such programs help organizations enhance employee productivity and efficiency. In addition, they have a positive impact on the retention strategies of the organization, besides improving the overall organizational culture.

A few key reasons for organizations to have a really good wellness program in place are discussed below:

1. Lower the organization’s overall healthcare costs

The key drive for employee wellness program is to reduce the overall healthcare and insurance costs of the organization. Good employee health and wellness programs tailored to meet the needs of the workforce offer greater payoffs. Studies have shown that organizations with effective wellness programs have 34% more revenue per employee as compared to other organizations.

2. Can help to build a strong employer brand

If organizations integrate wellness programs with their employer branding, it can provide significant advantages for hiring and retaining top talent. Nearly ⅔ of organizations acknowledged that wellness programs were part of their employment branding and offered significant benefits.

This has motivated many organizations to put wellness at the core of organizations’ benefit packages. They make strategic investments in this direction to ensure long term benefits through enhanced brand goodwill.

3. Reduce turnover rate by increasing employee Loyalty

Most organizations today struggle with high employee turnover rates which affect the organization’s smooth operations and productivity. An unhealthy work environment is known to be one of the key reasons for employees leaving their jobs.

However, organizations with efficient wellness programs, enjoy higher employee engagement and retention.

Such programs assure employees that they are valuable to the organization and it is concerned about their health and wellbeing. This naturally enhances their sense of loyalty for the organizations and brings down the turnover rate significantly.

4. Establish strong work relationships

Strong work relationships are the key to building stronger teams and this directly impacts employee engagement and efficiency. An effective wellness program helps in ensuring better attendance and interaction with others. Employees feel more motivated when they are surrounded by people who understand and support them.

This helps in building strong work relationships and enhances trust and coordination among co-workers. This, in turn, inspires them to contribute more towards organizational growth. It also helps to build a healthier and positively competitive work culture.

Bottom-line

With high healthcare costs today, employee wellness programs can go a long way in boosting happiness and satisfaction of employees.

Organizations implementing employee wellness programs can benefit immensely through a healthier workforce besides positively impacting their bottom line.

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HiFives (https://www.hifives.in) is an employee rewards, recognition and engagement SaaS platform that enables organizations to digitize, automate and transform their employee experience. The platform enables supervisors and co-workers to nominate, recognize and reward employees using a points-based system. Budget management, jury-based evaluation and multi-level approval workflows are built into the platform. HiFives has social features such as a wall of fame and gamification features such as leaderboards, e-certificates and digital badges. It also has a global redemption system with country-specific e-gift card options. HiFives integrates with all leading HRMS systems, Office 365, Google Workspace, MS Teams, Slack and other popular tools used at the workplace. HiFives is used by many large enterprises, small businesses and startups across 25+ countries in the world, in many industries including manufacturing, retail, technology, financial services and media.