Employee wellness programs come with a lot of great benefits for companies. These typically include onsite health screenings, health risk assessments, counseling for substance abuse, health coaching, workplace safety, mental health assistance, education about diversity and workplace violence prevention. Implementing these in your business could help foster a work environment that is healthier overall.
Benefits of an Employee Wellness Program
Here are some of the benefits of employee wellness programs:
• Healthier employees means a reduction in employee absences. This could be a result of lowering stress levels in the workplace and/or improvement in overall health. Lower stress can mean employees don’t get sick as often, which proves to be more cost-effective for your company.
• Higher savings on health expenses and related costs, since the demand for medical services are reduced (again, because employees get sick less often).
• Lower instances of on-the-job injuries (thanks to workplace safety training) which, in turn, lowers workers’ compensation costs.
• Reduction in disability costs. You don’t have to worry about disability when your employees are healthy and avoid workplace injuries. With awareness, prevention has a higher probability.
These are considered the tangible benefits of implementing employee wellness programs but some of the intangible benefits generally include:
• Increased productivity. When employees have less stress and better health, their focus is better, which translates to better workflow.
• Attracts and retains great employees. Productive workers like to work in environments that are healthy. By offering an employee wellness program, you’ll be able to attract productive workers and get them to stick around for the long term.
• Morale of employees is boosted. This is due to feeling a sense of value within the company. Showing you care about their health helps employees know they matter beyond being another cog in the machine.
Employee wellness programs offer more than just monetary benefits; they offer a better culture overall.