Investment in Employee Wellness Goes Beyond Health

A recent study, State of the Industry: Employee Well-being in 2016, from
Virgin Pulse, in partnership with Better Work Media Group, surveyed over 1,000 HR professionals across a variety of levels and industries to see how they planned to use employee wellness and health programs in 2016. Their findings go beyond the obvious answer we have seen in past years.
The survey indicated that employee wellness programs in 2016 will not simply focus on reducing healthcare costs for employers and employees. Employee wellness has expanded to include financial wellness, and more company-centric motives like employee productivity, promoting organizational culture and employee engagement. The investment in employee wellness is moving from being viewed as a cost-cutting measure and is now used more as a tool for employee engagement.
Here are the key stats from the new study:

• 60% of HR professionals surveyed are looking to use employee wellness to improve employee engagement
• 53% are looking to improve productivity through employee wellness
• 52.8% look to improve and promote organizational culture through employee wellness

One of the major developments in the study, focusing on 2016, is that the initiatives listed above were previously considered “HR Priorities.” They were things HR was focused on but no other business function was held accountable to. In 2016, look for these initiatives to become organizational initiatives, tackled by many areas of your company.
Making an investment in employee wellness began as a way to control rising healthcare costs and to bring healthy living into the workplace. Since its inception, employee wellness has now morphed into a way to transform your company culture, engage employees, and to make your organization a place your entire staff is excited to come to every day. Employee wellness has become a component of employee retention which, along with engagement is another major HR driven organizational initiative going into the new year.