Deborah Merkin
Recent Posts
Workplace Wellness Infographic
Workplace wellness is a $6 billion industry. In today's age of technology, millions of American employees are sitting at their desks for hours on end. Behaviors like these have led to a growing rate of chronic diseases like obesity, high blood pressure, stress, exhaustion, and absenteeism, just to name a few. Implementing workplace wellness programs has become a vital piece in both maintaining and improving employee health. The Society for Human Resource Management (commonly known as SHRM) released a 2015 Employee Benefits Report that discussed the uphill trend in implementing workplace wellness programs, addressing preventable and chronic disease programs in particular. RAND Corporation also released a brief on wellness programs, titled "Do Workplace Wellness Programs Save Employers Money." It took a closer look at the two most common components of a wellness program:
Smoking at Work: Not What it Used to Be
Smoking at work is not what it used to be. In the days of Don Draper, it was something everyone did, all the time, whether they were at work or home. Now, it's difficult to find a restaurant that even has a smoking section. According to a recent SHRM study that addresses smoking at work, employers have smoking cessation programs on their minds. According to the survey, 47% of responding employers restrict their employees smoking in some way during working hours.
Engage Your Employees With Wellness Challenges
Wellness challenges are becoming all the rage at workplaces across the country and are encouraging employees to become happier, healthier, and more energetic at work.
Requiring little to no investment, the challenges help to promote a supportive, positive climate of camaraderie and fun.
Pro Tips For Outsourcing An Incentive Program
A recent study from the Incentive Research Foundation, Engaging Outside Program Support for Incentive and Recognition Programs, is full of ideas on how to use outside firms to optimize your incentive programs this year. There are a number of ways to go about outsourcing an incentive program, from working with gift card providers as a cost effective reward solution, to having your program fully administered by an outside firm. Here are a few unique ways to outsource efforts, while keeping costs low and increasing your program(s) success rates:
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:
