Ok, so most of our readers probably have a good idea of WHY WELLNESS is important, but HOW to put it together can be a daunting task. More often than not, team member well-being and culture oversight falls on the HR team. This same group of people is responsible for on-boarding, benefits, retirement, conflict, culture and more. We know HR teams are generally understaffed and overwhelmed with many other responsibilities, which often ends in wellness taking a back-burner. That’s fair and understandable so we thought we would offer some ways to get a wellness program off the ground with a little support from our experience.
Step 1: Understand Your Employees’ Needs
While some organizations are planning wellness programs that have defined goals and a leader implementing them. Unfortunately, most companies are just trying to get something going with the little resources they have so wellness becomes more of a blindfold and dart situation. To get started, it is imperative learn about what team members need. What areas of their lives could they use more support in? What resources could be helpful to them?
We offer a free survey tool that you can provide to your team here. This questionnaire will help you better understand what your employees are looking for in a well-being program. We find that what employees tend to like the most, are programs that help them access something they needed or supports their ability to change health behavior.
If you would like us to provide you with the results we are happy to do that along with some recommendations for 2024. This is a great way to learn more about how your organization can support the team members overall.
Step 2: Determine a Budget
Once the organization has an idea of what the needs and desires of the team members are, the next step is to determine a budget. Many major insurance plans offer wellness budgets. Talk with your group contact about what may be available. Additionally, many brokerage firms offer programming as part of their services. We partner with Cigna, Aetna, ME Wilson, USI, United and others to coordinate use of wellness budgets.
If your organization does not currently have a wellness budget, request one for the next contract year- it never hurts to ask! Additionally, there is nothing like having skin in the game. In general, the clients we have worked with that have the best outcomes (35+% participation etc.) are those that provide some support to the well-being program. Any budget is worthwhile, but it is recommended that mid-size company (300 employees+) have approximately $20,000/year to spend on wellness programming. In Wishing Well Works terms that equates to 3 multiple week programs, 2 on-site events, and more! Wellness doesn’t have to be expensive!
Step 3: Plan Your Programs
Next is of course the planning process. This should include the formation of a wellness committee with representatives from each department at all levels of the organization. It is recommended that at least one C-suite executive be part of this group. Having quarterly meetings with the first at the end of the each year is a good amount of time to connect. Nominate one person to lead the effort with the support of a consultant if desired. Having a wellness consultant can be very helpful in create a program that gets the most bang for the buck. if this is a new undertaking for the group, email us and we can help guide some decisions. The goal of this group is to find programs that meet employees needs, helps with marketing of programs, creates a level of well-being excitement, and supports the program over all.
Step 4: Select A Vendor
Finally, a good next step is to select a vendor for the various types of programming that are of interest according to the survey. Plan out the program offerings with your budget. A high quality wellness provider will customize programs to meet the needs of the team, will provide programming that can be both virtual or on-site, and is well connected in the community to make recommendations of area services, some of which may be completely FREE. The plan is important because each program requires marketing, registration, and logistical planning.
Following these steps can make all the difference in how to make well-being a priority at your organization. If you would like to use the employee well-being survey – here is the link.
Simply email us at info@wishingwellworks.com to get the results! We recommend if you ask employees to complete this, you raffle off a few prizes to motivate folks to complete it.
