10 Common Corporate Wellness Program Gaps

In the past, you may have viewed developing a corporate wellness strategy as simple. It’s just as easy as making sure your team practices work-life harmony and uses standing desks, right?

Well…not really. With today’s growing wellness culture, teams, more than ever, crave a more holistic approach to workplace wellness, with perks and provisions that consider every element of their wellbeing — and for a good reason. Particularly for teams within the alternative investment industry, the fast-paced, high-stress nature of the job means greater attention to holistic well-being is needed to maintain peak performance.

So, are these 10 things included in your corporate wellness strategy? If not, you may need to address these gaps with our recommended approaches.

1. Personalized Health Coaching

Health is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Your wellness program should include personalized health coaching to provide individualized support to each employee. Working one-on-one with a health coach can help your team members analyze various factors including sleep, nutrition, exercise, and stress management, to then create a personalized wellness plan that will help them thrive both in and out of the workplace.

2. Sleep Optimization Programs

Often, corporate wellness strategies consider exercise and fitness, but they overlook one of the most impactful elements of wellness: sleep.

According to Harvard Health, adults need about 7 hours of sleep each night. But it’s not just about the hours. Good sleep quality matters too. The best sleep is uninterrupted, leaving you refreshed and ready to start your day. A lack of sleep and poor sleep quality results in a higher risk for mental health issues, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses, and poor sleep can make it more difficult to function overall.

As part of your corporate wellness strategy, educate employees on proper sleep hygiene and provide them with sleep-enhancing tools like sleep quality trackers.

3. Nutritional Guidance and Education

Don’t just stock the break room with fruits and veggies and consider the nutritional aspect of your corporate wellness program sorted. Employees need more than just healthy snacks; they also need education, so that they can choose the ideal foods for their needs.

Consider hiring a nutritionist to conduct monthly, in-office workshops. Offer personalized diet plans and measure progress via one-on-one health coaching. When planning a catered event or hosting an outing that includes dining, whether for the team or with clients, provide healthy options.

4. Physical Activity

Yes, you can buy a gym membership for your team members, but is that enough? Sedentary lifestyles lead to many health issues, and it’s extremely easy to lead a sedentary life when working long hours in an office setting. Do more to encourage your teams to get active.

Organize group yoga classes or office boot camp outings. Encourage walking meetings. Invest in standing desks or under-desk treadmills. Encourage a little friendly competition among teams, to see who can be the most active throughout their days.

5. Stress and Anxiety Management

In high-stress work environments, managing stress and anxiety is vital to prevent dips in productivity and mitigate health-related concerns.

Introduce stress management strategies such as brief mindfulness exercises or meditation breaks during team meetings. These techniques are not only highly effective but also time efficient. Consider organizing workshops focused on stress management and ensure your team has access to mental health support and resources.

6. Mental Health Support

With this in mind, it’s essential to incorporate mental health support into your corporate wellness initiatives. Mental well-being is equally critical as physical health, with both deeply interconnected. Provide mental health services via employee assistance programs and health plans, and foster an environment where mental health discussions are welcomed.

7. Habit–Building for Long–Term Wellness

If you want your team members to stick around for the long term, you must think about their long-term wellness as well, and long-term wellness starts with habit-building today.

Provide your teams with access to habit tracking apps to encourage healthy habits like regular exercise and balanced eating. Provide habit-building training to further support behavioral changes.

8. Preventative Health Care

Along these lines, proactive and preventative health measures can prevent future issues. Normalize preventive care and make it accessible to employees. Offer health screenings and flu shots in the workplace and send out reminders for annual checkups.

9. Work–Life Harmony Initiatives

Work-life harmony is key to overall wellness, both physical and mental. Consider providing flexible work hours and remote work options to accommodate your employees’ needs. Encourage them to make sure they’re working their passion and staying aligned with their values.

10. Leadership Involvement in Wellness Culture

Lastly, an effective corporate wellness program starts with you. Leaders set the tone for company culture, and if you want it to be one of wellness, you must actively participate in the wellness program and openly discuss its importance. Be a model for the healthy behaviors you want to see your teams exhibiting, and make sure that this is occurring throughout your management chain; lean on your leaders to advocate for healthy behaviors.

The Bottom Line

Even with the best intentions, when it comes to your workplace wellness program, there may be key areas you’re overlooking. These 10 common areas of corporate wellness programs are easy to overlook, but, if you acknowledge them and build strategies to address them, you’ll quickly see the benefits of doing so.

Want to launch or revamp your corporate wellness program? Get started with a free consultation call.