Workplace Wellness Done Right: Boost Engagement, Retention, and Productivity

If your organization is only offering employees baseline health benefits, you could be missing out on the competitive edge that comes with the prioritization of employee well-being, including enhanced productivity, increased engagement, and top talent retention. But luckily, you don’t have to continue missing out for much longer.

Establishing an organizational culture that embraces workplace health and wellness starts with simple decisions you can make now.

Here’s what you need to know about how your organization and employees can benefit from a healthy work environment, and how you can start building it today.

Understanding the Current Landscape of Corporate Wellness

First, it’s important to understand the current landscape. Studies have found that one-third of employees say work harms their mental health. Research also highlights the importance of psychological safety, which is critical for innovation, creativity, and thriving teams. Yet, one survey found that only around 60% of employees describe themselves as being in “good health.”

Despite the rise of workplace wellness programs over recent decades, these numbers suggest something is still missing. Traditional programs offering discounted gym memberships often fail to address employees’ mental and physical health needs. This gap is a key consideration when building a truly effective culture of employee wellness.

Implementing Employee Wellness Programs That Work

When a wellness program is truly effective, the benefits can be staggering. In one case, a team implemented a program that reduced lost workdays by 80% over six years, resulting in cost savings of $1.5 million and a decline of 50% in workers’ comp insurance premiums. In another case study, a team took a digital-first well-being strategy that boosted year-over-year retention by 10%.

So how do you build a wellness program that works? Here’s how to get started.

1. Flexibility and Tailoring are Key

Employees have differing health and wellness needs, and a holistic wellness program should recognize this. Rather than implementing set mandates across the board, allow employees to use the health and wellness resources that work best for them, whether that’s flexible scheduling that allows them to care for their mental health, or support teams such as health coaches who can work one-on-one with team members to identify necessary health goals.

Remember that wellness might not look the same for every employee, either. As one AMA Journal of Ethics article pointed out, “It may be difficult for a person who needs to rely on public transportation to get to a gym that can accommodate a particular physical disability, and it may be unrealistic for a wheelchair user with fragile bones to take part in a weight loss program. Programs that fail to acknowledge these barriers are unethical if there are rewards tied to program participation or meeting targets.”

2. Promote Psychological Safety

All the while, the team culture must provide a level of psychological safety that empowers employees to speak up, provide feedback, and make their opinions heard. Check in with employees regarding their health needs. Allow for anonymous feedback.

As it stands, according to research from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, currently, more than 40% of Americans worry their career would be negatively impacted if they talked about mental health concerns in the workplace. While a fourth of employees have considered quitting their jobs due to mental health problems, only half of those employees told leadership about their concerns.

3. Wellness Culture Starts at the Top

This is why leadership buy-in is crucial for any well-being initiative. Leaders can set the tone for workplace culture, modeling healthy behaviors and prioritizing their own well-being. This might look like leaders logging off after a certain time of day, or leaders using their vacation time rather than pushing themselves to exhaustion — showing employees that they can do the same.

How to Measure Wellness Program Success

After implementing your new wellness program, ensure you continuously track key metrics to determine whether it produces the desired results. Track factors like employee engagement, levels of absenteeism, turnover rates, program adoption rates, and self-reported health outcomes.

Then, using the data and feedback from employees, adjust the program as needed.

The Bottom Line

A thriving workplace starts with healthy, supported employees, yet many wellness programs miss the mark. The good news is that small, intentional changes can make a big impact.

Ready to transform your workplace culture? Schedule a complimentary consultation call with an Arootah corporate wellness expert for tailored guidance on creating a healthy work environment.