Help Them Thrive: The Surprising Benefits of a Healthy Workforce

The financial benefits of employee wellness are best measured by both short-term and long-term payoffs. The major, preventable chronic conditions – obesity, heart disease, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes – are impacted by improvements in physical exercise, better nutrition and smoking cessation, but the true return-on-investment occurs over years, rather than shareholder-driven fiscal quarters.

That’s why it is just as important to look at the effect on overall vitality, well-being and engagement as an integral factor of your program. Increased stamina, lower levels of stress, higher levels of well-being and an overall enhanced quality of life are just a few benefits that stem from workplace wellness programs. BIWORLDWIDE’s New Rules of Engagement study indicates the strong correlation between employee wellness and overall engagement in their job, family and community. Wellness as a part of workplace culture and environment is a powerful driver of employee engagement. Our New Rule #4 “Help them thrive” encourages companies to view wellness holistically.

Here are ten recommendations to help you incorporate wellness into your employee recognition program.

#1. Mix it up

In the past, wellness programs and practices included short-term activities
and one-time, deterministic “do this, get that” incentives such as cash
payouts for completion of health assessments.