Wellness doesn’t just happen during business hours. It doesn’t just happen at your corporate office either. And it’s certainly not one-size-fits-all. So how do you drive engagement when your employees are at home, on the weekends, and spread across different job sites and shifts all over the country? You go where they are.
Here are a few ways to drive engagement in your company’s wellness program through year-round activities when your employees aren’t at work.
- Rewards. Give ‘em something to work for.
As humans, we’re ingrained with the ‘what’s in it for me’ (WIIFM) mentality. Your people are incredibly busy, both at work and at home, so a little reward goes a long way. It breaks through the noise of the world and shows your employees that this wellness stuff matters to you. It’s a small way to recognize the efforts they’re putting forth to make good choices every day.
- Accessibility. It’s gotta be mobile.
If you’re going to be rewarding people for completing 5k’s, donating blood, getting a gym membership, or participating in Habitat for Humanity, they need to be able to document the things they’re doing from their mobile devices. Going mobile breaks down a barrier to getting involved and makes it so much easier to submit for the credit they deserve. Learn more about our new mobile app here.
- Connections. Foster strong connection among employees.
Like most things in this world, wellbeing isn’t just an individual sport. Lots of people impact our personal wellbeing from our spouses and families, to friends and co-workers. Encourage employees to share wellness with others by offering healthy recipes the whole family will love, healthy activities like cooking for a friend, or encouraging walking meetings.
- Choice. Give ‘em choices. Just not too many.
Not everyone is motivated by running marathons. And some people are never going to hit the gym, not matter how much you incentive it. So give your employees choices on the types of activities they can complete. Vary the activities from physical wellness to participation in your benefits program offerings, community service, and stress management so the individual can select what appeals most to them.
Choices are good, but also be aware of decision paralyses; the theory that too many options is going to overwhelm people and they’ll opt-out altogether. If you’ve ever ordered from The Cheesecake Factory’s menu, then you know what I mean. The optimal number of options will vary by company and your culture, but if your users feel like they’re reading a novel when reviewing available options, you have too many.
As you plan your wellness program for 2019 and beyond, consider adding some of these options to your program. Not only will your employees love having activities to choose from, it could keep your company's program legally compliant for the long-run. You can do it all with the click of a button through our intuitive myHealthCheck360 platform and new mobile application. Check out this page to learn more about our technology.
