What are Employee Wellness Programs and their benefits?

What are Employee Wellness Programs and their benefits?

Present times are very different, there is a lot of stress for all. In the present context, we at 9 Links have been emphasizing for employee’s wellbeing rather than employee performance. Employee wellness programs are programs undertaken by an employer in order to enhance employee health and also help individual employees to overcome health-related problems. The employer can offer compulsory employee training, staff seminars, or even work with a third-party provider offering a variety of programs.

Employees are invaluable assets of any organisation and ensuring their excellent mental and physical health sets them up to perform well. The health and wellness of their employees usually have a direct effect on the productivity and profits of a company. Many employers understand this and are ready to spend on such programs.

Benefits of Employee Wellness Programs

Even though the advantages of an employee wellness program are hard to see at first glance, it is true that employees who are healthy usually bring a range of benefits to other employees and the companies they work for. Here are some of the major benefits of an employee wellness program. 

1. More productivity

Employees who eat healthily and exercise regularly are likely to be more productive than those who don’t. Poor health behaviours are usually linked with high levels of unproductivity and ultimately lead to higher health risks and chronic diseases. 

2. High employee morale

Wellness programs make employees feel appreciated and valued. Employees are happier when they feel appreciated and valued by their employers. The offer of wellness programs usually results in more enthusiastic employees at work. 

3. Improve recruitment and retention of employees

Good wellness programs will help companies to hire and retain, the best employees. Many people will choose wellness and health offerings, and other benefits when they want to choose an employer. Wellness plans also play a vital role in employee retention by helping to keep the employees loyal. 

4. Reduced absenteeism

Workplaces with comprehensive wellness programs experience less absenteeism due to employees being healthier and with less stress, leading to cost savings. In present times with some companies operating at thirty per cent workforce cannot afford absenteeism.

5. Building camaraderie among workers

Activities such as participating in a sports team, going to the gym, or eating lunch together. The interaction of co-workers facilitates bonding that helps teams work better together. 

With benefits like these, it’s no wonder companies across the country are implementing employee wellness programs to support the overall health and wellbeing of their people. Looking into the present scenario wherein all are at home and working from home partly. Mental health is also a major cause of concern for employers.

What Is an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) & How Does It Work?

An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a confidential workplace service that employers pay for and is free to employees. Counselling services provided by an EAP help employees manage life-stressors of all kinds. An EAP can help employees stay focused on their duties at the workplace, keep productivity and performance high, and genuinely improve the employee’s well-being in the process.

The typical issues for which EAPs provide support are as follows:

Substance Abuse
Emotional Distress
Major life events, including births, accidents and deaths
Health Care concerns
Financial or non-work-related legal concerns
Family/personal relationship issues
Work relationship issues
Concerns about ageing parents

Employee Counselling Services Strengthen Organizational Performance

In today's corporate world, there is virtually no organization free of stress or stress-free employees. The employees can be stressed, depressed, suffering from too much anxiety arising out of workplace-related issues like managing deadlines, meeting targets, lack of time to fulfil personal and family commitments, or bereaved and disturbed due to some personal problems. Also, current unforeseen conditions can be a cause of stress

Workplace counselling can be defined as the provision of brief psychological therapy for employees of an organization, which is paid for by the employer. An ‘external’ service, such as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), typically comprises face-to-face counselling, a telephone helpline, legal advice and critical incident debriefing. In an ‘in-house’ service, counsellors may be directly employed by the organization.

Workplace counselling offers employees a facility that is confidential, easily accessed provides a properly qualified and supervised practitioner, does not raise the threat of a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder, and promises to alleviate distress within a reasonably short period of time (most services allow a limited number session in any one year).

Workplace counselling offers the employer a service that is valued by employees, has the potential for savings by reducing sickness absence, takes the pressure off managers through the availability of a constructive means of dealing with ‘difficult’ staff or situations, and contributes to its reputation as a caring employer. Workplace counselling is often viewed by employers as an insurance policy against the threat of compensation claims made by employees exposed to work-related stress.

The benefits of counselling include:

Helping the individual to understand and help him/herself
Understand the situations and look at them with a new perspective and positive outlook
Helping in better decision making
Alternate solutions to problems
Coping with the situation and the stress

We summarize to say that in present times stress is prevalent, leading to lot of issues with the employees and the employers. Therefore, counselling sessions would definitely help both as we move forward securing profitability for the organisations as a whole.