Let’s face it: The health and wellness world can be a bit intimidating at times. Many individuals build their lives in accordance with America’s budding health and wellness culture. As they do, people often form or join social groups around practices such as high-intensity interval training, changing their diets, meditating regularly and more. Seeing this, some outside individuals who are less immersed in the world of health might start to feel overwhelmed by this wellness-oriented culture.
For this reason, I've found that many people can become hesitant to participate in wellness activities at home or at work. This likely contributes to the fact that, in the absence of incentives, the average participation rate in workplace wellness programs is only 20%, according to a 2014 study by Rand Corporation that was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
As the CEO of a public relations firm that specializes in health and wellness, I believe this statistic shows not everyone feels comfortable addressing their health and wellness at work. With this in mind, establishing more inclusive, well-rounded corporate wellness cultures could play a key role in encouraging employees to participate and lead healthier lives. I've outlined three ways to help the average employee become more interested in participating in workplace wellness programs:
1. Start at the top.
Even if workplace wellness programs are in place, sometimes employees fear that their managers won’t appreciate them prioritizing wellness over work. In fact, in 2016 the Harvard Business Review surveyed 465 full-time workers and found that 53% of employees feel that their organizations have cultural barriers holding them back from fully participating in wellness programs.
To remedy this, as in the case of many business-related initiatives, leadership is key; managers need to show their employees that it’s OK to take care of themselves. To do so, both executive and mid-level managers should take advantage of workplace wellness initiatives themselves while making it clear to their employees that they’re doing so.
For example, rather than taking meetings in the boardroom, a manager might opt for a walk-and-talk outside. Furthermore, if benefits such as flexible work hours, unlimited paid-time off or on-site workout classes are offered, leaders should seize these opportunities themselves. As they do, employees will likely become more comfortable doing so themselves, thus leading to more participation.
2. Meet employees where they are.
Ideally, your organization’s wellness program should be accessible to all employees. That means offering programs to everyone, including fitness enthusiasts and those who simply prefer taking occasional walks. One way to go about this is to offer each employee a personalized wellness plan based on where they currently are with their health. While some might need more nutrition planning, others might only require a fitness program.
Through tailoring wellness programs in this way, workers might feel less intimidated by their colleagues, knowing that they aren’t meant to keep up with everyone. This puts a tremendous amount of power for you as a company to create customized wellness programs that help everyone. While this might sound like a lot of work, there are plenty of health and wellness experts you can contract to manage such programs for you.
3. Don’t force it.
We have to admit it: We can’t expect everyone to participate in workplace wellness initiatives. And, trying too hard could only turn averse employees further off to the idea. Instead of pushing too hard, it’s better to take a slower, softer approach; as time progresses, the individuals who chose not to participate might observe their colleagues' results, which could encourage them to eventually participate. In this way, as they understand the benefits that they could see, many more will be more open to getting on board.
A program that encourages these success stories to be shared with the team on monthly or biweekly webinars can lead to even more participation. These webinars can also be used to deliver education around health and wellness strategies that are working for those succeeding, answer questions from participants, and, if incentives are involved, check in on who might be nearing an incentive milestone. If the webinars are recorded, employees’ families can be given access outside of the workplace.
4. Avoid contradicting the plan.
I learned from workplace health and wellness expert Dan Miller that a culture of wellness in the workplace should not permit things that are in conflict with health. With this in mind, ensure your wellness plan encourages healthy snacks, rather than soda machines, snack machines with candy bars, etc. This helps shift your culture away from unhealthy habits. Educate your team on how to make healthy choices to help make the transition easier.
Start thinking about how your organization can implement these tips to make its own health and wellness program more inviting to all employees. If you do, you’ll likely find that participation in your wellness programs increases. In this way, you’ll be well on your way toward leading a more holistically healthy organization.
