organizational health
Amid soaring health spending there is growing interest in workplace wellness programs. Employers understand that healthy, emotionally fit employees are more productive and happier in their support of organizational objectives.
What Has Changed?
Many ‘wellness programs’ are not meaningful to the people they are intended to serve.
These programs have not fundamentally changed since the late 1990’s, still offering incentives for programs like weight-loss, diabetes-management and tobacco-cessation. Businesses spend money on wellness programs yet do not track their return on investment for the business nor for the employees. Researchers reported in the April 2019 edition of JAMA that their 18-month study results called into question whether wellness programs at work actually deliver on their promise. Employers should take note of this study!
The Sowello Method™ is different as it robustly integrates measurable strategies which link employee AND business wellness. Our first work with corporate wellness was in 1992 and we’ve been continuously improving since then. We expect, and encourage, more exploration into the effectiveness of wellness programs. It is long past time when this $8 billion industry lost effectiveness, for both employees and employers.
Why Work with Sowello?
The Sowello Method™ integrates employee wellness strategies with business strategies. Skillfully understanding the needs of both is an essential starting point. This is not a one-size fits all program, no assumptions about what employees nor the business needs or wants. Our highly personalized approach when working with an individual client is expanded when working with our employer groups. Implementing and sustaining a well-thought-out wellness program, whether employees are onsite or virtual, is paramount.
Sowello’s Secret ~
We facilitate organizations moving beyond strategy to get in touch with their hearts and awaken their consciences. Bringing heart into the wellness program is the forgotten secret and sadly viewed as naive. As The Little Prince said “it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Workplace Trends…..
Wellbeing has transitioned from being a niche benefit to a mainstream strategic concern in just three years according to a REBA 2019 survey findings, with 68.4% of firms now having a strategy in place for monitoring employee wellbeing – more than double the percentage (29.8%) that had one in 2016.
Using 2017 data collected from Britain’s Healthiest Workplace (BHW) initiative which surveyed close to 400 employers and 90,000 employees RAND Corporation found two success factors in workplace wellness initiatives. “Firstly, workplaces that train line managers in health wellbeing report higher participation in health and wellbeing interventions. Secondly, employers that report on the health and wellbeing of staff internally and externally show higher participation among employees. This indicates that culture change in the workplace can be driven by making health and wellbeing a business priority, reporting on it, discussing it at board level and empowering managers.”
“Ultimately, increasing employee participation in workplace health and wellbeing requires organizations to set strategies that address the main health risks, engage effectively with staff, and have buy-in and support for those at the top.”
A RAND Workplace Wellness Programs Study in 2012 found that approximately half of employers with at least 50 employees, and more than 90% of employers with more than 50,000 employees, offered wellness programs. While Aon Hewitt, a major healthcare consulting firm, found that approximately 47% of employers with no wellness program planned to add one in the next three to five years.
As an employer you know many of the reasons to have healthy staff and a robust business model. Give us a call, let’s discuss your business and see if there is a fit. Not every employer is ready to make the commitment to do this deep work.
If you are ready to have greater dynamism than the traditional businesses, then let’s talk!
