THE FUTURE OF

Workplace Wellness

AFTER COVID-19

MINDSH IFTME .COM

COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way companies

function. Across the globe businesses are having to figure out how

to adapt to the new ‘new normal’ workplace.

Employee wellbeing is predicted to be the most important of these

new strategies, with workplace wellness initiatives at the

forefront.

 

Before the pandemic, corporate wellness programs were proven to

be a valuable addition to companies, with effective wellness

initiatives producing, on average, a 26% reduction in health costs

and 28% reduction in sick days.

INTRODUCTION

Millennials, now the largest generation in the workforce, will

represent 75% of the global workforce by 2025.

This generation of employees are health-conscious, choosing to

work at companies that care about their wellbeing. The COVID-19

crisis will only intensify this sentiment.

 

Workplace wellness strategies amid this crisis can be an

advantageous investment for businesses looking to increase

employee retention, ensure smooth business operations and peak

performance.

WELLNESS IS A MUST-HAVE

After dealing with social distancing, stress and anxiety over the

pandemic, employers will need to put more focus on a holistic

wellness approach, including mental wellbeing and financial

security.  A discounted gym membership and standard health

coverage will not be enough.

 

According to a 2019 MetLife survey, more than 50% of

respondents said they would be more interested in working for a

company, stay loyal to that company and be more successful in

their role if that company offered holistic benefits.

 

The term employee experience has stemmed from this holistic need

for wellbeing and a meaningful workplace environment.  Talent

will be won or lost based on a company’s employee experience,

and McKinsey research indicates that employee experience is

essential for businesses to compete effectively, ranking it as one of

the top people initiatives for companies.

 

Employee experience requires a health-orientated workplace

culture to support the needs and desires of staff with personalized

experiences that motivate and encourage employee’s quality of life.

HOLISTIC WILL WIN OUT

COVID-19 has accelerated the focus of holistic wellness with

wellbeing emerging as the top-ranked trend in the 2020 Deloitte

Global Human Capital Trends report.

Whether employees continue to work from home or transition back

to the office, employers must look to provide a consistent well-

rounded wellness experience.

HOLISTIC WILL WIN OUT

A holistic wellness program requires a team of people who can

strategize, initiate, drive and review the program.

Although this role usually falls to HR, for real success, you may

want to bring in a corporate wellness expert for whom wellness is

the only priority. 

 

For internal HR or Marketing teams, even with the best intentions,

competing priorities or constrained resources in their day-to-day

operations may risk wellness initiatives falling by the wayside.

 

Having a dedicated consultant expert that drives the wellness

strategy is a key step to effective engagement and beneficial

results.

DON'T LEAVE IT ALL TO HR

The new normal will include a bigger focus on digital health

offerings such as telemedicine, webinar seminars, and virtual

fitness classes. By incorporating virtual and on-site wellness

benefits into a program, employers can offer a program to staff

no matter where they are.

 

Focusing on the five pillars of health, including physical health,

mental wellbeing, social connection, financial security and

environmental safety, will provide a holistic approach to your

workplace wellness program.

 

Physical Health

Health experts predict that COVID-19 will increase healthcare

costs by 7% this year, on top of the 5% increase that was already

expected.

 

A weaker immune system can leave employees more susceptible

to contracting the virus, higher absenteeism, lower productivity and

higher healthcare costs. Plus, conditions such as type 2 diabetes

or hypertension may be made more difficult to manage through

limited exercise during lockdown, and chronic back pain may be

worsened by poor ergonomics in work-from-home settings.

PIVOTING POST-COVID

Thus, encouraging employees to manage their health via

convenient no-contact telemedicine consultations with relevant

healthcare providers will deliver a valuable service.

Online consultations may provide a flexible benefit for companies,

who may find remote working re-instated until a vaccine

treatment for COVID-19 is developed. Those who utilized

telemedicine and online consultations during the pandemic may

also appreciate the convenience of virtual care offered by their

employees.

One of the biggest opportunities will be on-site health screenings,

with more employees seeking preventative medicine measures

after COVID-19.

Hosting flu shots and biometric screenings offer cost-effective

ways to provide health benefits, helping employees to feel looked

after and employers to avoid losses in productivity through

sickness and absenteeism.

PIVOTING POST-COVID

Post the pandemic, everyone is going to need to move more again,

and businesses that offer fitness training will be appreciated by

employees. Offering a discounted gym membership may no longer

be enough though. 

Instead providing a variety of exercise options, both in-person or

onsite and virtually through webinars and streaming video classes

may be preferred by both parties owing to the easy adaption and

flexibility.

According to a recent CDC study, 75% of healthcare spending goes

on treating chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular

illness, most of which can be resolved or improved through a

healthy diet.

 

Offering nutrition-based education, consultations or programs is a

simple and cost-effective way to target employee health post

COVID-19.

Nutrition can be addressed on-site or off-site with webinars,

nutrition newsletters and lunch n’ learns, to meatless Monday

recipes, healthy cooking competitions and providing healthy

snacks in the office.

PIVOTING POST-COVID

Mental Wellbeing

Mental health will become an even bigger focus after COVID-19. 

The pandemic experience has caused high levels of stress and

anxiety around the uncertainty of this health scare and how our

healthcare system has been ill-equipped to deal with it.

The viral pandemic has brought into sharp focus what is important

to most people: physical and mental health and social connection

with family and friends. This will accelerate the need for a holistic

wellness approach.

 

If companies want to thrive post-COVID, mental wellbeing will

need to be a fundamental pillar of their workplace wellness

initiative to foster a healthy work culture. Gone will be the days of

overwork until burnout to measure productivity. Mental health

offerings may include stress-management consultations and

webinars, meditation classes, and flexible working hours.

 

Whether employees continue to work from home or return to the

office, providing a consistent holistic wellness experience that

empowers employees to balance their personal and professional

lives is a must.

PIVOTING POST-COVID

Social Connection

Social distancing and isolation during the pandemic have left

many people depressed and in need of social connection.

Lockdown has brought the importance of connecting with others to

the forefront, and employees will value a company’s efforts in this

regard. 

 

Feeling part of a community is critical to long-term health, and

can bring immense satisfaction, helping to lower stress levels and

enhance immunity.

 

Health challenges and competitions are a great way to intertwine

a health initiative and social connection into one, offering

employees the opportunity to work towards common health goals

in a supportive community setting.

These can be as simple as recording water intake every day,

healthy cooking competitions or a 5k walkathon group.

PIVOTING POST-COVID

Be sure to publicly acknowledge participants and winners via

internal landing pages or newsletters and drum up excitement

and anticipation across departments for upcoming challenges or

competitions.

 

Leveraging video technology for meetings, instead of just phone

calls, as well as social ‘water cooler’ chat time with colleagues

will help foster social connections, reducing stress and relieving

the considerable toll we have all had to bear during our remote

working from home situation.

 

Remind your teams that they can feel connected to the workplace

and their colleagues for support with regular and consistent

communication.

PIVOTING POST-COVID

Financial Security

According to a recent survey by SHRM, two out of three workers

are anxious to return to work and 38% of service-based staff

report feeling tired, depressed and stressed.

The PwC 2020 Employee Financial Wellness Survey found that

almost 40% of employees are unprepared financially for the

economic downturn provoked by COVID-19, with more than half

stressed about their finances.

Financial stress is insidious and can lead to long-term health issues

if left unmanaged.

 

Career counseling and personal financial advisory consultations or

budgeting tools and webinars will serve employees well during

these uncertain times as part of a workplace wellness program.

PIVOTING POST-COVID

Environmental Safety

The easiest way to change an unhealthy habit is to change the

environment surrounding that habit. This is called nudge theory in

behavioral economics, whereby making subtle changes to the

environment can effortlessly influence behavior.

 

Organizations can use environmental cues to support employee

health by helping to build new habits. 

PIVOTING POST-COVID

This can be done by making stairwells more inviting or slowing

down the elevator, offering virtual personalized coaching, having

regular team meditation meetings, establishing fitness sessions

with flexibility to exercise during the workday, and having physical

distance markers and easily accessible hand sanitizing dispensers.

 

One company creating innovative solutions is Social Bands, who

have developed different colored rubber wrist bands to help

people feel more comfortable to silently express their social

distancing preferences. 

This affordable strategy can be used for returning-to-work

employees to easily communicate and respect distancing

inclinations of colleagues, so that employees can work their way

from red (no physical contact), to amber (elbows only) to green

(high fives, hugs and handshakes) at their own pace.

PIVOTING POST-COVID

One of the biggest failures with workplace wellness programs

is not employing a data-driven approach to employee wellness.

A study published by the Corporate Research Forum found that

only 26% of organizations leverage data to guide their wellness

strategy.

Without consistent data, wellness programs may fail to deliver

engagement and a return on investment.

 

There are multiple ways to collect data from online surveys,

focus groups, webinar forums or digital dashboards.  The key is to

understand what wellness elements are most important to

employees and determine their current needs based on their

collective demographic and health status.

 

For example; if the majority of your staff are between 35-55

years, with families, managing parenting and work may be a

major concern, in which case a meal kit service, discounted

childcare and webinars on the challenges of COVID-19 as a

working parent may be most relevant.

A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH

While the economy and work environment we operated in last

year is now very different for the foreseeable future, companies

will still want to compete for top talent. 

Offering a holistic and appropriate workplace wellness offering

will have an advantage in these uncertain times.

A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH

Engaging employees in a corporate wellness program will be the

biggest hurdle, especially as our work-lives pivot into unchartered

virtual territory post-COVID.

While a new strategy may take some effort initially, it may serve

companies well for remote staff, as well as on-site business

across multiple locations for years to come.

 

Incentives will continue to motivate employees to participate in

wellness programs, but certain incentives may need to be re-

imagined, such as tickets to movies or local sports events, if

staffers are unable to use these immediately or feel

uncomfortable to be in these spaces due to the pandemic. Gift

cards for home meal-kits, streaming services or online shopping

may become more sought after instead.

 

The tone of the wellness program is vital to ensure successful

engagement and repeated success. Expressing genuine care and

concern for staff through compassionate communication,

especially during these trying times, will set an empathetic voice

for the wellness program.

ENGAGING EMPLOYEES

Consistent messaging showcasing the benefits of the wellness

program for individual staff members and well-publicized

campaigns and newsletters across various mediums such as

intranet sites, slack channels, email, webinars, and on-site posters

will subtly encourage participation while reminding employees

that the organization is invested in their wellness.

 

Creating wellness champions is another way to disseminate

workplace wellness benefits and increase engagement. Using both

in-person and digital champions will be key to drive enthusiasm

amongst employees.

Providing these champions with a digital toolkit for engaging

teams will help them effortlessly promote the program across

various in-person and online platforms.

ENGAGING EMPLOYEES

Although some companies will have a knee-jerk reaction and

make budget cuts to their workplace wellness program, in

response to the pandemic. This will be a mistake.

 

COVID-19 has changed what employees need and expect from a

corporation in terms of their wellness. A robust corporate wellness

program can actually help control costs, including healthcare,

productivity, absenteeism, and retention, by helping employees

manage their health and wellbeing.

 

Now is the time to give your company an advantage over the

competition by pivoting your workplace wellness strategy and

provide relevant sought-after value for your employees, now and

in the future.

IN SUMMARY

MINDSH IFTME .COM

Taryn Stein is a wellness consultant supporting brands to

develop creative content, wellness strategies and health

offerings to customers and employees. If you would like to find

out more about working with Taryn, please get in touch:

GET IN TOUCH

taryn@mindshiftme.com

WELLNESS CONSULTANT