Companies that have instituted a wellness program have discovered that health promotion in the workplace only helps the bottom line. The most remarkable manifestation of improved employee health is decrease in absenteeism that ultimately saves money for the company and increases productivity. A wellness program also reduces health expenses and medical costs for the company. An organization can have various reasons for putting up a wellness program in the workplace, and these translate to the following benefits for the company: lower healthcare costs and reduced use of healthcare benefits, reduced absenteeism resulting in higher productivity yield, lower incidence of worker injuries resulting in reduced workers’ and company’s disability, increased company morale due to a happy and healthy working environment, and better company loyalty among the employees (Worksite Wellness, 2008).
A company’s wellness program should have three important components: willing and motivated employees, a leader who is a firm believer in workplace wellness, and a dynamic wellness coach. Apart from these, wellness in the workplace can only be successful if the principle of wellness becomes company culture. Short of this and the program will only fall on the wayside and eventually disintegrate.
Success stories within the company in terms of employee wellness would also be interesting to be promoted within the company. Many successful companies put results and success stories about employee weight loss or smoking cessation up on bulletin boards or in company newsletters and intranet. Some companies have even gone further and gave monetary or benefits package incentives to employees who have successfully undergone wellness programs.
Wellness has been a growing trend among companies and organizations. Companies that have seen their businesses grow have some form of wellness program in place. The most popular programs are physical exercise, weight reduction, stop-smoking campaign, back care regimens, and the all-important stress management. Medical costs are known to eat up close to half of company profits. Companies that remedied this situation had discovered that only workplace wellness and health promotion can have a sustainable impact on keeping employees healthy, at the most immediate time as well as over the long haul (Worksite Wellness, 2008). These companies must have also concluded that human resources are the company’s biggest asset.
