Rethink Your Wellness Program
If your organization is still offering an employee wellness program that focuses just on physical health (nutrition, exercise, sleep, etc.), it is time to rethink your wellness program and start again.
Wellness is so last decade. As we move to the post-pandemic world, we need to fully understand what our people want/need in their work experience. Employees want different things now: family friendly benefits, location agnostic work, autonomy, connection to purpose, etc.
Today, we need to be focusing on employee well-being. I’m often asked, “how is well-being different than wellness”. Wellness is more narrowly defined as our physical health. While our physical healthy is essential to well-being, it isn’t all of it. Well-being is broader, more holistic, and includes other dimensions that support our overall well-being.
Look at the model you use to describe the dimensions of your initiative’s focus. How broad is it? Does it include elements such as financial well-being, mental well-being, connectedness, community, purpose, culture, safety?
You may be thinking, these are not new ideas. You are right. This isn’t new. And yet, I’m finding organizations that just keep doing what they have always done. They haven’t stopped to take the time to rethink their viewpoint and how the needs of their employees have changed over the past few years.
Time to step back and think about well-being, not just wellness.
