Corporate wellness programs are now the buzzword in many US companies. Studies reveal that 52% of companies offer one.
Focusing on your employees’ wellness leads to a healthier, more engaged, and more productive workforce. This eventually translates to more loyal and satisfied customers and improved profitability for your business.
You need to measure the performance of your employee wellness program to determine its effectiveness and fine-tune it to meet the changing needs of your employees. This guide focuses on the methods to determine the performance of your wellness program.
What Exactly Falls Under “Corporate Wellness Programs”?
Corporate wellness programs comprise several measures to achieve a healthy workplace. The program integrates several health activities within the daily schedule of an employee to enhance their well-being.
An ideal wellness program takes a holistic approach to promoting an employee’s health by fostering a supervisory health culture. Corporate wellness activities can vary from one workplace to another.
Some of the programs designed to encourage healthy habits in the workplace may include:
- Free or reduced gym membership
- Healthy food provided at the workplace
- Onsite fitness center
- Health risk assessments
- Vaccination clinics
- Yoga and meditation classes
- Free massages at work
- Wellness outings
- Ergonomically designed workspaces
- Rooms to nap or rest
Do You Really Need to Measure Wellness?
The following are some of the reasons why you need to measure your wellness program:
- To determine ROI and VOI: Evaluation of wellness program help employers determines the return on investment (ROI) and the value on investment (VOI). One of the most important ways a wellness program demonstrates value is by reducing healthcare costs and enhancing the quality of life.
- Customization benefits: Determining the effectiveness of your wellness program help you customize it to suit the specific employee needs and goals. Corporate wellness programs are not a one-size-fits-all affair. The ideal program should be tailor-made to meet the needs of each employee and guarantee better ROI and VOI.
- Feedback from employees: Measuring a wellness program for effectiveness can be a great way to receive employee opinions. Sending out regular surveys or holding regular meetings is a great way to gauge employees’ feelings about wellness initiatives. You also get valuable input on how best to improve the program.
7 Metrics to Measure the Success of Your Corporate Wellness Program
The following are some of the metrics to help you determine if your investments are paying off and whether they are actually making an impact.
Employee Turnover
Studies reveal that lack of appreciation is why at least 70% of employees consider leaving the workplace. A significant benefit of the employee wellness program is that it helps employees feel appreciated and valued. This ultimately translates to improved overall job satisfaction and reduced employee turnover.
You can measure the effectiveness of your wellness program by looking at retention rates as a direct benefit. If your employees love the wellness program you are implementing, it should show an improved retention rate.
High turnovers are costly for a company. You have to spend lots of resources and time finding, hiring, and onboarding new hires whenever an employee leaves. This takes your focus from other valuable tasks that could improve your bottom line.
Absenteeism
Wellness programs are designed purposely to improve employee health and wellness. An effective program should result in fewer sick days at the workplace, especially with healthier employees. Unplanned sick days can impact your productivity and introduces added health costs.
As mentioned earlier, wellness programs help employees eat healthier, become active, and sleep more. Generally, programs that include health coaching and preventive healthcare are more likely to reduce sick days significantly.
Work Productivity
A successful wellness program help increases employee work output and productivity. When your employees feel appreciated, it results in more engagement at the workplace.
Studies reveal engaged employees are 38% more likely to have above-average productivity than disengaged counterparts. Besides, a successful workplace mentorship program encourages your employees to lead healthier and happier lives.
When your workforce is eating better, exercising more, and sleeping better, they will come in refreshed and more energized. This can boost productivity at the workplace. To measure the ROI on a wellness program, find out if there is an increase in revenue from work outputs from the time you implemented the program.
Participation
Generally, wellness programs are optional, meaning employees are free to opt-in or opt-out. One way to measure the effectiveness of your workplace program is to determine its level of participation.
If you see a high increase in employee participation, it could be a sign the program is working and vice versa. A valuable wellness program should have at least half or more of all employees participating.
The following are some of the steps to gauge the effectiveness of your program using this metric:
- Track the employees registering for the program overall, and specific health initiatives
- Track the time each employee spends with the program each week
- Track the number of employees opting out of the program over time
Behavior Changes
Employee wellness programs pass critical knowledge on leading a healthy life and making a healthy lifestyle a reality. One clear metric that your wellness program is effective is if you start seeing healthier behavior at work. Keep in mind some changes may be so small they require a keen eye.
For example, you may notice employees who were typically stressed out and used to staying late are now leaving the workplace at reasonable times. The employees also came into the office energized and recharged for a new day.
Similarly, if your program encourages walking, you may start seeing people taking stairs instead of lifts or walking around when making phone calls. Other indicators include fitness tracking devices, increased physical activity during breaks, and increased enrollment in a wellness program.
Symptom Severity
Review your employees’ current status based on medical records and surveys and compare them regularly. For example, if you want to determine how your wellness program is helping your employee deal with stress, conduct a survey on the severity of the symptoms.
Ideally, symptoms of stress include moodiness, agitation, feelings of frustration, being overwhelmed, and insomnia. Conduct an anonymous survey that allows your employees to self-report the symptom severity and monitor how it changes as your employees begin using your wellness program.
Time-to-Service
The time-to-service metric tracks the duration it takes from when an employee requests help within your wellness program to when they receive the required services. Time-to-service is quite relevant, especially for programs designed to improve mental health. Tracking the time-to-service helps you reduce your wait times and manage employee expectations regarding the time it takes to receive help.
What Can You Do to Improve Your Corporate Wellness Program When It’s Not Working?
The following are some of the ways to improve the effectiveness of your corporate wellness program:
- Ensure leadership commitment: Leadership support plays an integral role in the success of your wellness program. Some of the ways to show your commitment to the program are by being present at most of the wellness-related events and holding walking meetings to foster a culture of health at the workplace.
- Target specific health concerns: If your employee survey reveals a significant percentage of your staff struggles with a specific issue, focus your wellness program on addressing that issue. Generally, personalized wellness programs result in more engagement and better results overall.
- Leverage wearable devices: More and more companies are turning to wearable devices to engage employees in wellness and health efforts. A recent study reveals that 79% of companies that adopted wearable technology say it’s crucial to their success.
- Send reminders: Once each individual sets wellness goals, use personalized reminders when no physical activity has not been recorded for several hours. Reminders can help get employees back on track when not meeting personal goals.
How Can You Calculate the ROI of Your Program?
The most effective way to calculate a wellness program’s return on investment (ROI) is to determine the money saved for every dollar spent. The traditional way to calculate the ROI is to measure the cost-effectiveness of the wellness program through direct indicators such as a reduction in healthcare claims.
It is crucial to remember that a wellness program’s real benefits may take a while to emerge. Ideally, creating healthy habits take time, meaning it could take several years before you can calculate an accurate ROI on a wellness program.
Streamline Your Wellness Program With Refresh
Employee well-being is integral to the success of your organization. If your workforce is not happy and healthy, it impacts productivity, engagement, turnover rates, and your bottom line. A positive, healthy workforce that feels supported by its employer is less stressed, more engaged, and highly productive.
Knowing if your corporate wellness program is actually working is critical to running your program. Refresh provides valuable, turnkey, yet flexible HR solutions to help your company realize its goals. We provide innovative platforms and tools to help you manage every aspect of your employee recognition program effortlessly.
Our in-house series guides employees through simple movements they can do at their desks to alleviate stress, guided audio meditation, fitness routines, and even financial wellness. We also provide nutritional tools to encourage healthy eating habits and track nutrition across meals. Contact us today to schedule a demo.