Sometimes employers add a ton of features to make their corporate wellness program more attractive, and to check off as many boxes for wellness in the workplace. Trying to institute many programs at once can spread your efforts too thin and take away from portions of your program that are actually effective. These can be harmful to your ultimate goal of promoting healthier lifestyles amongst the staff. Furthermore, an over saturated wellness program can discourage employees from taking advantage of it. A corporate wellness program that has too many features will end up wasting money and time, and often has no clear entry point for employees. Here are a few guidelines to ensure that your wellness program is simple and effective (without extra bloat):
Identify the needs of the company:
If you have a previous corporate wellness program in place, cut out anything that doesn’t get a lot of use. Review the participation rates to see what kinds of activities or features employees actually use. Better yet, conduct a company wide survey or have a meeting to hear what employees want.
One at a time:
Don’t run too many fitness challenges at once or present too much wellness information. Research suggests that having too many options makes it difficult for us to pick one. This is against the point of your wellness program! Simplify by holding no more than one or two events at time. For example, if your wellness program has 20 different ways for employees to participate, cut out the majority that don’t actually get used and you’ll see increased engagement in the remainder.
Invest:
While not essential, putting a little time and effort upfront into a carefully selected wellness feature can make a big difference in the usage rates of your program. If it’s something your employees will like and use, it’s better than putting time and effort into something that they won’t.
Quality is more important than quantity of program features. A minimalistic and quality corporate wellness program can save your company both time and money. We frequently hear from our customers that the most often asked for wellness program is gym discounts and fitness subsidies. If that’s the case for you too, make that the primary focus of your program and watch your engagement rate skyrocket. Offer your employees a wellness program they’ll use, and check out Incentfit!