Many corporate wellness programs are aimed at getting people to start on their wellness journey, and to promote wellness in the workplace. The effective programs that get the highest return on investment focus on habit change, low impact exercise, and encouraging people to take that first step. But what about people who already exercise and are already healthy? Many times healthy people don’t benefit from corporate wellness programs because the programs are very much catered to those that are not healthy. It’s easy to assume that these programs would have a lower return on investment on healthy employees. However, even the healthiest employees can gain from these corporate benefits, and make the program more effective overall. Here are a few reasons not to design your program in a way that excludes healthy employees:
Healthy Employees Set a Good Example
Corporate wellness programs often gain role-models from their fittest employees. They tend to be the strongest supporters of the program. This encourages other employees to join in and keeps participation rates high. After all, what message are you sending to your unhealthy employees if even the healthy employees aren’t participating? When more employees are involved in the program, you’ll reap more of the benefits as a business.
Healthy Employees Are Your Most Productive
There is more than one way to get a positive return on investment from your wellness program. In addition to decreased healthcare costs, there are large gains in recruitment and retention, comradery, teamwork, and morale. While investing in the health of your fittest employees likely won’t save on healthcare spend, it will make a large impact on retention and morale of those employees. Your healthiest employees are your most productive ones, so retaining them is extremely important. Healthy employees will also enjoy being in a corporate environment that is actively supportive of their health oriented lifestyles. Showing them you appreciate their investment into themselves by giving them a rewarding and fulfilling way to participate in your wellness program will certainly be worth the cost.
They Create a Culture of Health
Instead of trying to keep healthy employees out of your wellness program to save a few cents, get them to push the program forward. You can’t create a culture around health if your healthy employees aren’t participating. They will be the role models and everyday champions you need to create positive culture change. They are likely the ones already pushing for a more healthy culture, so it’s a better bet to bring them into the fold of the wellness program rather than leaving them out.
At IncentFit, we can tailor-make programs that are customized to any population. We can target the health, the unhealth, or both. However experience has shown us that the most successful programs aim for high engagement by making the program approachable and appealing to all fitness levels. Want to learn more? Get in touch with us to learn more about how we boost engagement in corporate wellness.
