Corporate Wellness and Fitness Programs
Corporate wellness programs are becoming a necessity for business owners and employees. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. corporations spent an estimated $14 billion on wellness and health care in 2012, which is up from $13.4 billion in 2011.
The current trend in corporate wellness programs is to allow employees to work out at their place of work and develop healthier lifestyles
In addition to physical fitness, corporate wellness programs are also geared towards increased mental health and overall productivity while at work. Some companies have incorporated mental health programs into their corporate wellness programs such as offering free therapy sessions for employees with depression or by having a dedicated therapist on-site for employees who require more intense treatment services
One company that has used a combination of both physical fitness and mental health care is the multinational conglomerate GSK (GlaxoSmithKline)
The company has had some success in promoting its program by offering discounts on GSK’s medicines such as antidepressants and other medications
These include various types of mental health care such as counseling, therapy sessions, or even pharmaceuticals
2. What is Power Wellness?
Corporate wellness programs are a part of the overall corporate culture of a business. A corporate wellness program is an activity and/or activity sequence that has been developed by businesses to improve the health of employees. These programs are designed to help employees maintain a healthy lifestyle, improve their overall well-being, and increase their productivity in the workplace.
A corporate wellness program may also be called employee wellness program, employee health management/healthcare management, employee wellness management, and medical fitness care management (MFCM). Corporate wellness is a form of employee involvement that aims to address the health needs of employees without compromising the business operations. Corporate wellness programs can be used for people who work in customer service or retail positions, as well as people in other industries such as education and healthcare.
The appeal to corporate wellness is easy to see: it offers an easy way for employers to promote healthier lifestyles among their workforce while reducing costs associated with workplace injuries due to physical labor. Fitness programs have been found to reduce absenteeism rates amongst office workers (Baker et al., 2011). One study found that employees who regularly participated in corporate fitness programs had improved working conditions and increased productivity (Forsyth et al., 2004).
Power Wellness programs focus on four key areas affecting employee health: nutrition and exercise; stress reduction; mental health; and social support. In 2003, “Healthy Workplaces” listed 25 benefits from participating in a corporate wellness program: reduction in absenteeism; reduced cases of physical injuries due to workplace accidents; improved productivity levels amongst office workers; reduced risk factors for heart disease; improved endurance levels; decreased stress levels; increased social interactions amongst coworkers (“Healthy Workplaces” 2003). In 2010, “Healthy Workplaces” listed 60 benefits from participating in a corporate wellness program: reduction in sick leave absences (including vacation time); reductions in blood pressure medications taken by employees culpable for poor blood pressure control because of high blood pressure or pre-hypertension symptoms (“Healthy Workplaces”); reduced instances of cardiovascular disease (“Healthy Workplaces”); improved ability to handle stressful situations (“Healthy Workplaces”); decrease the incidence of sleep disturbances (“Healthy Workplaces”); increased happiness levels (“Healthy Workplaces”); improved ability to deal with emergencies (“Healthy Workplaces”); enhanced creativity level (“Healthy Workplaces”); improvement at work performance (“Healthy Workplaces”); decreased instances of diabetes among office workers (“Healthy Workplaces”) Corporate fitness.
3. How to Get Started and Why it’s Your Best Bet
The most effective way to build your corporate wellness program is, to begin with, the fundamentals. It’s crucial that you understand your strategy, scope, and objectives for the wellness program. This will guide you in the design and implementation of a personalized fitness plan.
The best thing about corporate wellness programs is that they can be customized for each employee. Whether you are a manager or a worker, there are certain factors that will help you write a more effective wellness program for your company.
There are many facets to corporate wellness programs such as:
1) Set goals for employees (e.g., reduce alcohol consumption)
2) Provide incentives/games for employees (e.g., give away free food)
3) Motivate employees to exercise on their own (e.g., offer them an hour of free time following their work shift)
You can find more information regarding corporate fitness programs online or by contacting your nearest fitness center or gym provider in your city or country.
4. The Benefits of an Integrated Corporate Fitness and Medical Fitness Care Management Program
Corporate wellness programs are a collaborative effort between the employer, the employee, and their health care providers. A corporate wellness program can be a multi-faceted approach to wellness management that is designed to sustain and improve employee health. In some cases, corporate wellness programs may be as simple as providing employees with financial incentives to participate in physical activities (e.g., free gym passes or discounted gym membership fees)
The benefits of an integrated corporate fitness and medical fitness care management program include:
Understanding the importance of exercise for employee health
Commitment to health and fitness goals
Providing employees with tools for tracking progress
Creating an environment that encourages healthy lifestyles for all employees through education and communication
Providing employers with a clear picture of their employees’ fitness levels
Helping employers identify individuals who are less active than expected due to age, disability, or other factors
Helping companies meet their health insurance coverage requirements.
5. The Power Wellness Process
The Power Wellness program is aimed at helping corporate staff achieve a healthy lifestyle and improve their health.
Once your company has a policy in place, a wellness program can be an effective way of promoting a healthy work environment for employees. The main objective of the program is to encourage employees to engage in various physical activities and improve their fitness levels.
The Power Wellness Program enables the company to create an environment where people are motivated to achieve fitness goals by improving their core fitness through integrated team-based exercise programs.
The program also helps companies to focus on the long-term health benefits of employees by reducing the risk factors associated with poor health such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. This provides employees with the opportunity to improve their overall health while contributing towards improving the overall wellness of the workplace and the management systems at large.
As soon as your organization receives approval from Health Canada you can begin planning your corporate wellness policy. The first step is to make sure you have a company-approved Fitness Plan that covers all areas of employee wellness management including nutrition, physical activity, tracking and weighing, sleep hygiene, relaxation exercises, stress management, and more.
Once you determine what areas will be included in your Corporate Fitness Plan you can align these activities with your company’s business strategy to ensure that policies are aligned with business needs; for example, if you want employees who are overweight or suffer from hypertension then an effective corporate wellness plan should promote fitness such as running track events or weight lifting sessions.
For example; any event linked with fitness could include walking on a treadmill or cycling on a cycle path but it might not include spending time doing yoga stretches or deep breathing exercises.
You should also consider adding other elements such as group fitness classes like powerlifting training programs which are designed for encouraging teamwork among all team members rather than just one individual.
The first step is finding out what kind of corporate wellness policy works best for your organization; however, it’s important that you take into account some basic principles when designing it:
1) Creating a well-defined plan will minimize confusion so managers do not need to re-evaluate policies every year or two when they get new information;
2) Implementing well-designed programs forces employees to change their behavior without expecting them to wait until they have been forced into doing so by preconceived notions about what is right and wrong;
6 . Take Action and Get Results!
Corporate wellness programs are an effort to promote and maintain healthy lifestyles for the employees,
It is a way to address chronic health conditions and promote physical fitness. It is an effort to reduce the risks of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and PMS among employees.
A corporate wellness program could be a part of the overall financial benefits program offered by an employer to its employees. A company can offer competitively-priced health insurance, gym memberships, or other fitness amenities.
The benefits of corporate wellness programs are more than just a good idea but it is necessary for today’s society as people want to be fit, healthy, and active. The best way to achieve this is through corporate wellness programs.
The benefits of corporate wellness programs are a combination of all the factors that go into making a successful employee:
1) Company’s Health Policy which covers essential health services like medical insurance, dental insurance, and prescription drug coverage;
2) Employee education on healthy lifestyle choices.
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