Corporate health promotion is evolving.

Early efforts to develop healthful workplaces focused on safety at the workplace and injury avoidance for staff members.

More recently, health promotion programs are designed to assist staff members to choose healthier behaviours like being more physically active or quitting smoking.

Campaigns to raise awareness, educational sessions to raise knowledge, opportunities to learn new skills, and changes to policies to make it easier for workforce to make healthful options are often included.

This approach is taken because the worksite is a good way to reach people , since most adult Americans spend a big part of their day at work.

While safety and lifestyle programs are two aspects that contribute to the health of staff members, corporate wellness is more effective when a third factor is brought into the equation-the environment at work.

Precisely how the workplace affects health.

Increasingly, it is recognized that the worksite itself has a powerful affect on people ’s health. When people  are satisfied with their job, they are more productive and tend to be healthier. When workers feel that the environment at work is negative, they feel stressed.

Stress has a large impact on worker mental and physical health, and in turn, on productivity.

Consultant Graham Lowe has identified five components of worksite culture that directly affect employees’ health and the health of the company overall-credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and friendship.

The underlying idea is that corporations must genuinely care about the wellness of their staff members.

Businesses today who want to attract and keep good staff members have leaders who understand the connection between employee satisfaction and employee health and believe that company health promotion is a organization strategy.  

Their upper-level management practices include making reasonable demands on time and energy, involving staff members in decision making, rewarding work well done, openly communicating, and providing support to balance work and home life.

Employers know that staff members are looking for jobs that pay well, have good benefits, are intriguing, and include excellent health and safety programs. So in today’s competitive hiring market, it’s become more important than ever for companies to enhance job satisfaction and ensure that staff members enjoy being on the job.

Company health promotion benefits both companys and workers.

Exactly how does employee wellness benefit the corporation?

A wellness program can help a business to –

• Attract and keep employees;

• reduce the costs of disability, drugs, and absenteeism;

• reduce the effects of a stressful worksite;

• reduce healthcare costs or keep them contained; and

• improve morale by creating a happy, supportive environment.

How does employee wellness benefit employees?

Employees of businesses that have a health promotion program are likely to have –

• increased awareness and knowledge of ways to improve their health;

• A better (less stressful) workplace;

• increased protection from injury;

• improved health and wellness;

• higher morale and greater job satisfaction;

• increased productivity and effectiveness at work;

• decreased personal health care costs; and

• A more relaxed/flexible approach to health issues.

Both businesss and personnel have a responsibility for building a healthful workplace. Employees are expected to arrive at work in good health, and the business is expected to provide an environment that allows personnel to maintain good health, enjoy their work, and contribute to the company’s success.

Employee wellness is more than a “lunch and learn” program. It’s about developing a “individuals  first” approach to doing corporation.

It is about taking care of personnel, establishing a positive work environment, and paying attention to the factors that keep personnel healthful and happy at work.

A good wellness program has an impact on employees’ mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.