No matter how brilliant or promising your business is, the majority of its success depends greatly on your employees — their productivity, their relationship with one another, and their states of being.
In other words, your employees can make or mar your business. What techniques can you employ to improve their productivity and keep them loyal to your business? The answer is employee wellness programs!
Although the cost and process of developing employee wellness programs might be tricky, the potential benefits are vast.

Benefits Of Having Active Employee Wellness Programs

There are numerous business benefits associated with having a robust wellness programs for your staff. They include:

• A significant increase in productivity
• Increased employee satisfaction
• Improved workforce morale
• Better relationship among employees
• Reduced rate of employee turnover
• The programs aid efficient goal alignment
• Improved company’s reputation.

Best Employee Wellness Programs

Now that we are aware of how effective employee wellness programs could be in making your business grow, what are some specific examples of such programs?

1.     Onsite fitness centers
This is one of the most effective wellness programs you can implement for your employees. Several studies have shown that exercising not only improves the well-being and health of the participants but also offers significant improvements to their productivity.
The participants noted massive improvement in their productivity, time management skills, and turnover. Now, imagine the same improvements for your employees. So, don’t only encourage your employees to exercise, but also provide fitness centers for them to do so if it is budget friendly.

2.     Feel-good meetings
Aside from the regular solemn board meetings you hold with your staff, you should also hold meetings with the sole aim of encouraging your employees to relax, relate with each other peacefully, and let go of the pressure of work and high performance.
You could start by setting out time for fun games and challenges, hosting book clubs, organizing outings with your staff. The latter option works great for small businesses with limited staff.

3.     Quit smoking programs
Did you know that employees who smoke regularly cost more to maintain than employees who don’t? Smoking can be addictive and detrimental to one’s health. It would be to your benefit to create smoking cessation programs to help such employees quit smoking and make healthier choices.

4.     Paramedical services
If you want to improve the well-being of your employees and enhance their productivity, one of the best ways to do this is to offer them on-site paramedic services like massage or therapy.
As evidence of its efficacy, Google, which has been consistently ranked as having one of the best workplaces in the world, hires massage therapists for its employees while they’re at work.

5.     Lunch and healthy snacks
This works best if the majority of your staff work on-site and not remotely. Providing healthy lunch options for your team members benefits everyone at the end of the day. This way, you could also promote a healthy eating culture amongst your staff. Plus, this encourages interaction between team members and even staff from different teams.

5.     Counseling Programs
Aside from tending to your employee’s physical needs, it is important to pay attention to their mental health as well. The truth is that any productivity improvement primarily begins with the mind. Counseling programs are one of the employee wellness programs that can help your staff manage whatever mental issues they might be experiencing effectively, so they don’t become hindrances to their work and productivity.

7.     Naps
Yes, naps. It might seem deeply unprofessional to encourage staff to sleep during work hours. But, you have to understand that a good nap leaves one refreshed in both mind and body. Plus, a refreshed body and mind is one ready to take on any allocated work and crush it!
This is one of the reasons innovative and highly successful companies like Facebook, Zappos, Asana, etc. have special rooms where staff can take quick naps.

In conclusion, while the cost of employee wellness programs might be high, the benefits always supersede the cost in every possible dimension. While you may come across some challenges while implementing wellness programs for your employees, do not let them deter you. The benefits outweigh the cost after all.