Corporate Wellness: A Stimulus for Employee Wellbeing

The development of various technologies to ease the life of an individual has eroded the line between personal life and work, which in turn, is impacting the physical as well as mental health of the employees at the workplace. Body exercise among people is minimized due to the presence of bots with AI doing multiple things. Heavily burdened, sick, aging, discontent, disconnected from work, stressed out, financially insecure, and not so safe – these alarming effects on the mental and physical wellbeing of an employee, making them dependent on long-term health risks and impact the day-to-day operations of any businesses. It is not a surprise that it is creating a huge dent in the economy, therefore making corporate wellness a significant and essential component for corporates across the geography. 

The concept of corporate wellness or employee wellness was unidentified a few decades ago. As the large corporates just started adopting employee wellness programs in the last 35 years, this concept is gaining traction. Structured and well-defined wellness initiatives result in more contribution and productivity from the employees and the corporates enjoy the perk of a healthier workforce. In the corporate world, it is important to understand your employee’s health condition, a good employee who is suffering from chronic disease can create a huge loss to the organization. As per Arizton’s recent market research, 75% of employers want to work closely with their corporate wellness providers to devise effective treatment options and seek cost information. Implementation of various employee wellness programs will make the employees aware of the fact of being healthy during their work time. 

Employees are developing an interest in the corporate wellness program to meet their expectations and needs. According to the Metlife and Glassdoor survey respectively, 76% of the employees think their workplace is responsible for their work and wellbeing, 87% of the employees are expecting corporates to help them in proper balancing of their work and their health.

Read - U.S. Employee Assistance Program Services Market - Industry Outlook and Forecast 2022-2027

Interesting Facts to know:

• Wellness for millennials is a daily priority, they spend their time and money on exercising more, eating right, and smoking less than previous generation. Millennials use apps to track training data and online information relating to health, fitness, and lifestyle.
• Wellness for Generation X meant being able to do various activities that would be convenient and fit into their schedule.
• As baby boomers tends to be more loyal to their companies, wellness programs cater to their company’s health on a whole rather than focusing on an individual goal work better or this generation.

How did the Landscape of Corporate Wellness Change Drastically in 2020?

The concept of work from home during the emergence of COVID-19 in Q1 phase of 2020 became a norm among the employees across the globe. The employees are now working from home and are adopting remote work, which is leading to less movement of the individual, hence, affecting the health and wellbeing of the employees. This pandemic has created immense need for the HR leaders to offer virtual employee wellness program for their employees. The COVID-19 situation had negative impact on the mental health of the employees and a lot of people started abusing drugs and alcohol to cope up with the stress. This led several organizations and employers to really look for wellness service provides who has impactful and detailed virtual wellness programs. The hype and adoption of virtual fitness got a huge boost during the lockdown. Employees are the major end-users for the virtual fitness programs.

The onset of virtual programs paved way for adoption of corporate wellness programs with various online health solutions such as webinars, virtual fitness classes, and mindfulness exercises According to the Corporate Wellness Magazine.com the program manager for Best Buy said that there are more than 1,000 employees who now connect daily to participate in the workout sessions organized by the company. Many companies are extending their remote work policies to allow for more flexibility and a healthier work-life balance for their workers while incorporating some kind of virtual wellbeing program.

The landscape in businesses in the US is at an intersection where companies are doing well but the employees are going through epidemic levels of stress and depression due to more responsibilities, a dwindling workforce, and culture. Unhealthy lifestyles that constitute inactivity, smoking, and bad nutrition is spiraling healthcare costs out of control. Corporate profits that recorded an uptick after a long period of sluggish growth, is also fueling the adoption of corporate wellness programs in the US. The corporate wellness market in the US is expected to reach approximately USD 19 billion by 2026. Nearly half of the US nationals have a part of their health insurance paid for by the employer through fringe benefits. It is a win-win situation for both as it keeps healthcare costs for employees low and enables employers to attract and retain top employees.

Read: US Corporate Wellness Market – Industry Outlook and Forecast 2021-2026

 Are Digital Wellness Tools the Next Big Thing?

The BBM Times conducted an employee survey where they found that around 49% of the workers in the US are excited about healthcare transformation caused by the adoption of digital wellness tools and they are expected to explore different digital medical tools in the future. Digital wellness tools provide easy access to healthcare for people who live in rural or remote areas. Digital wellness helps the patients to monitor their health without vising any hospitals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for digital wellness tools has increased to maintain social distance and avoid going to healthcare institutions. The impact of digital wellness tools and the rate of adoption is still on the nascent stage and the growth will be monitored over the next few years.

The trend of digitalization is growing across all sectors and healthcare companies are increasing the usage of digital platforms to provide better care to the patient. Digitalization has become one of the best solutions for healthcare facilities in this pandemic situation. Digital platforms also helped the corporates to provide virtual wellness programs to their employees to retain the same productivity and promote their welfare as well. Corporate wellness is now becoming essential for every small or large company to motivate their employees toward following a healthy lifestyle and maintaining optimal work-life balance. How will the onset of adoption various virtual wellness programs shape the future of the workforce, is yet to be observed