During the COVID-19 pandemic, people spent a lot of time isolated and indoors, which helped foster an environment where some people now feel lonelier than ever. The result is a loss of social connectedness—the degree to which people feel the social connections and relationships in their lives to satisfy their wants and needs. When social…
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3 Things Your Corporate Wellness Program Needs Right Now
BY: Maggie Gough // Director of Member Experience • WELCOA
Let’s keep things simple. It’s been another whirlwind of a year. We have heard from several of you that you’re not sure which direction to take your corporate wellness strategy right now. Here are three things you can do right now.
- Listen to your employees. Schedule zoom calls or mask up and talk to them in person if you can. If there are too many to meet one-on-one, decide what a critical mass would look like and make that happen. Let them know you are interested in hearing the needs of the employees. While you are with them, just listen or take a few notes. Ensure them the conversation is confidential and keep it that way. Refer them to any additional supports that you already have in place that could help them right now. Remind them you care. Don’t make it super long or over-engineer it. After the conversation, make some notes in a spreadsheet regarding their answers for each question and qualify it with one word that describes it. That way, you can look back at a high level to consider any themes that are coming up. Here are three questions you can build from. Ask them
- How do you feel the company is supporting your well-being?
- Is there something we can do right now that would improve it?
- Who in the company is serving you well right now?
- Take your feedback and compile it into something meaningful to communicate to leadership. Help them better serve the employees based on the information you gathered. If you have specific recommendations, make them. Consider everything from policy changes to pay to added wellness services. Our sense of professional agency in this field right now might mean a make-or-break situation for the employees we serve.
- Reduce barriers to self-care.
- If you have a program that requires a lot of documentation for incentives, lighten the documentation load. Provide the incentive anyway. We know it feels like the wild west, but trust us when we say your employees will appreciate the trust you are offering them and a willingness to reduce the number of priorities in their life right now.
- Provide more downtime during the workday for self-care. We are hearing from more and more of our members that this strategy is paying big dividends in their companies right now. One school district added an hour of paid free time for their teachers during professional development days.
Keep it simple, trust your ability to create the change you know is needed, and get to work to make it happen. WELCOA is here to support your success. If you need someone to have your back, we’ve got it. If you need a resource, a template, or a toolkit to do your job, we likely have that too. There is significant work to do. While it might feel overwhelming, or maybe you’re facing a little imposter syndrome, look around. There is no one else who is better situated or prepared to do this work than you.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Maggie Gough // Director of Member Experience • WELCOA
Serving a variety of populations in a multitude of industries, Maggie understands the complexity and depth of the corporate wellness industry and the needs of the professionals and employees they support. Her role at WELCOA is to ensure members receive stellar service and build sustaining connections as a community. Related Posts
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