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…
Your Welcoa membership has expired.
The Gap Between Theory and Practice
The state of workplace wellness is evolving…or is it? With the WELCOA Benchmarks evolving, the industry migrating away from incentives and weight loss contests, and studies that question the return on wellness, you may feel pressure to do something differently.
Then you go back to your job and reality sets in. Employees ask you how you can help them lose weight, leadership asks for an ROI and your boss is wondering when you’re going to lower healthcare costs. All of these expectations with an under resourced wellness program that gets no true organizational adoption.
When faced with reality, you wonder how you are ever going to achieve what these thought leaders are talking about. Even if you feel like something’s not working with traditional wellness, you don’t know what to do and even if you did, you’d have to convince leadership.
As in the case of Kate, a wellness professional who hears that wellness is changing but sees absolutely no evidence of that happening with her employer. Kate feels the constant pressure of keeping the wellness programs fresh and new.
Even though she knows incentives aren’t the answer, she goes along with them because she knows they’ll just do it anyway. Kate feels frustrated daily, feeling like she’s in a bubble and asks herself “who am I helping?”
The thing about the evolution of wellness is that there’s a HUGE gap between where we need to shift as a profession and the reality of where we are today.
It’s hard and scary to challenge the status quo of wellness, especially if you work in or with an organization that doesn’t want to evolve. You have to reach out to others, learn new and sometimes uncomfortable information, and risk being told no.
But what if I could paint a different scenario? One in which you gain…
- Clarity on the next generation of wellness
- Confidence to start the conversation and the facts to back it up
- The first steps to take to inspire new thinking
- New relationships (because you can’t do it alone)
- A broader career skillset
- More impact for the people you passionately serve
2019 Training Opportunities
This is exactly what will be covered in an upcoming live, online training Next Generation Wellness: From Theory to Practice. WELCOA members get $100 off the training by entering code WELCOA.
Craving more from Jen? Join her and Rebecca Johnson of Redesigning Wellness in theirNext Generation Wellness: From Theory to Practice pre-conference intensive session at the 2019 WELCOA Summit.
Related Posts
Building a sense of belonging in the workplace is crucial for employee well-being and performance. Discover five strategic steps, applicable even for remote workers, that not only reduce turnover and sick days but also foster a strong culture of support. From addressing cultural differences to prioritizing mental well-being, these steps provide a roadmap for employers to create a workplace where every employee feels valued and connected.
I’d like to think I’m working toward breaking down the stigma of mental health. I have family members, friends and colleagues who struggle with various challenges, and I have had bouts of anxiety and depression throughout my life. Yet, when someone is right in front of me, clearly struggling, I still find myself paralyzed by what to say or do.
