You’re walking down the hallway toward your office and you
see a poster from your company challenging you to make a New Year’s resolution to
get in 10,000 steps per day for a fitter you. Does this sound familiar? If so,
you’re not alone.
Well, there are a few barriers that organizations seem to
constantly run in to and often are unable to move past.
1. Inconvenient locations - Do you have to go to another location for classes on wellness or to workout?
2.
Time constraints - Are you able to go to the gym during your lunch break? Are the classes and/or activities offered when you have time to go?
1. Inconvenient locations - Do you have to go to another location for classes on wellness or to workout?
3. Insufficient incentives - Does your company attempt to make it worth your time to complete the wellness activities?
4. Lack of upper management support - Do you feel like your direct supervisor and your organization supports the wellness program?
5. Imbalance between educational opportunities and wellness activities - Does your organization offer both wellness activities and opportunities to learn about different wellness topics?
So, what’s the answer? Transformational Leadership and Symmetrical
Communication!
Research has supported the idea that employees who feel supported by their organization are more likely to make healthy lifestyle changes. Furthermore, these organizations will have a higher rate of participation in their wellness programs. Transformational leaders like to listen to their employees and take their opinions into consideration when making decisions. Symmetrical communication is when an employee is able to easily communicate with their supervisor.
And, think about it – wouldn’t you be more likely to
participate in a program that was designed with your input?
Great post, flowed well, easy to read, and the opening sentences grabbed my attention. When reflecting on why there is a lack of participation, my first thought was support. Thinking back to companies I have worked for in the past, wellness programs were offered but not supported. I often correlates employee wellness programs to the equivalent of mental health services. The company verbally says they want you to utilize these services, but they are not encouraged, almost like it is a ploy to get insurance breaks or grain attraction. Such as gyms on campus but employees only have 30-minutes for lunch. So, the pre/post workout time takes your entire lunch and then you are left eating at your desk. That being said I think it is up to employees to take advantage of the service the company offers not the company to organize change.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think that an employee wellness program is successful for many reasons. I also would like to suggest that the stronger and sense of community an organization has, the greater possibility for employees to participate in an employee wellness program.
ReplyDeleteI love this topic! I definitely believe that more individuals are more likely to participate in an employee wellness group that they provided input for. I feel that incentives could also be a great addition to an employee wellness program as well. Are these programs meant to be onsite at the company? or off-site?
ReplyDeleteThis is super cool! I'm glad there is actually research and work going on behind programs like this because I've always failed to see how wellness programs are supposed to actually be effective in my work places. Hopefully, with more research and advocacy like this, they will become more effective and helpful!
ReplyDeleteThinking about the writing of the blog post, I would suggest defining who your audience is. I started reading it as if I was employee, but by the end it seemed more aimed toward an employer. Deciding this will help you shape what info you include and how to present it. For example, at the beginning when I was reading it as if an employee, the list of barriers felt unnecessary because I felt like I would already understand those for myself. If you decide that this is for reading by an employer, that list may be helpful if they don't understand the barriers, but if you are going to do this, it should be clear from the beginning that this post is to help inform the people on the employer's side of the problem.
I like this condensed version of your research. Very easy to read. You did a great job diagnosing the problems with employee wellness programs. I would be interested in hearing more about your proposed solution. In what specific ways can transformational leadership and symmetrical communication be applied to wellness programs? Do you have any tangible examples or cases that you could share?
ReplyDeleteGreat research! You did a great job organizing your research in this blog. It simply makes the most sense for employee wellness programs have the input from the employees that it would be for.
ReplyDelete