A Look at Office Wellness Programs

The office is a location where work gets accomplished, but it’s also known as a sedentary lifestyle. Workplace wellness programs may be an $8 billion industry, but the effectiveness of these programs has yet to be determined. Below we'll take a look at what kind of office wellness programs might work for your business. 

Multiple studies have been conducted about how wellness programs impact the workplace, but they don’t have any consistent results. Some show health improvements and cost savings, but others don’t. Studies performed in the past had several issues, though. There were often no comparison groups or personal biases that interfered with signups. Essentially, the end result of these studies couldn’t be described as accurate. Researchers from the University of Chicago and Harvard, however, have conducted larger studies that are much more reliable.

The BJ’s Wholesale Club Experiment

20 of these big-box retailers were selected to offer an employee wellness program, compared to 140 other locations that did not offer this program. Between the 160 locations, 33,000 workers were involved in the study. All participants were asked to take part in a health risk questionnaire, and they also took health classes and had basic medical tests performed. 18 months later the results were analyzed. Workers that were involved with the program identified they were partaking in healthier behaviors, but all other factors were unchanged, including blood sugar levels, job performance, attendance, and employer health care spending.

Why This Might Be

It’s possible that the incentives offered by this program just didn’t appeal to the participants. These incentives included gift cards totaling about $250. According to CEO of Bravo Wellness, Jim Pshock, this may not have been enough, as he predicts that any amount less than $400 isn’t enough to get people excited about workplace wellness. As he said, “It’s simply too small to get them to do things they weren’t already excited about.”

Another study from 2018 published by the University of Illinois found that the workplace wellness program wasn't effective, concluding that they don’t reduce costs or affect behaviors. However, it did find that participants of the wellness programs were both healthier and more motivated. This indicates that the programs don’t necessarily help businesses cut costs, but they do help with attracting and retaining top talent.

Other potential factors could have contributed to these results. A recent survey indicated that 84 percent of employees found their wellness programs to be “one-size-fits-all,” something that doesn’t necessarily work for health and individual wellness. In response to this, 80 percent of respondents thought that more personalization could have made their programs more successful.

Why You Want to Adopt a Workplace Wellness Initiative

While the results are mixed, there is one redeeming factor to this argument; encouraging the health of your employees means that they are less likely to call in sick, whether it’s the result of mental health days or actually being ill. Here are some other advantages to these types of programs:

• Reduced Stress: Stress management can result in healthier behavior. Through a proper workplace wellness program, your staff can significantly decrease stress and address the problems associated with this stress more easily.
• Community Building: Activities in the workplace can be a great way to build camaraderie. A wellness initiative is one way you can break down barriers and establish a company-wide initiative.
• Better Moods: Wellness programs give your employees the opportunity to try out new activities, all while keeping them engaged and productive. Employees that participate in these activities have been proven to have better moods while at work.

What are some ways you can create a healthier workplace?