Everyone knows that healthier employees are happier and more productive. But bringing wellness into your corporate culture can be easier said than done. If you’re wondering how you can successfully implement a company wellness program for your employees, read on for our best tips.

1. Get Clarity

The first step toward wellness for your company lies in the definition of wellness itself. How can you help your employees get happy and healthy if you don’t know what those terms mean to you and your business? Wellness covers a wide range of health topics, including exercise, nutrition, stress management, even mental and emotional well-being. Before you dive into helping employees achieve these wellness goals, clearly identify what your goals are. How are you going to measure them? Who will be involved? What matters most to them? Think things through as much as possible before you announce your new wellness program.

2. Lead by Example

 A sure-fire way for a wellness program to fall flat is if the corporate leadership fails to enable their employees to participate and set a good example. If you preach work-life balance, do everything you can to avoid sending emails outside of business hours. Employees see what is expected of them modeled by their supervisors, their management and by C-level employees. Make sure when you set out to implement a wellness program, you have buy-in from staff at all levels; then lead by example to show them how serious you are.

3. Give It Time

 You are not going to succeed at revolutionizing your company culture overnight. Wellness programs that work are ones that are built up over time. Start off by communicating your intention and easing into the program. If there are changes needed to scheduling and human resources processes, note the need for change, set an actionable plan to achieve your goals, then work toward those goals step by step. Wellness can be a surprisingly easy program to implement when done correctly. It doesn’t need to cause extra stress, on you or your employees, so give it some time and build on your successes.

4. Make Them Inclusive

 There is nothing worse than a wellness program that rewards employees who are already healthy. That really defeats and undermines the core purpose of such a program. Don’t set your program up in such a way that you end up punishing those who have the most to benefit from getting healthy. Make sure you build a program that supports a holistically healthy lifestyle, one that tackles big topics such as emotional well-being, mental health and even financial wellness. Consider extending the benefits to spouses and dependents too. Wellness programs should provide opportunities for each and every individual within your company to create a better life for themselves. That is real wellness.

For more ideas on how you can support your employees to be happier and more productive on the job, contact one of our talent experts at Verum Technical today.