Employee Health and Wellness; Is It Really an Employers Concern?
Senior communities and providers focus a lot on the physical and mental health and well-being of residents. Attention is given to reducing illness, enhanced (and appetizing) nutritional options, fall prevention, and in general, providing residents with the best quality of life possible. And in fact, this is a proven way to increase occupancy and resident satisfaction!
But have you given the same consideration to your employees? We have previously talked about how employee satisfaction is a key to resident/customer satisfaction. So if your employees are experiencing illness, stress, consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle, safety hazards and the impression that their employers don’t care about their well-being, how does that affect the way they perform their job?
While on the business side, wellness programs help rein in health care costs and reduce absenteeism, among other things, we hope more employers will look at wellness programs as a way to care for their employees.
While large corporations may incorporate complex, formal wellness programs there are some informal things smaller communities can do while researching or constructing a more formal program. First, make sure your employees are educated on their own health and well-being. One company I know has daily safety, health and wellness reminders and information. They are presented prior to the shift and each employee signs to acknowledge they have read/heard/discussed it. These topics vary from how to properly perform certain job tasks and keys to safety on the job to heat related illness in summer, how to prevent heart disease, the dangers of obesity, the benefits of exercise, fire safety at home and on and on. There is no end to the health and safety bulletins you can provide to your employees.
Whether a full-scale wellness program or informal health and wellness tips for you employees, engaging in the health and wellness of your employees with pay off with happier, healthier employees, higher employee morale and a boost to your bottom line