A growing number of companies are creating new corporate wellness programs. The reasons are varied: some seek to take care of employees as a way to attract and retain talent. Others want to strengthen the culture and values so that there is an improvement in the health and happiness of employees.
The truth is that, in companies in transformation, corporate welfare programs can be very efficient. Whether as a tool for culture, values, retention, attraction, employer branding, reduction of accidents or reduction of absenteeism.
An employee who makes use of wellness programs can produce the equivalent of up to 4 working days per month. Corporate wellness programs can reduce health costs by 3 times the amount invested.
To prove that corporate wellness measures are important, we created the most complete Ebook on Quality of Life at Work. The content shows real cases of companies that are succeeding in this concept and brings step-by-step methods to start your project.
Face-to-face wellness programs
If you have a team concentrated in a single building, face-to-face programs to encourage physical activity can be very effective. Expert lectures, nutritional care, massage sessions and even a corporate gym help employees have life improvement options in a simplified way.
Walking and running groups
For programs to have a greater impact, priority should be given to people with risk factors, such as sedentary people or those with low frequency of physical activity. For this reason, groups of high-performance corridors do not tend to be the priority of these companies. Bringing people together to start outdoor activities, such as hiking and short races, with a team of specialists, tends to help in these first steps.
Mental Health Programs
Brazil is considered the most stressed and anxious country in Latin America, having almost 6% of the depressive population and 9% of anxious people. Programs that teach and enable employees to reduce stress in their routines increase the productivity and happiness of teams.
Meditation classes, yoga, breathing and acoustically isolated rooms, so that employees perform their daily decompression, are simple and inexpensive possibilities to generate a great impact.
Financial education
Indebtedness is one of the main causes of stress and anxiety. In Brazil, 40% of the population is in debt, which directly impacts their performance at work. Promoting financial awareness lectures and support from specialists for more serious cases help improve employee satisfaction and productivity.
Flexible days
Not everyone can work well from home, in the home-office style. But those who do, greatly value this option and demonstrate increased productivity. It is appropriate for a greater well-being to enable remote work up to one day a week for a better organizational climate,
Team of wellness specialists
A profession that has been gaining importance in Brazil is that of Health Coaches. They are professionals specialized in helping people to change their lifestyle in a customized way. Psychologists, nutritionists and other health professionals can also be the missing piece for their collaborators to be healthier.
Providing access to these professionals, through partnerships or digital programs, significantly increases the chance of people transforming their habits.
Special programs for employees with children
In a connected corporate world, one of the greatest conflicts of employees is the balance between personal and professional life. And this problem is even more serious for employees with children.
Programs such as flexible days for them to participate in their children’s lives, lectures for professional fathers and mothers, partnerships with daycare centers and schools, and days of children’s presence in the office tend to soften this conflict. Extended leave for mothers and fathers right after birth is offered by companies like Google and tends to be widely valued by them.
Access to healthy food and snacks
According to IBGE, 90% of adults eat poorly. In addition, 54% of Brazilians are overweight, and a large part is due to low quality food. Replacing vending machine products with healthier items, with low fat and sugar content, is a start.
Ensuring the nutritional quality of the corporate restaurant and offering free fruit are practices that favor the change of habits of employees, who end up taking this routine to their homes. Stimulating the consumption of water through bottles also contributes to people having a better lifestyle and producing more.
Digital Programs
Nowadays, work routines are less and less linear. People have different times, places and ways of working. And traditional offline programs tend to generate less adherence due to lack of flexibility and coverage. Remote teams, or companies that have several buildings and/or branches, tend to discredit most employees when they invest in traditional programs.