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Corporate wellness is evolving.

Early efforts to develop healthful workplaces focused on safety at the worksite and injury prevention for staff members.

More recently, programs are designed to assist employees to choose healthier behaviours like being more physically active or quitting tobacco use.

Campaigns to increase awareness, educational sessions to increase knowledge, opportunities to learn new skills, and changes to policies to make it easier for staff members to make healthful choices are often included.

This approach is taken because the workplace is a good way to reach people , since most adult American Citizens spend a large part of their day at work.

While safety and lifestyle programs are two aspects that contribute to the health of employees, corporate wellness is more effective when a third factor is brought into the equation-the environment at work.

How the workplace affects health.

Increasingly, it’s recognized that the workplace itself has a powerful affect on individuals ’s health. When individuals  are satisfied with their job, they are more productive and tend to be healthier. When workers feel that the environment at work is negative, they feel stressed.

Stress has a large impact on worker mental and physical health, and in turn, on productivity.

Consultant Graham Lowe has identified five components of workplace culture that directly affect employees’ health and the health of the organization overall-credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie.

The underlying idea is that businesses must genuinely care about the wellness of their employees.

Companies today who want to attract and keep good employees have leaders who understand the connection between worker satisfaction and worker health and believe that corporate wellness is a company strategy.  

Their management practices include making reasonable demands on time and energy, involving workers in decision making, rewarding work well done, openly communicating, and providing support to balance work and home life.

Corporations know that staff members are looking for jobs that pay well, have good benefits, are fascinating, and include great health and safety programs. So in today’s competitive hiring market, it’s become more important than ever for businesses to enhance job satisfaction and ensure that staff members enjoy being on the job.

Corporate wellness benefits both corporations and staff members.

How does corporate wellness benefit the company?

A wellness program can help a company to –

• attract and keep employees;

• reduce the costs of disability, drugs, and absenteeism;

• reduce the effects of a stressful workplace;

• reduce health care costs or keep them contained; and

• improve morale by creating a happy, supportive environment.

How does corporate wellness benefit employees?

Employees of corporations that have a wellness program are likely to have –

• increased awareness and knowledge of ways to improve their health;

• a better (less stressful) workplace;

• increased protection from injury;

• improved health and wellness;

• higher morale and greater job satisfaction;

• increased productivity and effectiveness at work;

• decreased personal healthcare costs; and

• a more relaxed/flexible approach to health issues.

Both businesss and staff members have a responsibility for creating a healthy workplace. Staff Members are expected to arrive at work in good health, and the business is expected to provide an environment that permits staff members to maintain good health, enjoy their work, and contribute to the corporation’s success.

Corporate wellness is more than a “lunch and learn” program. It’s about developing a “individuals  first” approach to doing business.

It’s about taking care of staff members, establishing a positive work environment, and compensating attention to the factors that keep staff members healthful and happy at work.

A good wellness program has an impact on employees’ mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.