What your wellness program is missing

Almost 80 percent of existing companies have implemented a wellness program. Wellness programs are a great way to get your employees to lose weight, quit smoking, or make significant steps toward improving your health. The goal of wellness programs is to provide a healthy workplace for all of your employees and to reduce your expenses. Currently about $12.7 billion is lost in healthcare expenses, sick leave benefits, and lost production costs. If your staff isn't staying healthy, it is difficult to run a productive company.

Simply implementing a wellness program doesn't guarantee that your employees will get in shape and stay healthy. There are some other things you need to do to encourage the office to stay healthy; here are a few things your wellness program may be lacking:

Tip # 1 - Exercise
The most important part of a wellness program is getting your employees to exercise. A good wellness program will provide employees with time to exercise and facilities to use. If you can't afford to pay for gym memberships, set aside a spare room in the office that can be used as an exercise room. Purchase a treadmill, an elliptical machine, and some other exercise tools for employees to use. Encourage your staff members to use the exercise room during breaks, lunchtime, or even before or after work. When employees exercise, they are more alert, more productive, healthier, and happier.

Employers tend to implement a wellness program, but they fail to include exercise in their program. They just send out the rules about the program and expect their employees to follow suit. Without providing them with some resources (like a gym) how can your employees exercise? Many of them don't have gym memberships and most of them don't spend time exercising at home. If your employees exercise each day for at least 30 minutes, they are less-likely to get sick with the flu and common colds. Their immune systems are stronger and they are able to cope with stress easier. This all can increase your productivity and boost your company's sales.

Tip # 2 - Healthy Eating
It is common for employees to gain weight when they sit behind a desk all day. Most of your employees are not eating healthy diets and this causes them to gain weight. Even if they aren't gaining weight, the energy drinks and sugary sodas only provide temporary highs. Eventually your employees will crash and they will need another energy boost. Instead of stocking the vending machines with foods that provide temporary highs, look for foods that maintain their metabolism and provide them with increased stamina. Offer foods high in protein like nuts. Protein is a great source of food for anyone that struggles with blood sugar problems and it can increase your alertness.

Tip # 3 - Cleanliness
Most wellness programs don't actually talk about the germs that are in the office. Employees need to learn how to keep their offices cleaner as this will help to reduce the spread of germs. If one employee is sick, it doesn't take much for that germ to spread to your entire staff. Discourage sick employees from coming into the office. Purchase hand sanitizer and encourage your employees to use it often, especially when they are sick. Make sure you janitorial staff properly clean the office each day. The doorknobs, phones, keyboards, and other areas need to be cleaned with good disinfectant each day. Give all of your employees their own cleaning products so they can spend some time cleaning their desk each day. If you can cut down on the germs in the office, it will be easier to reduce the spread of the common cold and other diseases in the office. This can save you millions of dollars in sick leave benefits and lost production costs.