Employee wellness

Employee wellness

Employee wellness/wellbeing refers to a situation where a firm’s employees experience positive outcomes in their health, psychological, and economic outcomes. The wellness of members of an organization’s labor force has been attributed to enhanced performance and productivity in the workplace. Consequently, employers currently prioritize employee wellness programs within the workplace context since investments made in this area subsequently impact the organization’s productivity. The sections that follow analyze and discuss the different measures employed by employers in the organizational context to foster employee wellness and, consequently, the productivity of a firm’s labor force.

The Provision of Health Insurance Programs

One of the primary ways used by employers to foster the wellness of their employees is by providing them with health insurance. Offering medical coverage for one’s employees improves their function in the workplace since it facilitates easy and convenient access to medical services. Consequently, the ailing employees are likely to recover quickly and going back to work. However, medical insurance fosters more than the physical health of the employee (Swayze. et al., 2013). This is because employee medical insurance policies also cover their families. In turn, the employees can manage to continue working if their family members experience minor physical illness since they have peace of mind that they can access healthcare services.

The Provision of Health Risk Management Programs

Health risk management is one of the approaches that employers used in enhancing the wellness of employees in the organization. This is especially the case where individuals where the organizational operations carried out by employees expose them to various risks that may impact their health negatively. In such scenarios, ensuring the health risks faced by the employees in the organizations fosters their wellbeing in the work environment (Swayze. et al., 2013). Also, if the employee’s faces an incidence where an insured risk has manifested, the financial compensation attained by the impacted employees play a significant role in facilitating an environment characterized by trust and courage.

Health Promotion Programs

Besides physical health, there are also other critical aspects of employee wellness, such as the mental and psychological wellbeing of the employee. The organizational culture employed in an organization plays a paramount role in either fostering or compromising the psychological wellbeing of its employees. Organizations that use a toxic corporate culture increase the stress level and adverse behavioral outcomes among their employees (Wydzial & Mazur-Malek, 2017). Consequently, employees that work under toxic cultures are more likely to engage in harmful behavioral activities that further sabotage both their physical and mental wellbeing. These include excessive drinking, smoking, and substance abuse, to mention a few. Employers must establish a positive and supportive organizational culture. This can be facilitated through the employment of the right leadership models, such as transformational leadership, which enhances collaboration with the organization between the workforce and the management. Also, employers may expose their employees to training programs that teach them how to improve the quality of their lives in terms of physical health, mental health, and economic wellbeing.

Conclusion

The above sections have discussed the concept of wellness in the workplace and the different measures used by employers to improve wellness in the workplace. Various aspects contribute to the welfare of employees in the workplace. The first one is a positive organizational culture that facilitates friendly and supportive interactions among members of the workforce and also between the workforce and the leadership. Another measure is providing medical insurance to the employees and their families. Besides, employers offer health promotion programs that foster the health of their employees. These include training programs that educate employees on how to develop healthy behavioral patterns that promote both their physical and mental health.