We often focus on businesses in the private sector, but today let’s shift our attention to the public sector. Specifically, we’ll explore how wellness programs for employees in counties, cities, and similar municipalities can create better government from the inside out.
Organizations are increasingly recognizing the significance of employee wellness. When employees are stressed, unhealthy, and mentally drained, it can exacerbate the challenges they face outside of work, making their job responsibilities feel overwhelming. This often leads to decreased efficiency, presenteeism, and higher absenteeism. The same applies to government bodies.
Related: What Is Workplace Wellness? A Complete Guide
Why County Wellness Programs Create A Better Government
Have you ever contemplated all that goes into managing a city or, better yet, an entire county? Counties manage everything from enforcing state laws and collecting taxes to assessing properties and conducting elections.
Have you ever thought about all the responsibilities involved in managing a city or an entire county? Counties are tasked with numerous duties from enforcing state laws to collecting taxes. They also are responsible for tasks such as:
- provide parks and libraries
- assessing properties and overseeing elections
- manage sewers and emergency management
- service highways
- provide police and fire protection
- oversee planning and zoning
The decisions and actions, or lack thereof, by government officials have a profound impact on their communities. Keeping the people that run our governments healthy and happy is a smart way to keep those impacts positive.
Keeping the people that run our governments healthy and happy is a smart way to keep those impacts positive.
These individuals are responsible for teaching our children, caring for us when we’re ill, assisting us in times of need, and providing services that enrich our lives. If we desire a happy and productive community, we must ensure that those managing these responsibilities receive the support they need from the counties they serve.
“Healthy employees not only have a better quality of life, they also benefit from having a lower risk of disease, illness, and injury, as well as increased work productivity and a greater likelihood of contributing to their communities.” CDC.com
RELATED: 9 Reasons School Wellness Programs Are a Smart School Strategy
How County Wellness Programs Create a Better Government
Boosts Morale
Encouraging employees to care about their health and providing them access to healthcare will help them feel better. When people feel better, they’re more inclined to connect and positively contribute to their teams, customers, and communities.
If the Great Resignation has taught us anything, it’s that workers want to feel cared about. Keeping a person’s overall wellness at the forefront of an employer’s goals is a great way to confirm their value on an individual level. Counties need good people in place, and aiming for high employee morale will help public employees want to stick around.
RELATED: 6 Strategies for Successful Wellness with Remote Workers
Increases Productivity
Managing any type of government is complicated and often time-sensitive, making productivity essential (remember that whole essential worker part of the pandemic?), and by providing employees access to services designed to improve all areas of their health can help them perform the important work they do.
The CDC website states that “the net effect is that U.S. employers lose more than $225 billion each year in productivity due to employee health problems.” However, this is based on information dating back to 2003.
A 2018 study from the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI), a nonprofit health and productivity research organization, found that “US employers paid nearly $880 billion in health care benefits for employees and dependents. However, illness-related lost productivity costs them another $530 billion per year.”
Counties vastly range in size and population, and their offices could have hundreds of workers or only just a few depending on the geographical location. Employee absences cause significant issues in any business. But for the regions managed under limited staffing and funding, a serious health setback of an employee could have significant impact on a community.
For the regions managed under limited staffing and funding, a serious health setback of an employee could have significant impact on a community.
RELATED: How Do Wellness Programs Increase Productivity in the Workplace?
Reduces Health Risks
The best way to combat health problems is to prevent them before they start. However, not all health risks are avoidable, and early detection is vital for managing chronic conditions.
Offering a variety of health resources to employees ensures they have the tools to take proactive steps toward their well-being. Additionally, fostering a culture of encouragement and leading by example underscores the importance of good health and highlights the value of utilizing county wellness programs.
Lowers Health Care Costs
In addition to mitigating health risks, another significant advantage is the reduction in healthcare expenses. Annual physicals, dental exams, and screenings provide valuable insights into one’s health status.
Individuals with access to healthcare and who use it for regular check-ups generally experience better overall health. Moreover, routine screenings, including eye exams and dental cleanings, play a crucial role in early prevention.
Did you know? Eye exams are so much more than vision tests. Eyes are a live look into the action of blood vessels and many early signs of diseases appear in them.
Think Twice Before Skipping That Eye Exam
There are actually 22 diseases that show early symptoms in eye exams. Learn more at the American Academy of Ophthalmology
- Aneurysm
- Brain Tumor
- Blood, Tissue, and Skin Cancer
- Diabetes
- Giant Cell Arteritis
- Heart Disease
- High Blood Pressure
- High Cholesterol
- Lupus
- Lyme Disease
- Medication Toxicities
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Myasthenia Gravis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Sarcoidosis
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- Sickle Cell Disease
- Sjogren’s syndrome
- Stroke
- Thyroid Disease
- Vascular Disease
- Vitamin A Deficiency
Better Recruitment and Retention
Similar to businesses, communities thrive when they prioritize recruitment and retention. It’s not just about finding the right person; it’s about retaining them long enough for their skills to make a meaningful impact.
Recruitment is a complex and time-consuming process. From defining the new role accurately for job postings to reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, and extending offers, it’s a multifaceted endeavor.
Once the top candidate is onboard, losing them would mean restarting the entire process, not to mention the training involved. However, retaining the right talent requires more than just financial incentives.
Research shows more and more that appreciation consistently ranks above pay when it comes to job satisfaction.
Recent studies increasingly highlight that appreciation ranks higher than salary in terms of job satisfaction. While monetary compensation may initially attract candidates, research consistently demonstrates that feeling valued outweighs pay when it comes to job fulfillment. If individuals don’t feel appreciated in their workplace, they’re more likely to seek opportunities elsewhere.
County wellness programs contribute to the improvement of government operations by enhancing the well-being of employees. An additional advantage is the positive ripple effect that occurs when individuals experience happiness; they tend to share it, attracting more individuals to join a supportive atmosphere. This, in turn, assists in meeting future staffing requirements.
On the other hand, employees that feel undervalued aren’t likely to promote the same posture. Word of mouth is huge and shouldn’t be dismissed. If we want to attract and keep great employees, we need a culture that supports their well-being.
A study by the American Psychological Association found that, in organizations where employees do not view leadership as committed to their well-being, only 17% would recommend the company as a good place to work.
Related: 7 Simple Strategies To Integrate Health And Wellness Programs In The Workplace
What Does An Effective County Wellness Program Look Like?
This is such a huge question, but it’s also where county employees can work together to come up with programs designed for the specific needs of the business, helping to make their county wellness program effective.
Provide the Essentials
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Paid Time Off
Providing these fundamentals to employees is valuable in a multitude of ways because it grants them access to routine care and needs. However, just because people have access to services doesn’t mean they’ll use them.
Get Your Team Involved in County Wellness Programs
Learn what matters to them on both individual and team levels. Different roles come with different challenges so it’s important to implement programs designed around them rather than trying to get them to adapt to something that might be a hindrance rather than an enhancement.
What might be vital for one profession could be somewhat useless for another. When team members are encouraged to collaborate, and are given a voice to express their specific needs and wants (within reason), they’re more likely to buy into not just the program, but the company as a whole.
When team members are encouraged to collaborate, and are given a voice to express their specific needs and wants (within reason), they’re more likely to buy into not just the program, but the company as a whole.
One of the greatest and underutilized tools for wellness is access to mental health programs. While behavioral health has generally been one of the highest-priced wellness program offerings, things on that forefront are evolving and becoming more accessible.
Mental and emotional health are leading the wellness movement for a reason: if people can’t handle their mental and emotional difficulties, the chances of them being able to care for the other areas of their health is highly unlikely.
Behavioral therapy taboos are becoming a thing of the past as the world is understanding their importance, and many people are searching for companies that provide this type of support and other non-traditional benefits.
"70% of employees surveyed feel employers should provide offerings for mental and emotional health, and 54% would like employers to offer caregiver support, among other kinds of non-traditional benefits." WebMD
Related: 10 Tips To Implement Mindfulness In The Workplace 2024
Have Some Fun!
Who says health and wellness have to be all carrot sticks and 10,000 steps? While that approach might work for some people, or even for a period of time for most, those goals are outdated and let’s be honest…a bit boring.
Get creative with your team. Wellness is so much more than trying to lose weight and finally getting toned. Wellness is about feeling good. It’s about connection, movement, and balance.
RELATED: 16 Staff Wellness Activities for Creating a Healthier Workplace
Provide Connection Opportunities
Teams that do activities together not related to their work and requires them to work together is a great way for people see each other is a more personable way other than Orlando from accounting or Annie from HR.
While they’ll still identify their coworkers by their name and department, chances are they’ll also have a better understanding of that person. Instead of seeing Annie from HR, they might start to think, “That’s Annie in HR that’s sometimes a little grumpy but man can she solve a puzzle, and I hope everything is going okay with her dad.”
When people connect, they reveal their humanity and stop becoming another random name and face, creating more opportunities for compassion and consideration among teams.
Creating opportunities for people to get to know their coworkers, as well as their communities, is a primary way that county wellness programs create a better government.
- Cook together – instead of the run of the mill potluck, attend a cooking class
- Create together – paint nights or crafts nights are a great way to enhance connection
- Play together – take a trip to the local outdoor adventure park for some go-carts, air hockey, batting cages and arcade games
RELATED: 18 Corporate Wellness Ideas and Wellness Activities
Provide Movement Opportunities in County Wellness Programs
There is much misconception about the word exercise for those that are inactive. Fitness programs and the unrealistic body examples they promote can make people with movement challenges less likely to participate, not because they don’t want to, but because many activities could result in injuries or feelings of inadequacy.
When we frame activities around movement, designed with low impact and realistic goals, we’re more likely to see our less active employees engage with more consistency. This could be as simple as eliminating the term exercise out of rotation and instead focusing on terms like movement and active.
Keeping The Active In Activity
The biggest point is to put people in spaces where they will automatically want to move around.
- Give them movement minutes in addition to their breaks where they can take a quick walk outside or at least a few minutes away from their workspace.
- Create team goals designed toward movement such as contests for tracking active minutes.
- Incentivize quarterly activities such as hiking a local trail or hosting relay days during good weather months, and in the colder months consider snowshoeing or visiting local attractions like museums and galleries.
Related: 13 Fun Workplace Wellness Challenge Ideas Your Employees Will Enjoy
Remember the Importance of Balance
Finally, don’t forget about one of the most important ways county wellness programs create a better government: balance.
The employees that keep our counties running are often tasked with stressful situations, difficult customers, and the stakes are usually high. When people feel their well-being is valued no matter their ranking, they will be better equipped to handle the moments of high stress because they’ll know they’ve got a good support system.
No matter the field of occupation, people need to be able to balance their responsibilities at home versus those in the workplace. There’s a reason people are quitting in a massive exodus and it’s not because they don’t want to work; they just want to be valued.
There’s a reason people are quitting in a massive exodus and it’s not because they don’t want to work; they just want to be valued.
When people are faced with consistent stress each day and aren’t provided opportunities to seek even basic care like physician and dental checkups, their burnout rate exacerbates and the ticking time bomb of their departure becomes imminent.
Turnover is particularly hard in the public sector because so many responsibilities lie in each role. Governments only operate as good as the people they have in place, making wellness programs vital for operation efficiency.
What We’ve Covered Today About County Wellness Programs
Prioritizing wellness in the municipalities that run everything from the laws we follow to the water we drink is the key to thriving counties and cities. By making sure wellness programs are in place will keep the services we rely on operational, because the fact is that healthy and happy people tend to show up to work, and better yet, they perform well.
County wellness programs create a better government by:
- Boosting Morale
- Increasing Productivity
- Reducing Health Risks
- Lowering Health Care Costs
- Better Recruitment and Retention
What do effective county wellness programs look like?
First, they provide the essentials:
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Paid Time Off
They get teams involved.
Don’t forget to give team members opportunities to customize wellness programs for their specific needs. It’s okay to start with ideas, but make sure to learn about the resources that matter to them.
They have some fun!
Plan interactive activities like cooking classes or art lessons. These are so effective because they need to be completed within a certain amount of time, teaching teams to work together and learn how to communicate while doing something fun and challenging.
Provide opportunities for teams to get up and move. Movement doesn’t have to mean exercise; it can mean taking a few minutes to breathe outside and reflect. For those with active employees, consider joining a community sports league team, or hiring trainers to come and conduct fun workouts.
Don’t underestimate the value of balance. When people have an imbalance between home and work, stresses continue to build, making their lives harder to manage, which often results in illnesses, absences, and significantly decreased presenteeism.
The WellSteps team has helped thousands of employees improve their health, and we’d love the opportunity to demonstrate to you how we can help you with an employee health program. Schedule a Free Demo and take the first steps toward wellness for your team, your company, and you.
