The way we work has changed dramatically in recent years and workplace wellness trends have become a big focus for employees. Ranking as important as salary and benefits, health and wellness benefits are key determining factors in employees’ minds. Here are seven workplace wellness trends that are becoming must-haves for employees.
- Mental Health
- Stress Management
- Financial Health
- Telemedicine
- Work Flexbility
- Virtual Meetings
- Meditation
Due to the conditions forced upon the workplace through the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of employers and their people had to adjust and create new solutions. Those solutions are what employees are now wanting as a standard practice. Your company must evolve then to keep a valuable workforce alive and thriving.
Mental Health Support is the Key of all Workplace Wellness Trends
Among all the various benefits you can provide to your employees, do you have mental health benefits? The American Psychological Association reports that 81% of workers are looking for jobs that will give them mental health benefits. This can look like things supportive through traditional insurance packages, and also alternative and unique benefits like:
- therapy or counseling
- group support through apps or classes
- massage or energy healing
- prescription drug coverage to support mental illnesses
- exercise programs and gym memberships
Literally, everything within this article is additional support for mental health and makes a tremendous benefit above and beyond traditional talk therapy. But the small list above is very foundational and a bare minimum that we feel all employers should incorporate.
RELATED: How to Improve Mental Health in the Workplace
Stress Management Support
Aside from personal and family circumstances, employees report dealing with many different kinds of stress while working that can be mitigated. Creating an environment where managers have good relationships with their people enough to have the right conversations is what is needed here.
Ask your employees what stresses them out at work. What can be done to decrease that stress? What support do they specifically need? This is mostly likely going to be unique to each person due to various personalities. You won’t often find the need to put a new policy or procedure in place to reduce stress in the workplace.
You may hear things like the supply room just needs to be organized differently, or if the workspace setup was different it would help in many different ways. Sometimes changing how the shifts work together, or where certain employees thrive better based on their skills can make or break an employee’s whole experience.
Be sure to stay open-minded, not judgmental or dismissive of the feedback, and strive to create a space where they feel comfortable voicing their concerns. It may take a lot of time and effort to create this kind of environment, but it will always be worth it to have this in place of the workplace wellness trends.
Be sure to stay open-minded, not judgmental or dismissive of the feedback, and strive to create a space where they feel comfortable voicing their concerns.
RELATED: 7 Signs of a Health Work Environment Leaders Can Support
Financial Health Services
According to Benefits Pro, 93% percent of employees want to have services and educational support about managing their finances. Unfortunately, only about 23% of employers provide this, which can be quite frustrating. The financial world is full of so many options that employees are overwhelmed and confused. Many people don’t understand the basics of financials before they start to try and invest or grow their money.
Offer financial consultations and personalized planning. You may already have access to these kinds of services through your retirement account providers or insurance companies. Bring in experts to do lunch-and-learn classes on various financial topics like:
- estate planning
- business entity formation
- crypto or forex trading
- stock market funds
- real estate investing
- leasing or purchasing vehicles
- money saving methods on day to day expenses
If your employees feel like you care about helping them maximize their money, they will no longer feel like just an expense to you. Rather they will feel like you’re investing in them as an asset to your organization.
If your employees feel like you care about helping them maximize their money, they will no longer feel like just an expense to you.
RELATED: A Comprehensive Guide to Financial Wellness Programs in the Workplace
Telemedicine or Virtual Health Services
After the onslaught of the COVID-19 lock down, the regularity of using telehealth services to access doctors and medical support was often the only option. According to PR Newswire, the expected rate of telemedicine growth is around 16% year over year until 2027. You can’t beat that when it comes to determined the best workplace wellness trends.
Because many questions can be answered without patients coming into doctor’s offices in person, telemedicine has become a valuable service that more and more people are taking advantage of. The stress of having to wait weeks or months to get into a provider, to be able to talk about mental health struggles, in order to receive supportive resources… this can be beyond taxing for employees.
So being able to take a quick break from work, hop on a call anywhere they’re at, and then get solutions and guidance for their health weeks faster than the traditional route, it’s no wonder than employees want this option. Plus, having to take time off of work to travel to offices, often losing many hours of pay or sick leave time often isn’t worth it to them.
This solves many of those problems and stresses for both employees and their employers. Ask your insurance provider what telehealth services come with plans already in place, or how it can be added on.
Remote Work Flexibility
The option to work from home is greatly desired by many employees, if it’s possible depending on their line of work. Even just working from home a few days a week can bring big benefits not only for employees, but employers as well.
- no stress, wasted time, or costs from commuting
- greater productivity and focus
- less illness and medical issues
- increased comfort while working
- access to a larger talent pool of people
- lower turnover and higher retention
Of course, there are challenges with working remotely, depending on the job and person’s circumstances. But overcoming those challenges is worth it when it’s been found that companies can save $11,000 per employee per year that works remotely even just 2-3 days per week. Imagine how you could reinvest that savings back into your organization.
RELATED: 6 Strategies for Successful Wellness With Remote Workers
Regular Virtual Meetings
To go along with remote working, having virtual meetings on top of that, or even as an option for in-house employees is very popular and convenient. With the capabilities of just an internet connection and simple webcam, everyone seems to be familiar with web meetings. They are quite standard in many industries and can bring benefits to many work settings.
If you have multiple buildings or a large campus, consider virtual meetings to save everyone walking time, especially if they’re quick, standard meetings that don’t require lots of visuals or in person items. You’ll soon see increased productivity because less time is wasted, and people are more engaged and focused.
RELATED: Everything You Need to Know to Increase Employee Productivity
Meditation is the Most Popular of Workplace Wellness Trends
What used to seem kooky is now backed by science. Here are just some of the reasons why your organization should create the environment that allows employees to incorporate meditation into their workday.
- greater adaptability to manage stress
- reduced anxiety and depression
- increased cognitive processing and focus
- less negative emotions and reactions during conflict
- reduction in common health problems like headaches and insomnia
- decreased high blood pressure and chronic pain
Have an understanding that if someone’s office door is shut, that employee may be meditating and knocking to jolt them out of it may not be the best; that memo you need to discuss can wait 15 minutes. Bring in teachers to educate your employees on how they can meditate and learn what methods work best for them. If possible, you could even dedicate a quiet space for anyone to take a break and meditate.
RELATED: 10 Tips to Implement Mindfulness in the Workplace
Next Steps to Capitalize on These Workplace Wellness Trends
Just like your organization evolves, so do your employees. As they evolve and their health and wellness changes, so should the benefits and services you give them. If you’re confused about how you can incorporate some of these items discussed into your company’s wellness program, we’re here to help.
Schedule a free demo with one of our team members today and discover how you can gain all of the benefits we’ve discussed today and more!
