Full time employees typically spend over half of their waking hours at work during the week. For many people, this can make it difficult to prioritize eating well, exercising, getting outdoors, and spending time with family and friends. Finding a healthy work-life balance is crucial for overall employee well-being.
If you’re a business owner or HR manager, wellness programs are a fantastic way to encourage your employees to take care of themselves—particularly when things feel overwhelming at work. Workplace wellness is essential for boosting employee satisfaction, improving productivity, and ultimately increasing retention rates.
Professional employer organizations (PEOs) can help implement employee wellness programs so that your workers are always supported and motivated to focus on their well-being. Let’s dive into the importance of wellness in the workplace, how PEOs support and enhance wellness initiatives, and the benefits of PEO-managed wellness programs.
The Importance of Wellness in the Workplace
For many people, a large part of the day is spent working—whether from home or in an office. Despite spending so much time at work, the rest of life keeps moving as well. When things are stressful in one area of life, other areas are also often impacted. From family responsibilities to financial stress, there can be a whole host of factors that lead to overwhelm or burnout.
Wellness in the workplace is important for encouraging employees to take care of themselves. Wellness programs are a great way to motivate your employees to develop healthy habits that can not only help support them at work, but at home as well.
Employee wellness initiatives might look like offering regular health screenings, providing healthy options in workplace cafeterias and vending machines, or offering programs to help employees stop smoking. Employers may include free gym memberships to their employees or offer weekly yoga classes in the office.
Being able to properly manage stress is crucial for reducing burnout. Ultimately, when your employees feel happy and healthy, productivity and retention rates increase.
How PEOs Support and Enhance Wellness Initiatives
PEOs handle businesses’ administrative tasks—like payroll, workers’ compensation, benefits management, and training and development programs.
Offering comprehensive benefits packages is one way that PEOs support wellness initiatives. Because PEOs partner with many businesses, they’re able to negotiate lower group rates while locking in excellent coverage options for employees.
In addition to great comprehensive benefits, PEOs can also offer educational training programs that promote employee health and wellness. These corporate wellness programs might surround things like nutrition or creating a healthy work-life balance—providing practical information that your employees can apply to their own lives.
Health and wellness, however, extends beyond nutrition and exercise. PEOs may also offer resources like mental health counseling or educational programs about financial planning and budgeting.
Benefits of PEO-Managed Wellness Programs
As a business owner or manager, delegating is an essential part of running a successful company. When you outsource your health and wellness programs to a PEO, they’ll take charge of implementing the programs as well as collecting data from those initiatives. This allows you to gain a clear understanding of what’s working and what’s needed in terms of employee wellness within your organization.
Analytics are also necessary to help ensure your company is in compliance with state and federal regulations. This is crucial for helping to avoid health and safety risks in the workplace.
Working with a PEO to implement wellness programs within your company means partnering with experts in training and development programs. When you partner with a PEO, the administrative tasks are taken care of for you—which means you have time and space to dedicate directly to your employees.
The Impact of PEOs on Employee Well-Being
Promoting health and wellness in the workplace is essential for keeping your employees happy—both at work and at home. Encouraging your employees to take care of themselves mentally and physically not only helps improve overall well-being, but it also increases employee retention.
PEOs knows what’s needed when it comes to employee health and wellness programs. They’re experts at admin as well as the analytics necessary to determine what kinds of wellness initiatives could be beneficial to your company. If you’re ready to partner with an experienced PEO to help enhance your employee wellness programs, reach out to PEOPayGo today!
