The workplace is experiencing an unprecedented, high-speed evolution as the more of the global workforce goes virtual. What human resources professionals need to recognize is that technology will continue to drive wellness benefits value, even as businesses recover from pandemic restrictions and reopen their doors for employees and clients.

Resilience is the new wellness

A recent Forbes article highlights employee wellness as the top priority for HR professionals moving into late 2020. In the article, PwC Chief People Officer Michael Fenlon describes how his company concluded that employee resilience should be the company’s top wellness priority. Resilience is a term that refers to a person’s ability to adapt to stress and adversity, and it’s more important than ever for a healthy workforce.

A simple 5-point wellness checklist

While resilience is a product of mental health and helps protect against anxiety and depression, it’s also affected by sleep, exercise, and nutrition. Build a “whole-person” approach to wellbeing benefits to develop a more resilient workforce and provide valuable resources for employees:

1. Create a healthy environment. Clean air, clean water, and natural light may not seem like an obvious “wellness benefit,” but for on-site employees, they’ll be more important than ever in a post-pandemic world. Explore Well v2 guidelines for healthy spaces and implement real environmental improvements to keep employees safe and healthy.
2. Ask employees to lead the wellness charge. Forward-thinking workplaces enlist the help of advisory committees to create programs and suggest outside-the-box benefits changes specific to their population needs. Employees are happier when they have a voice and can help craft their own benefits programs.
3. Develop a mental health toolkit. As few as 40 percent of employers offer mental health-specific resources for employees who are willing to ask for them. The most popular benefits include an Employer Assistance Program (EAP) for anonymous and on-demand counseling and referral to other benefits resources.
4. Encourage self-care. Resilience requires the ability to find positive ways to manage stress and avoid self-destructive coping mechanisms. Guided stretching, breathing, and meditation options empower employees to control what they can and find healthy outlets for stress. But, offering virtual, on-demand self-care resources is only the first step; encouraging their use requires management training and buy-in.
5. Expand digitally delivered benefits options. On-demand fitness has been a growing trend for years, but the pandemic just made it a priority HR benefit. Employees will expect virtual exercise options and lots more easy-access benefits that are tech-connected.

It’s worth doing right

If your company is stuck in a rut when it comes to building wellness packages employees need and will use, call in the experts. An award-winning health and fitness consultancy, for the last 25 years Aquila has been creating, managing, designing and implementing innovative health and wellness solutions for private and public organizations. Learn more about what Aquila can do for your wellness program by contacting us at info@aquilaltd.com.