Then and Now: A look back at what’s changed in corporate wellness programs since Y2K
The term “corporate wellness” has matured to encompass wide-sweeping changes in the way employers approach the health of their employees. What’s changed so dramatically in just 18 years that has reinvented the approach to wellbeing programs? Only the entire focus and delivery of wellness programming, in general.
A shift of focus
In the early 2000s, employers were still focused on risk management to reduce healthcare spending. While education programs like weight loss and smoking cessation still exist, savvy companies are now focusing more on total population quality of life.
Modern wellbeing programs comprise a robust mental health screening function and financial wellness education, in addition to specific health risk education and behavioral modification efforts. Research has revealed that stress from work and financial worries causes chemical changes in the brain that effectively shut down creativity and the ability to problem-solve. Essentially, wellness efforts have matured to address the whole person and potential stressors to improve quality of life – and job performance – long-term.
Experiential benefits
The boutique movement has gotten many things right when it comes to customer service, and wellness program developers are standing up and taking notice. Boutique spas and single-discipline fitness studios offer an experience that is all about personal attention. These centers provide their clientele with experiences that don’t involve long lines waiting for workout equipment. They are designed instead around a desire for a feeling of belonging, of community. It’s that community that garners the elusive engagement that is ultimately responsible for the success of any wellness program or fitness center.
Convenience
What employers have found is that empty, equipment-only onsite fitness centers just aren’t enough anymore. Employees just aren’t using them, and employers haven’t been promoting an onsite center’s most valuable selling point: convenience.
Time saving is important for people who feel compelled to justify every minute away from their families. Wellness programs that honor the time crunch and promote the convenience of integrated onsite fitness offerings see more engagement than programs with offsite centers or weak marketing plans. Combine convenient location with efficient use of time through boutique-style workout programming appropriate to the population, and you’ve got a winning wellness program that will see utilization and results.
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