Employee health and wellbeing is a priority for many organizations but deciding how to BEST deliver programs in YOUR organization can be a challenge. Here are 3 options for you to consider.
With more than two-thirds of U.S. employers offering wellness programs as part of their benefits packages (source www.shrm.org), workplace wellness is top of mind for many organizations these days. While you know you need to do something, it can be difficult getting wellness programs off the ground.
Where do you start?
Wellness Programs for Employees
The challenge in doing so oftentimes is bandwidth and skill-set.
Workplace health can ‘fall’ into the domain of Human Resources, Occupational Health & Safety or on the Executive Assistants shoulders if an in-house wellness resource isn’t currently available. This can be a little intimidating if you don’t have experience or formal training to deliver wellness programs.
Or, you simply just don’t have the time to dedicate to this.
Here are three options you could consider to deliver workplace health:
1. Hire A Third-Party Wellness Provider
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If you don’t have an in-house wellness expert, you can hire a third-party wellness company that specializes in delivering wellness programs for organizations.
If you have the budget, this is a more hands-off approach where you trust the wellness provider to take the lead on most everything wellness-related. You work together to determine the vision but they take the lead on implementing it. They are typically well versed in a variety of wellness services including communications, health risk assessments, biometrics screening, health content, wellness challenges, coaching and more. CoreHealth works with wellness providers around the globe to help them power wellness programs for clients - using our corporate wellness platform.
Some great resources to find a third-party wellness provider include:
- Contact your Benefits Broker - if they don't provide wellness programs to clients already, they oftentimes have established relationships with wellness companies. Just give them a call!
- Contact Your EAP Provider - many employers already offer employee assistance programs (aka EAPs) for counselling and education; however, many of them also offer wellness programs. If you don't have an EAP already but are interested in finding one that provides wellness, check out our blog EAP Providers That Offer Wellness Corporate Solutions.
- SHRM Human Resource Vendor Directory - The Society for Human Resource Management has a variety of wellness vendors and resources.
- HR.com Buyer's Guide - search for employee wellness companies and other vendors.
- Shortlister - a resource typically used by brokers, it's also a great source for employers looking for wellness companies.
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Tip: Just remember there will be an associated cost with hiring a wellness provider; however, they should have the time, skills and breadth of knowledge to deliver stellar wellness programs for employees. They typically take on all the administration and logistics. Plus, over time, they will become more familiar with your culture to design and implement wellness programs best suited for your organization.
2. Hire Your Own In-House Wellness Resources
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If you have the budget, you can always hire an in-house wellness resource (ideally, someone who has their corporate wellness certification) to develop and implement wellness programs for employees. Because this resource is an employee, they become intimately familiar with your organization’s culture, team and people. They will have a good ‘pulse’ on the organization and have a good sense of which wellness programs could be a good fit for your workforce.
This too is a more hands-off approach as the wellness coordinator takes the lead on wellness-related initiatives. They may or may not have the same breadth of experience and services a third-party wellness provider can provide but they are likely knowledgeable enough to get your wellness programs off the ground and evolve them to meet your needs. Over time, both their knowledge and your wellness programs should evolve too.
Tip: If you choose this option, the in-house wellness coordinator takes on all the administration and logistics; however, administering this can be a little daunting if managed manually. The coordinator may need corporate wellness technology to support them with health assessments, communications, coaching, challenges, biometrics and so one.
3. Work with Flexible Partner
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Finally, if you have the bandwidth to help with some of your wellness program administration and still wish to ‘own’ the wellness function, you can work with a partner like Go Online Wellness.
Go Online is a flexible provider that will support you as much or as little as you need. They use the CoreHealth corporate wellness platform to power ‘out-of-the box’ wellness challenges (or can develop custom challenges for your organization for a fee) and helps you roll out wellness programs for employees. They take all the administration out of setting up health risk assessments, challenges and can integrate other third-party wellness programs you want to offer PLUS they provide end-user support to your employees (taking the load off your shoulders!).
Go Online tailors the wellness portal to suit your workplace health needs including custom branding so you can get the look and feel you want.
Tip: While Go Online does charge a fee for their service, you can choose how much (or little) you wish to be involved in the process. It’s a great option for organizations that want to get started with wellness but don’t have the budget to hire a full-service, third-party wellness provider or in-house wellness resource.
What Option Works for You?
CoreHealth can help you get workplace wellness off the ground!
- Looking for a Third-Party Wellness Provider? We work closely with third-party wellness providers and would be happy to refer you to a suitable provider based on your needs and geography. Contact us to be matched with the perfect wellness partner.
- Looking to Hire an In-House Wellness Resource? In addition to the resources provided above, a great place to post your wellness job description is on the Wellness Council of America aka WELCOA. Once you hire someone, your wellness expert may be looking for corporate wellness technology – we can help with that!
- Looking for a One-Stop-Wellness-Shop? Contact us and we will connect you with the team of Go Online Wellness.
About CoreHealth
CoreHealth Technologies Inc. is a leading all-in-one corporate wellness platform trusted by wellness providers to power their health and wellbeing programs for 3+ million employees worldwide. At CoreHealth, we believe that developing the best employee wellness programs is all about giving providers the right code, design and access to best-in-class innovations. With the most customization, integrations and reliability of any software in its class, CoreHealth’s powerful platform lets users focus on growing great wellness companies. For more information, visit the CoreHealth website or visit our YouTube Channel.