How Employee Wellness Programs Help You Attract and Retain Top Talent

To truly compete in the modern recruiting space, you must offer more than a desirable salary and a generous paid time off (PTO) policy. Stand out from the crowd even further by offering employee wellness programs.

Current Employee Attitudes Toward Workplace Wellness

Investing in a qualified and productive workforce is a large, yet essential undertaking. Labor costs take up a significant portion of your organization's resources, and constantly replacing employees only increases costs. To thrive in the current talent ecosystem and boost retention, employers need to understand what the new generation of talent wants.

A 2023 American Psychological Association study found that: 

• 92% of workers say it's important to work for an organization that values their emotional and psychological well-being.
• 61% of workers said it is very important to them to work for an organization that respects the boundaries between work and nonwork time.
• 55% of workers strongly (21%) or somewhat (34%) agreed that their employer thinks their workplace environment is a lot mentally healthier than it actually is.
• 43% reported worrying that if they told their employer about a mental health condition, it would negatively impact them in the workplace.

From this study, it’s clear that employees value their wellness more than ever. Aside from their mental health, they also expect physical wellness support, such as robust health insurance and discounted gym memberships. With these motivations in mind, let’s explore how wellness programs can improve your overall workplace environment.

Benefits of Wellness Programs for Recruitment

According to NXUnite, wellness programs are essential for ensuring employees are at their optimal health and well-being. They’re crucial for preventing burnout and employee disengagement, both relevant factors for employee attrition. Here’s how wellness programs can help with employee recruitment:

Better Working Relationships

Having high workplace satisfaction and employee retention is a major benefit you can use to attract new employees. Most employees perform best and are the most satisfied in their roles when they have good working relationships with their colleagues and managers, so you should always be on the lookout for ways to offer opportunities for connection. 

Wellness programs provide natural opportunities for social connection through group activities, such as fitness sessions and wellness challenges. You could even up the stakes by adding gamification to your wellness program, such as by using friendly competition to facilitate conversations and participation. 

Improved Mental Health and Morale

Many workplaces struggle with organization-wide stress levels, which can result in decreased performance, engagement, and employer brand image. Stress management sessions are a common employee wellness program that help employees cope with job pressures, address work-related stress issues, and find solutions for their mental health. Not only does this result in more satisfied workers, but also employees who feel supported through their challenges are more likely to be committed to the organization and motivated to perform well.

Removing the stigma behind mental health struggles through your wellness program is the first step in making employees feel truly welcome and excited to spread the word about your organization. Then, promoting a strong company culture built on mutual respect, care, and support will attract high performers to your organization. To spread awareness of your positive workplace culture, Lever suggests incorporating employee testimonials into your recruitment marketing materials.

How to Implement an Employee Wellness Program

Now that you understand why employees and employers love wellness programs, you might want to launch your own. Each workplace is different and requires distinct strategies, but these general steps can help you start your program:

• Assess employee needs and preferences. Use your employee engagement tools to record survey responses from employees about their motivations and pain points in the workplace. Also, survey candidates who went through the recruitment process but didn’t accept an offer to understand what applicants might be looking for.

• Define policies and benefits. Work with an employee wellness provider to devise a cost-effective plan that provides the benefits your employees want most. Then, create a program handbook outlining these benefits, how to access them, and relevant points of contact who can answer questions.

• Promote the program. Collaborate with managers, leadership, and your talent acquisition and HR teams to spread awareness of the program. Internally, you might send out an email blast encouraging employees to check out your new handbook. Externally, you might feature your program in your recruitment promotions. 

• Roll out the program and track progress. As you roll out your program, track how employees and candidates react. Periodically collect feedback while monitoring metrics like participation and application rates so you can understand where to improve.

Remember, widespread programs like employee wellness take time and iteration to perfect. That’s why communicating with employees and candidates throughout implementation is necessary for keeping everyone on the same page.

If your organization is looking to develop a wellness program to improve employee engagement, connect with us today.

CoreHealth Technologies Inc. is a total well-being company trusted by global companies to power their health and wellness programs. Our wellness portals help maximize health, engagement, and productivity for 3+ million employees worldwide. We believe people are the driving force of organizations and supporting them to make behavior changes to improve employee health is in everyone’s best interest. With the most flexibility, customizations, and integrations of any software in its class, CoreHealth’s all-in-one wellness platform helps achieve great wellness outcomes. Simple to sophisticated, based on you. For more information, visit the CoreHealth website.