How to Create an Office Wellness Program Written by Kim Sin with insights and best practices from leading Bay Area companies

Transcription

1 A Guide for Office Managers and Founders How to Create an Office Wellness Program Written by Kim Sin with insights and best practices from leading Bay Area companies

2 A note from the author Thanks for downloading and reading this guide on workplace well being. In my previous life I worked in event marketing for many years. I loved it, but long hours, continuous travel and a deadline driven high-stress environment took a toll on my body. I had been doing yoga for years and loved the balance it brought to my life, but I wanted my full-time job to be more about balance and wellness rather than it be a side dish. Years later I completed my yoga teacher training and have been working with leading companies in the Bay Area to help them bring wellness, mindfulness and exercise to their offices. Now I don t believe everyone has to transition out of companies to reach their wellness goals. Instead, we must transition wellness practices into our companies so we re all healthier, happier and more productive. This guide was created based on personal interviews I conducted with HR, office and recruiting managers and based off research conducted by other thought leaders such as Gallup and the American Psychological Association. I d like to thank all of my clients and others who shared their best practices for this piece and people like you who are enabling wellness initiatives to grow at your own company. Nameste. Kim Sin INSERT A QUOTE HERE TO HELP DRIVE YOUR CORE MESSAGE HOME. BE SURE TO ATTRIBUTE IT TO ITS RIGHTFUL AUTHOR. - Author For more information visit kimsinyoga.com

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1. WELLNESS AT WORK 2. WELLNESS PROGRAMS AT A GLANCE 3. STEPS TO CREATING A WELLNESS PROGRAM CONCLUSION

4 Part 1 Wellness at Work Employee health and wellness is a trend at companies large and small. A recent study found that more than 85% of U.S. companies employing 1,000 people or more offer some sort of workplace wellness program. From Google and Microsoft to smaller companies like Medium and Asana, companies throughout the Bay Area and the world are taking employee wellness seriously. Now your company may not have the resources of Google who provides child care, massage therapy, yoga and onsite health care, but you may very well be competing to recruit these same employees. This guide is meant to help small to medium sized companies improve their employees wellness with minimal time and producing a maximum impact. Below is a summary of some of our key findings. Key findings - contrary to popular belief, employee wellness does not have to be a major monetary investment - healthier employees miss less work days and are less likely to turn over than employees with poor health - diversity - the breadth of employee wellness programs we discovered spanned employee meals, meeting types and even the types of office furniture that are purchased - engagement - buy-in is key from the company leaders who must walk the talk so their fellow employees will follow - ¾ of employees agree wellness initiatives improve culture at their work

5 Wellness at a High Level Of course wellness isn t just something that is isolated to work. To get a holistic perspective on your employees well-being, Gallup has created the Healthways 5, a scientific survey instrument to measure and report on the well-being of individuals and organizations. Their research has uncovered five crucial elements of well-being: 1. Purpose: liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals 2. Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life 3. Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security 4. Community: liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your community 5. Physical: having good health and enough energy to get things done daily All five of these are directly or indirectly impacted by an employee's job or workplace. In this guide we re primarily focused on the physical and mental portion of wellness, but keep in mind there are other crucial factors to keeping employees happy such as healthcare plans and personal choices that are not discussed in this guide. become much more motivated and productive when they know that their employer cares about their total quality of life, which goes beyond traditional wellness and includes Employees physical, emotional, financial and social health. - Chris Boyce, CEO of Virgin HealthMiles.

6 Part 2 Wellness Programs at Glance Starting a new initiative may sound overwhelming, but it could be as small as a 1-2 hour investment for office managers to implement some sort of new wellness initiative. Wellness perks and programs can take many different shapes and forms. Each company has chosen what works for them based on their own culture, budget and priorities. Below are just a few examples of companies who provide small wellness perks or programs to improve their employees health. Examples of Company Wellness Perks At 23 and Me, employees get to chose their own type of work station. Ergonomic keyboards, standing desks, and exercise balls are all popular choices to help workers have a healthier day-to-day work environment. This is also a popular practice at Asana who gives new employees $10,000 to customize their work environment. Idexx Laboratories, based in Maine, provides a sprawling produce garden for its employees to tend. Multiple studies, including one recent review from the U.K., have shown gardening supports mental health. But if you can't squeeze a tomato patch into your cubicle, just adding an indoor plant may boost your attention and improve your mood, shows research from Cornell University.

7 Wellness Programs at a Glance Tradeshift encourages employees to bike to work and offers them free bikeshare memberships at Bay Area Bike Share and their own bike barn at the office. Tradeshift is a Danish company with an office in SF so they wanted to encourage the SF employees to bike to work like the Danes often do. Practice Fusion gives Fitbits to each new employee. They have contests, like walking challenges and the winning participant may even win a trip to a place like Oahu, If he or she takes the number of steps it would take to get to Oahu. Genetech likes to keep their employees healthy by hosting farmers markets where employees can purchase local, organic produce. They also provide physical therapy, meditation and fitness centers onsite for all employees. Twitter offers endless supplies of healthy (and not so healthy) options for lunch and breakfast at headquarters combined with gym reimbursements, and yoga or Pilates classes on site. Group exercise classes such as Yoga and Pilates are extremely popular because they offer a mix of physical activity, stress relief, and team bonding without a huge monetary investment. Now that you ve seen what other companies are doing it s time for you to begin figuring out what makes sense for your company's culture.

8 Part 3 Creating a Wellness Program Steps to Crea+ng a Wellness Program 1 Get Buy- in - companies we spoke with men+oned the importance of having buy- in for new ini+a+ves. Before any plans are announced, it s important to take an informal or formal poll amongst your staff to ask about things they d like to see the company implement. While company leadership is usually required to fund large new programs, the staff themselves can organize to create working groups to implement new wellness ini+a+ves. By involving your stakeholders from the get- go, they will more likely follow through to par+cipate in ac+vi+es that may take a few minutes out of their normal daily rou+ne. 2 3 Determine Budget - while your employees may want daily chair massages or gourmet organic meals cooked 3x a day, this may not be in your budget. While wellness programs don t have to cost a fortune, some+mes a ligle financial support can go a long way. $100 a week could be used to hire a yoga instructor or personal trainer or could be used to provide healthy snacks at the office like fruits and vegetables. Wellness Ac=vi=es the types of wellness perks and ini+a+ves are only limited by your imagina+on. A once a week walk outside the office or a 1- minute medita+on before a company- wide mee+ng are just two examples of easily implemented ac+vi+es for your employees. Addressing issues and ideas from step 1 is key. While you may not be able to implement all of your employees sugges+ons, just trying to implement some form of their idea is good enough for them to feel heard and a apart of the process.

9 Crea=ng a Wellness Program 4 5. Implement now that you have buy- in, budget it s +me to get the word out and set your plans in mo+on. Staff Wide mee+ngs are a great +me to announce new programs and you can also follow up with monthly s and plugs during future electronic communica+ons. Regular reminders, rewards and even compe++ons are a great way to keep people engaged in the new ac+vity. Have fun with it! Assess Impact aser implemen+ng your ini+a+ves be sure to get feedback from your employees and the leadership team about how things are going. What percentage of employees are par+cipa+ng? Should we add more programs or adjust our current ones? Informal hallway conversa+ons or an employee survey works wonders to collect feedback. It s Time to Take Action Now it s your turn! You ve seen why wellness programs are important, what other companies are doing and the steps to get there. Like all successful new endeavors, investing a little bit of time and energy can go a long way. Whether you are only able to spend 10 minutes a day on meditation or $10,000 on ergonomic office equipment. there s surely some small steps you can take this year to make your office environment a healthier, happier place. As an industry, we are falling short of our potential. We could be accomplishing more, and we could be providing a better life for all of the people who work in technology. - Dustin Moscovitz, CEO Asana, Facebook Co-founder

10 Research and Citations Workplace wellness study and Programs - What s the Hard Return on Employee Wellness Programs? Daily Rituals to Manage Work Stress - Best Companies Maintain Health and Wellness Benefits best-companies-maintain-health-and-wellness-benefits 39 Wellness Programs to Copy Quirky motivators from the Bay Area s Healthiest Companies Work Hard, Live Well - More info at