What are the key components of a comprehensive and inclusive benefits wellness program?

With my current employee base I have to keep in mind the demographics of my employees. What is available in their home base area. In order for them to achieve their incentives they must have a clear physical, understand my group majority is in the 40 and up to 70 age range. They want access to gyms, nutrition specialist, reminders for their preventive care that is paid at 100% under our health plans. Cost reduction mechanisms outside their health plans like pharmacy cards that offer addition discounts. Health fairs that do free screening. This helps them focus better on their health and reduce health plan utilization. One incentives is an office co-pay for urgent care facility instead of the emergancy room co-pay.

Like any other program, you cannot and will not make any improvements, progress, or culture shifts without Leadership buy-in. Therefore it is important to have any program that is built align with the walk and talk of your Leadership Team. You cannot fake it until you make it. Employees will see that.

Create a communications and wellness calendar that includes quarterly meetings to regroup and monitor the progress of the program or the results of a program that just ended. Evaluate participation and results. If you need to, pivot. Don't feel locked into one idea. Also, keep in mind that a wellness program does not have to be expensive. There are many ideas that are free or very low cost.

Utilizing external partners is vital to avoid burnout within the HR department. Brokers, vendors, and consultants have the expertise and relationships to drive your wellness plan in the right direction. They likely have the knowledge and experience to remove obstacles your employees or HR teams might face when engaging with or managing your wellness plan. These partners should also be monitoring and evaluating the results of the wellness plan to ensure that outcomes align with the benefits plan strategy as a whole.

External partners are a great resource. They can assist the company with creating a Wellness Committee and making sure that the program stays on track. Wellness is personal, but it helps when it becomes a community event. During covid, when employees were not able to go into the office, through a preferred vendor, we were able to pivot to virtual health fairs that everyone could attend. They exceeded expectations.

We have had great success by creating customized monthly newsletters for our Clients that are short and simple. The newsletters contain current events in the company, highlights of the most recent wellness event and employee achievements, if any, and possibly a small update on a benefit they have access to but might forget. They have become a piece that our clients look forward to and help to grow the interest in wellness.