Why corporate wellness programs don't work
As our society becomes increasingly conscious of the importance of mental health and wellness, it’s no surprise that more and more companies are implementing workplace wellness programs. They may seem like an easy solution to attract new employees, improve employee morale and increase employee retention, but more and more, it seems that these programs are not hitting the mark.
Over the last several weeks I’ve been having a lot of conversations and interviews with employees from a wide variety of sectors and industries. Many of these employees shared with me that their employer provided some sort of wellness program. For some this included fitness and cooking classes. For others it included weight loss challenges with financial compensation as a reward. Still for others it included counselling and therapy services.
What was interesting to me is that though so many provisions were being made, these employees all still felt burnt out, stressed and dissatisfied at work. It really seems like a big waste of money on the employers’ part. It made me wonder, did they truly care about the wellness issues their staff were facing? Or was implementing an employee program simply a performative measure, a “look good” measure? These employees complained that even though they had access to several services, most of them did not partake in them due to lack of time. They felt it was another thing to do on top of their already very full workload.
Others were concerned about confidentiality and privacy. Consider this, if you feel burnt out, underappreciated and mistreated at work, do you really feel comfortable to talk to professionals hired by your employer about your employer? Of course, many professionals have privacy policies but that didn’t ease the fears and concerns of the people I spoke with. Who knows when that information can be used against you? Should your private information such as health data and habits be tracked and shared with your employer? Many are certainly of the view that these lines shouldn’t be blurred and a clear separation should exist.
What’s obvious is that employers and managers aren’t talking to their employees. They aren’t digging deep to understand the real challenges that their employees are facing, and then working to provide meaningful solutions that address said challenges. Providing lunch every Friday is great, but if one’s issue is that they are overworked and don’t get to spend enough time with their family because of poor work life balance, the challenge has not been addressed. The lunch does not change or improve the employee’s wellbeing. In fact, it may further aggravate the employee to realize just how detached their employer is from their reality.
So what can be done? Employers and managers need to have real conversations with their staff where they seek to learn and understand their pain points surrounding work. They need to ask employees what workplace changes would be of actual benefit to the employee and make them feel happy and valued at work. At the very least, anonymous employee surveys should be sent out annually to get tangible data on employee wellness. From there, management teams need to creatively explore realistic ways they can make shifts within their environment, culture and work to better meet the needs of their employees. What’s best for the employee can often be what’s best for the company. What’s best for the company, is often not what’s best for the employee. As companies seek to establish workplace wellness programs, it’s important to ensure that the programs are aligned and beneficial for the employees they seek to support.
