Employee wellness programs come in all shapes and sizes, but there’s one consistent theme for those that are the most successful: they have wellness leadership from the top to the bottom and back again.
From the CEO to the newest staff member, this is how your leadership needs to be involved in your wellness program:
The role of the CEO in a wellness program is about clear, personal involvement in the program. You are there to provide a personal role model, to engage your employees about their wellness, essentially giving very clear permission for people to engage with the new program. You are showing them that if it’s good enough for you, if you have enough time to take part, then they do too.
You are showing them that if it’s good enough for you, if you have enough time to take part, then they do too.
Need some more motivation? CEOs have a significantly higher risk of heart problems and other cardiac issues — issues that can be mitigated by regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle. You motivate people, and you get to be healthier for longer. It’s a win-win.
A wellness manager is no ordinary manager. They design the events, processes and procedures to support your wellness program, organising and creating and generally providing what you need to ”do” wellness. This might include health risk questionnaires, biometric screenings, employee assistance programs as well as physical events and gym discounts.
If your company is relatively large, you might have a wellness manager whose only job is to work with wellness. For smaller companies, this role might be a shared role within your human resources department. Either way, this is one of the most important leadership positions for a good wellness program. You can’t have great results without somebody organising events, after all.
Did you know that insurance is rated as one of the most important benefits that employees look for?
Much like the CEO, the role of a middle manager in a wellness program is to provide ”permission” for people to take part — but they do so at a far more grassroots level. Middle managers are responsible for the microcultures that develop in individual teams, and if they can actively work to include wellness amongst their staff, it can go a long way towards higher, genuine engagement.
The role of a middle manager in a wellness program is to provide ”permission” for people to take part.
If you’re wondering how much of a difference this work would make, here’s a surprising figure: one study found that half of all non-participants in wellness programs didn’t partake because they saw a cultural barrier. Your middle managers could be powerful assets in removing that barrier.
Much like wellness managers, a wellness champion is a role borne directly out of the program. It tends to be a formal role, appointed by leadership from amongst the regular team members. They champion wellness events, makes sure people know how the program works at a grassroots level, and again, act as a role model.
Managers and CEOs give permission, wellness managers provide the resources and wellness champions act as a kind of cheerleader — and very effective ones at that. One study in the US found that employees were more likely to support one another, rate their health higher and think more of their organisation if they had contact with a wellness champion. Powerful stuff!
Finally, there are the base-line employees themselves. While you won’t have any formalised wellness representatives at this level, you will almost certainly have some people who are more likely to be committed to the wellness program than others.
You will almost certainly have some people who are more likely to be committed to the wellness program than others.
These informal supporters are the grassroots equivalent of the wellness champions. They are authentic and less formally committed, which makes them particularly persuasive when it comes to trying to cajole people to come along to that wellness seminar or sports game. They might not be ”official” leaders, but they still have an important role to play in wellness.
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