To reflect the current mood of today’s pandemic-weary workforce, we’re changing the classic-rock song: The workers are not all right. The mental health of workers has deteriorated since the outbreak of the pandemic.
How are companies addressing the deteriorating mental health of a range of employees with different needs: from employees on the frontline of health care to employees in corporate cubicles and senior executives?
What is the Best Way to Ensure a Happier, Healthier Workforce by Appointing a Wellness Officer?
In most cases, the answers to these questions can depend on what we mean by “wellness,” which is not typically covered by mental health benefits.
Wellness Runs Dry
Wellness is a nebulous and sticky term, and there’s no actual definition of wellness. Instead, it refers to a vaguely scientific or pseudoscientific subject whenever you read about wellness in the news.
Yet the industry is vast, with an estimated global value of $1.5 trillion and an annual growth of 5%–10%. Purveyors of wellness products and services market everything from magical weight-loss teas to crystals that promise cardiovascular health.
The Rationale
Mental health is included in the concept of health by the WHO because it encompasses both physical and mental health and is not just a disease-free state.
Health care organizations across the U.S. appointed wellness officers to provide mental wellness resources to burnout medical staff before the pandemic slammed emergency rooms, and wellness consultants provided insights and techniques to various industries.
Medical wellness consultants and experts in other industries agree that all advice should be backed by science, not seen as a shortcut to success.
So What’s Wellness?
The well-being and resilience are often like a chief financial officer’s job; only they are worried about worker health rather than organizational finance.
There’s a moral imperative to the job. Many people suffer from burnout and mental health diagnoses within the healthcare profession.
The use of employee survey data to inform the approach seeks to communicate a clear message making a case for any wellness offerings made to workers, including everything from leadership training to promote wellness-centered leadership to resilience-skills workshops.
According to the Bond Wellness Center, mindfulness improves well-being and resilience.
They believe that today’s workforce is overwhelmed by an onslaught of digital distractions. So a workshop they offer to clients teaches workers how to put their phones away and promote better productivity and well-being at work.
The Basics of Wellness
Often, workers are instructed to get more sleep and eat healthier. Still, when employee demographics were pulled out, it was observed that people only sleep about four to five hours a night or are overwhelmed and unaware of what they should be eating.
While some research shows modest improvements in health behaviors in the short term, the overall long-term effectiveness of wellness programs is not always apparent.
According to a survey of 1,686 non-federal employers, wellness programs are commonplace, with 42% of small firms and 69% of large ones offering a program to help employees quit smoking, 44% of small firms and 63% of large ones offering programs to help employees slim down, and 48% of small firms and 71% of large ones offering lifestyle or behavioral improvement programs.
Well and Good Now
Compared to 135 workplaces with no wellness programs, 25 workplaces were unaffected by employees’ employment outcomes, healthcare spending, or objective health measures.
The Bottom Line
There you are! Employee well-being could become a leading indicator of engagement, satisfaction, and productivity among business leaders in the coming years. Automate the programs by investing in a high-quality internet connection. It’ll help reduce the stress of connectivity lags. Go for providers, like Smithville fiber, that offer 24/7 tech support—no hassle and no stress!