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Published On: Mon, Jan 28th, 2019

Employee Wellness Trends in 2019 All Employers Should Follow

Keeping employees engaged and happy in the workplace is one of the most important variables that a company should pay attention to. The corporate wellness industry is on a constant evolution, especially over the past few years. Wellness professionals inside companies have steady positions and coordinate all management measures so they align to better workplace wellness standards. They are designated to make sure that employee wellness programs have continuity and are keeping up with the trends in the industry. Some of the best trends to look out for in 2019 are described below.

photo/ rawpixel

#1. There are certain legal challenges that

At the beginning of this year, a court decision eliminated the wellness program incentives that were previously established. In these circumstances, employers have several dilemmas and they must decide if their wellness programs fall into the voluntary conditions of the ADA and Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act.

Legal propositions may be received by the summer of this year, but until then, the terrain remains a bit uncertain and unclear. Until then, employers and managers, as well as wellness program coordinators, should monitor and enforce a positive development of these measures. Closer collaboration with legal advisors is recommended in this context, as well.

#2. Privacy and Health Data Concerns

This article raises a very relevant matter to discussion. Workplace wellness programs might gather plenty of health data on each employee and who is making sure that the data is fully protected? After all, the volume of wellness information gathered by companies is enormous: from gym records to lab tests and wellness portals, each employee leaves an obvious trace of health data behind.

In this context, companies have to make sure that all their clients know who is in their data’s possession, who their data is shared with and so on. When choosing wellness vendors, employers should make sure that they guarantee high levels of privacy and security to the final user and follow all the standards in the industry.

photo Dean Moriarty via pixabay

#3. Self-Care, the Top Priority in all Workplace Wellness Programs

Self-care seemed to be the main trend in 2018 when it came to wellness programs. And there is no reason why this trend wouldn’t continue in 2019 as well. Both employees and employers realize that self-care is an essential workplace mindfulness habit that should be adopted by everybody. According to this Harvard Business Review, most wellness programs fail when a wellness-oriented company culture lack. Prioritizing self-care and encouraging employees to profit from all the perks of these programs is absolutely necessary.

Some of the big players in various industries make a point of boosting self-care awareness and mindfulness practices among their employees as these practices are due to boost employee productiveness and results.

#4. Solving the Burnout Matter

Employees today are under enormous pressure. More pressure than in the past, considering the fact that they have more tasks delegated to them and, generally, chaotic lifestyles. This survey reports that almost half of the interviewed employees experience workplace-related burnout symptoms. This phenomenon is common regardless of the industry and it translates into lower productivity levels and more errors of different kinds. Besides, lower engagement rates appear in those workers that experience burnout.

To address this issue, managers should be able to identify and properly address the problem. Frequent encouragement and reassurance that employees are allowed to take a day off, relax and recharge should be a common practice.

Managers should also implement flexible schedules and should allow working from home more often to reduce stress and anxiety among their employees.

#5. Clean Workspace

Having a clean workplace has incredible powers when it comes to assuring better workplace wellness levels. It can influence performance and productivity and reduce stress and anxiety levels. People, generally, feel overwhelmed when working in unclean and crowded spaces. Anxiety is fairly common in similar spaces and clean offices positively impact your employee’s spirits and productivity levels. People working in crowded places generally experience unidentified stress. They tend to feel overwhelmed by having to constantly dig through piles of documents, papers and picking up various things off the floor. This may seem like a small detail, but employees are disturbed by it and their productivity levels are impacted.

While each employee should acknowledge the importance of maintaining their workstation and office clean, office cleaning services are another measure that managers and business owners should consider when trying to tackle this issue. These services are usually provided by specialised vendors and can be contracted after working hours. This way, your employees’ workflow won’t be affected by the presence of a cleaning team.

#7. Personalised Wellness Programs

Not all employees have similar needs when it comes to wellness programs. Wellness is highly personal and everybody needs different measures and solutions to their issues. Thus, implementing a linear wellness program is inefficient.

Today’s trends in regards to wellness programs concentrate increasingly on integrating AI in their processes and creating a more personalised experience for beneficiaries. By leveraging the data gathered, all companies will soon be able to create a better user experience overall and allow them to address and find solutions to their own specific needs.

While many companies may not afford to invest in recent technology, personalization can be easily achieved by asking employees for feedback. Let them know that all programs can be tailored to their needs, as long as they ask for it.

#8. Increased Financial Stability

Financial well-being is a topic that has increased in importance over the past few years. Several research papers claim that almost 15% of the interviewed employees had access to multiple resources provided by their employers, designed to increase their financial stability. Financial worries and problems are due to distracting employees in the workplace and similar measures are due to decrease monetary worries and make employees more productive and positive while in the workplace.

These are some of the main employee wellness trends that were anticipated for 2019. Companies seem to be increasingly concerned about their workers’ wellbeing and mindfulness than they were just a few years back.

Author: Cynthia Madison

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