Wellness

Companies looking to manage their overall spending on employee health care and reduce the amount of productivity lost due to employee absences often institute employee wellness programs to promote preventive care and foster a healthier workplace.

Employee wellness days are a common component of an overall wellness strategy. To earn time off from work, employees participate in health-related activities in exchange for wellness day credits.

What is Wellness?

While health can be defined as the absence of disease, wellness is more about a person’s lifestyle and taking charge of the choices they make to stay healthy.

Wellness is the recognition that individuals have a responsibility to take care of themselves physically, emotionally and psychologically.

Getting exercise, maintaining healthy relationships, and eliminating risky behaviors such as smoking are all components of wellness.

Research has shown that when individuals take care of themselves and make positive lifestyle changes, they are happier, miss less work, and are more productive.

Wellness in the Workplace

Because of the connection between wellness and productivity, companies have taken a strong interest in promoting wellness in the workplace.

From health care screening days to smoking cessation programs, employers realize that, when they show an interest in their employees’ wellness, those employees are more likely to take advantage of the programs provided to them.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that companies with wellness programs in place reduce their health care costs by as much as 55 percent and short-term sick leave by 32 percent.

Wellness Days as an Incentive

Just because a company institutes a wellness program doesn’t mean employees are going to take advantage of it. Many times companies must create a wellness plan that offers employees incentives (besides the obvious incentive to improve their health) to participate.

Wellness days are an excellent example of rewarding employee participation. Employees earn credits for participating in wellness activities, such as joining a gym, taking a nutrition class, and monitoring their blood pressure.

Credits are redeemed for time off from work, boosting not only health awareness but employee morale.