Every June, Employee Wellness Month is celebrated across the U.S. It’s an opportunity for employer and HR teams to enhance their employee experience programs, including wellness initiatives.
But where to start depends on your employees—from their interests and demographics to current employee resource groups (ERGs). Personalizing how you celebrate Employee Wellness Month means prioritizing what resonates with them, especially if your teams are deskless or remote.
Ask for employee feedback via surveys
Pulse surveys gather employee sentiment direct from the source. The benefit? It removes guessing what they’ll appreciate within an employee wellness program. Surveys also serve as a company culture gut-check. Are people happy? Is there one change to prioritize above the rest?
ITA Group’s HR team sends a pulse survey once a month that takes less than five minutes to complete. We ask employees to make their voice heard about four key areas.
- My company
- My leader
- My team
- My role (me)
From there, we ask questions specific to each category to capture a holistic view of team members’ experience. The key is being open to what we hear and taking action on employees’ top needs for fulfillment.
Let this be inspiration for what might resonate at your organization or do something completely unique. It’s authentic to do it your way. (And likely why employees were attracted to your organization in the first place!)
Related: 3 metrics to track employee engagement
Prioritize employee well-being for business health
As an HR leader, you know employee experience drives business performance. But after you capture employee feedback, you have to earn executive buy-in and make the business case for why spending time and money on employee well-being is worth it.
According to Gallup, employers that care about the health and well-being of their employees see measurable benefits, like higher productivity, profitability and lower turnover. Employees who strongly agree that their employer cares about their overall well-being, compared with other employees, are:
- 69% less likely to search for a new job
- 71% less likely to report experiencing burnout
- 36% more likely to be thriving in their lives
- 3x more likely to be engaged at work
- 5x more likely to strongly advocate for their company as a place to work
Additionally, many employees place work-life balance and personal well-being at the top of their priority list when choosing to stay or leave an organization. What does that mean for employers and HR leaders? Consistent, long-term employee wellness initiatives are necessary for employee retention and satisfaction. And they may even cause job seekers to seriously consider your organization.
Take your own well-being seriously
It’s worth saying that HR teams’ health and well-being matters, too! Burnout is common across every department and industry. As you plan to celebrate Employee Wellness Month, ask yourself: Would I benefit from this initiative? Considering your own employee journey may be the inspiration you need to filter through the ideas below.