Last night on the HR Happy Hour show we talked about the topic of organizational 'Wellness' programs and initiatives with a fantastic and smart panel of guests - Tanya Barham, CEO of Recess Wellness; Fran Melmed, Owner of Context Communications; and Greg Matthews, Director at WCG Consulting.
You can listen to the archive of the show page here, or using the widget player below:
Here is a quick rundown of the show topics and main ideas:
Sustainability
Since organizations tend to communicate and promote their wellness programs most actively around the annual Benefits Open Enrollment period, it can be easy for employees and even HR professionals to
logically group the two activities together, and to forget (or at least to de-emphasize), wellness initiatives once Open Enrollment is complete. Fran made a great point about Open Enrollment being about 'Choosing' benefits, while Wellness is about 'Using' benefits.
In the minds of the panel, coupling the two efforts is a mistake, for while Open Enrollment is 'transactional', wellness has to become 'habitual'. Wellness is really more about 'life', not a delineated and time-bound program. If the only time of the year that program designers, HR pros, and employees think about and communicate the wellness message is at Open Enrollment time, then the efforts are likely to have minimal impact and lasting effect. The other important point about sustainability of wellness initiatives is that they have to connect with the WIIFM requirement, i.e., the 'What's in it For ME?'. And the WIIFM has to resonate with the organization; in the form of supporting financial and strategic goals, and the employees; who have to connect with and recognize the personal benefits of the wellness initiatives.
Incentives
The group sort of had mixed feelings on the use of incentives to try and influence and direct the behavior of employees toward more desired and 'healthy' options. Tanya noted that the vast majority of corporate wellness committees want to incent the wrong things. Programs like 'Free Gym Membeships' and 'Company Biggest Loser' contests, well, they suck. Greg made an excellent point about the idea of using games and gaming in the design and deployment of wellness activities, and the emphasis needs to be on 'fit'; i.e. incorporating more healthy activities into the flow of the day. Drop one or two of these treadmill workstations in the office to give folks the opportunity to read and walk, or take a con call while taking a moderately paced stroll.
Incentives are often seen as coercion, and once the incentive goes away, the behavior does too. And 'dis-incentives', like charging smokers a higher premium for their medical benefits was not seen as a positive or potentially effective strategy.
The McRib Conspiracy
Early in the show promotion, I floated the idea of a vast, Fast-Food conspiracy that synchronized the availability of the McRib with most US-based organizations annual benefits open enrollment. But while no one really has bought into my conspiracy theory, the overall macro trends of increasing obesity, diabetes, and other illnesses seem to be such a large, national type problem that I wondered about an organization's ability to effect and fight against these constraints. But since 'work' is such a major piece of 'life', and that many if not most of us spend most of our waking hours at work or working from someplace, that the panel did indeed feel that there is a role and even a responsibility for the organization to care, to be concerned, and to promote the health and well-being of the workforce, and even their families. Employers have influence in this area, and can and perhaps should, do more to promote wellness in the broader community. Greg reminded us that there is a moral and social element here that often goes forgotten.
Wellness programs are more and more common, as organizations struggle to control costs, increase productivity, and retain the best employees. But as Tanya noted on the show, the programs often 'suck'. If you are involved in designing or administering wellness programs in your organization, I recommend having a listen to the show to take the first step in avoiding the 'suckiness'.
Thanks again to Fran, Tanya, and Greg for a fun and informative show.