Tonight on the HR Happy Hour Show the topic is 'Wellness'.
First the specifics:
HR Happy Hour - 'Wrestling with Wellness' - 8PM ET - listen live on the show page, using the player below, or by calling in to 646-378-1086.
Wellness programs seem to have exploded in corporate America in the last few years. Who hasn't been handed a pedometer (handy when many of sit at a desk all day), been hit up with propaganda about the 'pyramid of nutrition' (Cheetos fit where?), or been cajoled, convinced, or coerced to get more 'well' by our caring employer?
But 'Wellness' initiatives are not stopping there, at good natured advice to exercise more, eat better, and get more rest. Many organizations are setting up tiered employee benefit contribution rates to penalize or punish smokers, or to reward employees that agree to undergo health screenings.
For the companies that enact these programs the motivation seems clear - healthier employee are more productive, are absent less, and reduce the companies cost of providing health benefits and insurance. And who could argue from the employee perspective that getting 'more well' (whatever that means) isn't better?
But do companies have a right/obligation/fiduciary responsibility to promote, or even require 'wellness' at work? Do employees have to be subjected to what can seem like a barrage of 'get off your fat butt and eat some veggies' messaging from their employer? Can this whole 'wellness' thing go too far, even reaching into hiring processes and become a factor in retention decisions? Can someone be 'too fat to work here?'
And once the organization makes the decision to pursue a 'wellness' agenda, what design, execution, and communication strategies can they employ to try and accomplish their goals, while not seeming to come off like Big Brother, or that one nasty babysitter that would not let you eat cookies for dinnner.
Joining us on the show tonight will be Fran Melmed, Tanya Barham, and Greg Mathews, folks with expertise and a point of view from all sides of the wellness equation, communications, design, and organizational. It should be an interesting and fun show - I hope you can join us.