Small business guide: creating your own wellness program

Wellness programs have increased in popularity, especially at large businesses that aim to attract top talent with a swath of incentives like health insurance, paid time off, and more. Employee wellness programs usually consist of several different initiatives aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles for employees and sometimes, their spouses and dependents.

Some people may think of yoga in the breakroom or smoothies when they think of employee wellness programs, but they actually cover a much broader definition of wellness. Many programs include initiatives geared towards helping employees stay physically healthy, mentally healthy, financially fit, socially connected, motivated professionally, and more. Here’s a small business guide to kick off your own wellness program.

Fitness

While large corporations may sometimes offer on-site fitness centers, small businesses are probably not able to offer the same amenities. As many businesses transition to remote work, there are still things small business owners can do to promote physical well-being among employees. One option is to include gym membership fees as part of your benefits package. Another idea is to include team fitness challenges that encourage people to hit the gym by offering a prize for the team that wins.

Nutrition

If you’re a small business that still manages a team on-site, it may be a good idea to offer healthy snack options in the common area. Many businesses have vending machines that offer not-so-health-conscious snacks, but making fresh fruit available or even having healthy snacks delivered can make a huge difference. Offering a small business guide to nutrition facts can slo help employees make educated food choices. Another idea is to offer extended “fitness lunches” to employees. Rather than crunching lunch into 30 minutes, you can offer employees up to 90 minutes, giving them enough time to hit the gym and eat something healthy before returning to work.

Financial

Small businesses can also offer employees initiatives that target financial wellness. Offering small business guides, financial wellness programs, and educational tools can help employees improve financial stability by learning more about healthy spending and saving behaviors, investing, and other topics related to financial literacy.

Occupational

Occupational wellness initiatives help employees boost satisfaction and fulfillment within their work. These programs may prompt work-life balance, professional development, and other job-related topics. Occupational well-being is closely related to other areas of wellness since dissatisfied employees can face increased stress and other mental health issues. Those issues can also negatively impact physical health.

General Education

Providing education across a variety of topics can be a seamless way to promote all different types of wellness for employees. The great thing about educational initiatives is that they can be done in an office setting or even from home. The focus is on providing employees with helpful information across a variety of topics, like physical and mental health, financial literacy, occupational well-being, and more. Creating your own small business guide around one of the following topics can be great for employees:

Nutrition facts: You may consider providing employees with nutritional information for some common foods as well as for fast-food options. When employees have the right information, they can make informed decisions about what types of foods they choose to eat.

Health assessments: Some vendors supply businesses with health assessments that health employees identify risk factors and other conditions they may not be aware of. These personalized assessments can arm your employees with essential information they need about their health to make good decisions that help them lead healthier lives.

Mental health tips: Many employees could benefit from information that helps them lead more balanced lives. Providing information and reducing the stigma around mental health issues can help your employees seek the help they need or become more cognizant of their mental health and how it is impacted by work. When employees learn to balance mental, physical, and occupational well-being, everyone benefits.

Decent partners with small business owners

Decent envisions a world where everyone has the freedom to do the work they want without sacrificing access to affordable and comprehensive health insurance. We do this by enabling small business owners and entrepreneurs to band together to purchase healthcare. Decent has partnered with the TFA to offer small business owners and entrepreneurs access to the type of self-insured plans that have previously only been available to some of the largest companies in America.

We offer affordable, tax-advantaged health insurance plans that can safeguard the future for small businesses and their employees — allowing businesses to attract and retain talent and protecting employees from exorbitant out-of-pocket medical costs.

Half of Americans work for a small business — Decent is here to make sure they have the affordable care options they need to keep the American economy in motion. Interested? Get more information today.