A company wellness program can offer so much to your employees. It can improve worker retention and productivity while reducing insurance costs, to name a few. benefits. If you’re thinking about starting a wellness program in your marketing agency, it’s essential to step back and evaluate what works in your situation.

What Do My Employees Need?

Rather than throwing any program at your staff and expecting them to use it, ask what’s important to them. If your agency keeps crazy hours, would they benefit from a membership to a 24-hour gym? Would smoking cessation classes help several of them? Would they like to learn more about red light therapy benefits? You may not get agreement from everyone about every program aspect, but you can find trends.

You may consider conducting an environmental audit of your workplace. You can also offer preliminary health assessments to your employees to learn what areas need improvement. Some may discover that their BMI is outside of a healthy range, for example, and want to focus on nutrition. Others may find they need to exercise more and prefer to work on increasing activity levels.

What Objectives Should I Set?

A successful wellness program should result in the improved health of your employees, thus lowering health insurance costs, absenteeism and turnover. You can set objectives to help you measure progress.

Setting SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) goals helps you identify key areas of success. It also allows you to understand where you can improve your program.

Marketing agencies are generally fast-paced environments. Your employees may experience a high level of stress from tight deadlines and long hours. Say that you implement free guided meditation courses. Your SMART goal may be to have 50% participation and reduce sick days by 25% in the first year. If fewer than half of the employees participate, you can reevaluate the program and try a different meditation course or switch to weekly yoga classes.

Should I Participate in the Wellness Program?

Leading by example is an excellent way to get people to take part in your new wellness program. After all, if they see that you aren’t interested, why should they be? Having firsthand experience with program aspects makes you an authority if anyone has questions. You can also evaluate factors as you try them, deciding if they work for your business. Lastly, you gain the benefit of wellness as you participate.

The habits of people in higher positions set the tone for the workplace — whether it’s negative or positive. If your CEO uses the guided meditation course and speaks of its benefits, staff members are more likely to try it themselves. Likewise, if executive workers routinely skip lunch, your employees can feel pressure to follow suit instead of taking a much-needed break.

Is My Program Accessible to Everyone?

The employees in your agency are probably varied in their body types, skill levels and health conditions. It’s critical to ensure your program is inclusive. Your activities and incentives should be attainable for everyone. Rather than setting employees up for failure from the beginning, tap into their requests or individual requirements as you design a program.

What Do the Employees Say About the Program?

After your wellness program is off the ground, ask your staff members what they think. Your questions may include:

• Are they using the program? Why or why not?
• Can they benefit from modifications?
• What do they like best?
• Do they feel their performance has improved as a result?
• Has it changed their work-life balance?

Your employees can appreciate that you took the time to get their feedback. It’s a simple gesture that makes them feel valued and empowered. It’s also a chance to understand where you can implement changes or additions.

A wellness program can strengthen your marketing agency in several ways. Healthy, well-balanced workers can be more productive and engaged, take fewer sick days, and are less likely to leave the company. Starting a program is almost always worth the investment.