Common Employee Wellness Program Challenges & How to Fix Them

Employee wellness programs are now a staple in today’s workplace, with the goal of improving employee health, morale and productivity and lowering absenteeism. However, HR professionals run into all sorts of trouble when it comes to designing and implementing these programs. 

In this blog, I'll discuss the most common employee wellness program challenges, the challenges in implementing wellness programs, and some employee wellness program solutions to overcome said challenges. Whether you are an HR person or a business leader, getting your head around these challenges will help make you more effective and engaging as you build wellness program collaborations.

Understanding the Common Employee Wellness Program Challenges

An employee wellness program is ideally the one that promotes the physical, mental and emotional well-being of employees. However, workplace wellness program problems are usually due to a variety of factors concerning a mixture of employee engagement concerns, limited resources and misalignment of strategic initiatives.

Certain HR teams find that despite investing the time and the budget necessary to implement a workplace health and wellness program there are low participation rates or no measurable health improvements. In almost every case there are logistical and/or cultural caps that take away from the effective delivery of the program. I will delineate between what I consider to be the top challenges we face and the solutions.

1. Low Employee Engagement

Perhaps one of the biggest employee wellness program challenges is getting employees to engage. If an employee does not feel motivated or see any value in the program, engagement drops, and the initiative loses its intended momentum.  

Solution:

• Customize the program to reflect the different employee needs/interests.
• Leverage incentives such as rewards or recognition, but make sure they are connected to real health-related behaviour change.
• Clearly communicate the benefits of the wellness programs and continue to be consistent and assertive with multiple channels of communication.
• Incorporate organizational leaders into the program as wellness champions to create participation and inspiration.

2. Lack of Management Buy-In

Without strong support from top management, wellness initiatives often fail to gain momentum or secure enough resources.

HR challenge in wellness initiatives: Gaining sustained executive buy-in can be difficult amidst competing business priorities.

Solution:

• Present data and business cases that focus on how the wellness program would reduce costs and increase productivity.
• Provide success stories from other organizations.
• Engage various leaders to provide input in shaping the wellness program, which provides an "owning" commitment.

3. Budget Constraints

A limited budget restricts your ability to provide a wide scope of wellness activities or the quality of wellness services. It's hard to provide all of the wellness services or have a professional deliver the services.

Some of the challenges in implementing wellness programs are measuring the ultimate impact against the cost, especially at smaller organizations.

Solution:

• Implement low-cost or no-cost activities (walking groups, mental health webinars, healthy cooking challenges).
• Connect with local providers of health services or use a virtual wellness platform to reduce costs together.
• Find small ways to implement wellness initiatives and ramp up depending on the outcomes.

4. Measuring Program Effectiveness

Many human resource teams struggle to visualize and communicate outcomes and effectively demonstrate return on investment (ROI). Without specific data, you cannot adjust programs or continue funding.

Workplace wellness program problems arise from a lack of clarity about measurement.

Solution:

• Establish your measurement as precise and measurable as possible at the beginning of your plan.
• Utilize employees' surveys, participation tracking, health screenings, productivity measures.
• Utilize technology solutions that include analytics and insights.

5. Addressing Diverse Employee Needs

Employees differ greatly in their age, health stage, cultural background, and lifestyles. A one-size-fits-all approach has limitations in achieving a successful program.

HR challenges in wellness initiatives include designing inclusive programs that accommodate diverse needs.

Solution:

• Assess employee needs with employee assessments.
• Make wellness programs flexible: on-site fitness, wellness coaching via video, mental health.
• Keep the communication compatible with all cultures and accessible to everyone.

How to Improve Employee Wellness Programs

Improving your wellness program is a journey. Here are some hints on how to improve employee wellness programs:

Develop a culture of wellness by embedding health into workplace practices, including breaks, and being aware of workload shared with staff.

• Provide managers with education courses on how to support the wellbeing of employees in the workplace.
• Solicit and respond to employee feedback on an ongoing basis.
• Engage with wellness external consultants for improvement to the company wellness program.

Conclusion

When we discuss addressing employee wellness program challenges is crucial when developing wellness programs or initiatives that effectively serve employees and the organization. With a commitment to engagement, leadership buy-in, budget management, evaluations, and diverse approaches, HR practitioners can support health and wellbeing in the employee experience and employee satisfaction. Knowing how to improve employee wellness programs and initiatives means that these strategies will thrive over time - that you will make the value of wellness an integral part of your culture as an organization.

By committing to these approaches and finding a way to overcome the barriers, we are well positioned to improve employee satisfaction, and employee health, and create a more resilient organization.

FAQs:

1. What are the biggest barriers to employee engagement in wellness programs?

 Some of the most common challenges include time, awareness, perceived irrelevance, and insufficient incentives.

2. How can HR demonstrate the value of wellness programs to leadership?

 By providing data to analyse absenteeism, productivity and healthcare costs (like reductions in total healthcare costs) associated with participation in wellness activities.

3. Are digital wellness platforms effective?

 Yes, using technology-based solutions or digital wellness platforms are effective engagement strategies, as they can be customized to your organization, easily supported to increase engagement and are scalable to the organization.

4. How often should wellness programs be evaluated and updated?

 At least annually, though, providing ongoing feedback and continual professional learning practices will help organizations respond to emerging needs.

5. Can small businesses afford to run employee wellness programs?

 Of course. There are countless affordable options for wellness, and investing in wellness can bring down expensive employee turnover and absenteeism even for small business.