How to choose a
workplace wellbeing provider

The workplace wellbeing industry has sparked a substantial change in how companies look after their employees. This couldn’t have come at a better time. In 2018, work-related stress, anxiety and depression accounted for 12.5 million lost working days annually, with the cost of poor mental health among employees reaching up to €42 billion. In response, these companies are becoming more educated about the real value of wellbeing for employees and they are looking to workplace wellbeing providers for answers. They want to find credible and effective workplace wellbeing solutions that provide the necessary duty of care to employees, without losing focus on the business. With demand, comes supply, and as a result there are a number of workplace wellbeing providers on the market. These benchmarks will help you to make an informed decision in choosing a workplace wellbeing provider for your organisation.

The search for an effective workplace wellbeing provider

Workplace wellbeing programmes have become more of a Corporate Social Responsibility element than a trend in the past number of years. However, given that this is a sector where growth has been accelerated by technology and demand, a key driver of success is having a workplace wellbeing programme with innovation at its core. This can only be made possible by using an experienced workplace wellbeing provider that can take the broad concept of Corporate Wellness and combine experience-led initiatives with software to create an easy-to-use Wellbeing Programme that works.

As wellbeing at work becomes the norm, it’s never been more important to offer employees the right level of Workplace Health and Wellbeing support. Here are a few essential traits to look out for when choosing an Employee Wellbeing Provider:

Choose a provider that delivers bespoke wellbeing

With the requirements of health and wellness at work being unique to each company and set of employees, it’s important that a workplace wellbeing provider doesn’t have an “out-of-the-box”, one size fits all approach. Your wellbeing programme needs to be tailored to the interests, abilities and health needs of employees, as well as the space you have, the schedules employees work to and so on.

It’s by breaking away from a one size fits all approach that a corporate wellbeing provider can deliver a customised wellbeing programme, at the level of personalisation required to provide visible benefits.

Makes it easy for employees

A workplace wellbeing programme should not feel like a chore to employees. While all lifestyle changes require commitment, it’s important that it fits into our current routines well. An effective workplace wellbeing programme will be easy to fit into a schedule, be accessible in some capacity, regardless of work-type and will transfer easily into their home life. Removing blocks, such as time and location, from using a wellbeing programme gives employees the opportunity to self-manage their own journey, and more importantly, to base any decisions on personal choice without feeling as though they are being forced into making changes that may not necessarily suit them.

Helps those in charge

From a management perspective, a workplace wellbeing provider should also enable easy implementation and make management of corporate wellness programmes and activities easy for those internally responsible. An effective workplace wellbeing provider will save those tasked with managing the programme time and effort and help them to be more efficient.

Fits in with or enhances existing culture

An employee wellbeing provider should be able to deliver a programme that fits with a companies’ existing culture, even if it is a tool being used to enhance or improve it. An effective provider will assist you in understanding employee mindset and implementing a calendar of events that works with or enhances your company culture, increasing the likelihood of engagement.

Delivers good content in multiple formats

If being informed is key to changing corporate wellness habits, a workplace wellbeing provider should offer relevant and invaluable content. This means providing a library of credible digital content resources that cover nutrition, fitness and mental health. It’s essential that the information is available in various formats to ensure accessibility and to enable continuous learning.

Offers professional expertise

Being able to draw on the best-practice knowledge and expertise of a corporate wellness provider regularly is important in the realisation of the full potential of a workplace wellbeing programme. A provider should have experienced and accredited professionals available in all relevant disciplines to not only motivate employees and their families to make long-term behavioral changes, but to ensure that the highest quality of support and information is being provided to employees.

Keeps up with the times

Given that much of the success of a wellbeing programme still lies within the control of the employee, a workplace wellbeing provider should continue to look at the latest approaches, technology and wellness initiatives, to find new ways to encourage, empower and motivate employees to achieve their wellbeing goals.

Ultimately, an employee wellbeing Provider should be able to effectively equip companies with everything they need to support their employees on a long-term basis. They should also enable employees to make real changes to their lifestyle, if desired. This should be the overall objective when researching workplace wellbeing providers that will do more than help you tick a box when it comes to employee wellness.