We’ve talked a lot about how to keep employees productive and engaged with ever-evolving workplace environments. Companies may now be 100% remote, while others may be returning to a hybrid model, or even back to being completely in the office. Whatever your workplace looks like, professionals are seeking access to wellness benefits more than ever. Access to wellness benefits helps employees feel safe and valued. More importantly, offering wellness benefits is a necessary thing to do if you want employees to stay engaged, productive, and happy at work.
How do we know?
Before the pandemic, only 5% of American employees worked from home.
By May 2020, over 60% of people began working remotely.
Here are some key ways you can address engagement, productivity, and overall employee happiness:
1. Strong leadership → Productivity + Wellness Engagement
Take Ownership of Wellness and Get Leadership Involved
Studies show that strong leadership is necessary if you want employees to be productive and engaged. This is even more important if you’re trying to get employees on board with your wellness benefits.
At Sworkit, we’ve seen the more that management buys in and supports the wellness initiatives, the more the entire company will get involved! Don’t forget to include leadership in any wellness initiatives. If you are leadership, try to offer your employees wellness benefits that you personally believe in so that you can’t help but share about them!
Raise Up Wellness Leaders, Advocates, and Champions
Whether you’re a decision-maker or not, when you begin to celebrate individuals who are passionate about wellness, they have the chance to become an advocate for wellness. This is an amazing way to get others involved and maintain engagement.
2. Create a Positive, Community-Focused Culture
A survey of 715 companies, with over 3 million U.S. employees, showed:
- People do not feel productive when they have bosses, not leaders
- Employees are willing to work with more intention when they’re given the flexibility to do things that support their lifestyle.
- People produce more in the long run when they have a sense of belonging and connection at work.
3. Offer Remote/Hybrid Working Options
Did you know that working remotely can increase productivity by up to 77%?
It’s true! This pre-COVID study from Connect Solutions showed that 30% of people were also able to complete more work in less time.
From 2019 to 2020, Great Place to Work conducted a productivity study of 800,000 employees from Fortune 500 companies. They compared productivity from March to August 2020 to the same time period the year before and found productivity either stayed the same or increased with remote work.
Clearly, people are more likely to stay motivated, engaged, and moving if they have the flexibility and more of a “say” when it comes to their working hours.
4. Make Daily Movement an Integral Part of the Culture
Another survey of 2,185 employees from 19 different countries found that 89% felt more productive during the workday after exercising and 96% felt less stressed. To top that off, 80% of these same professionals shared how having access to fitness benefits was essential to their exercise routines during the pandemic.
This shows us that daily movement isn’t only vital for productivity, it’s also crucial to keep employees happy and healthy. A daily workout can be a positive catalyst for someone’s entire outlook on life.
But what do you do when your team or co-workers have no desire to exercise? You shift the way you talk about movement! Instead of calling it a workout or exercise, begin to speak and think of it as daily movement. This makes exercise much more approachable and inclusive.
What do I mean?
Exercise may not be everyone’s favorite thing to do, especially not while working. But thanks to the ability to work from home and access to fitness solutions like Sworkit, exercise has become a lot more accessible.
Getting Started at Your Company
- Invest in remote fitness and wellness offerings for employees, like the Sworkit app, as well as fitness wearables, water bottles, gym memberships, and workout gear gift cards.
- Change the way you speak about fitness. Talk about it as ‘daily movement’ or ‘daily activity.’
- Encourage or offer movement breaks. Consider adding breathing, stretching, chair yoga, or meditation breaks to your company-wide calendars.
- Provide ergonomic desk options that combat sitting and posture imbalances. Think about investing in standing desks, supportive chairs, etc.
Why Sworkit is the Perfect Wellness Benefit
- We aim to bring people together through company-wide challenges that allow people to choose movement when they want, where they want, and how they want it.
- Sworkit eliminates the excuses of having no time or it being too difficult. We have workouts for everyone!
- People can workout together. Whether it’s with family members, friends, kids, partners, or co-workers, we make it easy to lead, participate in or share workouts.
For more information on all that Sworkit has to offer, visit sworkit.com.
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