Virtual Wellness: How and Why to Promote It

Remote working is the new norm, and a virtual wellness program is the need of the hour.

 

While remote working has several benefits, employees struggle in new and different ways. Prioritizing the wellness of your employees not only improves their mental health but also results in employee retention and enhanced productivity.

 

Before we get into the benefits of virtual wellness of employees, let’s first learn what it is:

What is Virtual Wellness?

 

Usually, workplace wellness refers to the set of activities that lead to healthy behavior. Some examples are wellness fairs, stress management, health coaching, and free medical screenings.

 

It is essential to differentiate mental well-being from mental health. Mental well-being is not clinical and hence doesn’t involve a diagnosis. However, it can encompass our feelings and thoughts and impacts our potential. This can vary with changing times.

 

Team wellness at work starts with leaders. When employees and management open up about different struggles, their trust grows. Without leadership involvement, team wellness isn’t a concept that can flourish. Companies must offer an employee wellness support program and encourage employees to access them.

Ways To Promote Virtual Wellness

 

There are multiple ways to promote wellness within the company. Here are the five best ones:

Offer Stress Management Education to Employees

 

It is essential to provide stress management/reduction tools for your employees. It might include setting a dedicated virtual call daily and discussing topics like meditation, journaling, and deep breathing. This simple change can be very effective.

Put Someone in Charge

 

While your company has a chief operating officer, making someone a chief wellness officer is essential. That person should be a wellness coach implementing programs and conversations about employee well-being. This will make the wellness of your employees a top priority.

Practice Gratefulness

 

Always encourage your employees to practice gratitude at work. Companies that practice more gratitude at the workplace usually have a far better bond between management and employees.

Provide Health Screenings

 

Having assessment screenings at work is very convenient for the employees and removes stress. You can also offer many screenings virtually, which benefits remote workers.

Exercise Programs for Your Remote Team

 

Provide an exercise program for your remote team during working hours. Yes, you read it correctly. Exercising can work wonders for stress relief and the release of endorphins. There are a lot of free exercise programs out there. It could be as simple as playing a video on YouTube and all your employees working out together within their own spaces.

 

Virtual team wellness doesn’t have to be complicated. It all begins with a conversation. You can start the process by asking your employees what would benefit them the most. Based on the data, you can devise your very own wellness program for your employees. There is nothing better than a wellness program based on employee wellness.

Benefits of Virtual Wellness Programs

 

The benefits of implementing a remote wellness program have endless uses. Some of them include the following:

 

• Improved mental wellness of the employees
• Promotes employee retention
• Improved employee morale
• Reduced health risks
• Reduced stress levels
• A sense of community among team members and management
• Improved productivity levels

 

Apart from the benefits mentioned above, companies prioritizing wellness attract great talent, have excellent retention, and generally have happy employees. Everyone wants to work with a company that cares about their wellness.

Virtual Wellness Programs to Try

 

There are multiple ways to integrate wellness into the company’s everyday schedule. Having a wellness coach on board and encouraging exercise is a great start. Employers can also invest in wellness programs to ensure the well-being of their employees.

 

Here are a few of the best ones you can try:

TeamBonding

 

TeamBonding is a company that offers virtual challenges for hybrid companies. It essentially involves a variety of daily activities for companies, enabling your employees to get healthy as a part of the team. And yes, team members can cheer each other at different locations. TeamBonding offers multiple types of challenges: virtual, hybrid as well as in person. Some of the great examples they have include virtual laughter, yoga, resiliency, and an attitude of gratitude. All of them are pretty fun if you ask us. We are sure your employees will love all of them. You can do a poll and choose the one most of your employees vote for.

Remote Team Wellness

 

Remote Team Wellness is another excellent company that offers wellness classes and virtual activities. The fun and great thing about them is that they have different teachers who are well-versed in organizational wellness. They provide other sessions on mental health, emotional well-being, corporate fitness, and much more.

Core Health

 

You can explore the marketplace for different vendors, allowing you to find what they need. Core Health is a fantastic company that offers multiple wellness recourses. Our favorite ones include corporate fitness, health assessments, wellness incentives, and financial wellness.

 

Multiple other companies also offer wellness programs. If you aren’t at a stage to make a financial investment yet, you can always get creative with the culture of wellness and its free, easily accessible resources.

Virtual Wellness Takeaways

 

There are multiple ways companies can cultivate a wellness culture for their remote employees and hybrid teams. Companies can either invest some money and go with a wellness company, hire someone, or get creative and do it for free. Regardless of how you go about it, it is sure to improve your employee’s well-being and boost your business.