In order to optimize the value of your wellness program, you have to initiate and maintain employee engagement. Utilize these four practices to gain greater employee engagement with your program:
1. Establish Initial Trust and Awareness
It’s important to build awareness early with your onsite clinic. If employees do not trust your clinic they will likely not use it. The goal is to be the first line of defense in tandem with primary care providers to decrease the need for urgent care and emergency room visits. This means making a lasting impact and keeping the clinic top-of-mind are paramount.
To kick-off the clinic, work within your HR department to schedule emails, aiming to introduce the clinic care team by sharing their clinical backgrounds and interesting life stories, talk about services, and share updates on the process. This method will build excitement as well as make your employees feel more comfortable using the clinic as a resource. Also, include messaging regarding information privacy and how the company will not view medical records.
Think about channeling emotional or funny posters in popular, unexpected areas. The lunchroom, near the water cooler, elevators, stairwells, even conference rooms work as great ways to keep your employees aware of the clinic and its services.
The options are endless. Find a frequency and content message that fits your general workplace culture and population and communicate it in your style. The messaging can vary but will be very powerful in building awareness and familiarity by simply existing in the day-to-day scope of your employees.
2. Reduce Apprehension Through Pictures and Videos
In your emails, on the employee portal, or perhaps on the television screens, give your employees a quick video or picture walkthrough of the clinic. Seeing how the clinic looks (before actually needing to go to the consultation) will help remove the mystery that could potentially prevent some of your fellow employees from visiting.
You should definitely have senior leadership and other staff members involved for a more familiar tone. A well-circulated photo of the CEO getting his flu shot at your new clinic can give your project instant credibility in a light and friendly way.
3. Consider Incentives
Consider giving clinic participants a token of appreciation after their first visits, like a coupon to redeem for a prime parking spot for a day or a free lunch from the cafeteria. Some incentives don’t have to cost a lot, but they deliver high word-of-mouth value.
There are also incentive programs that offer lower health insurance premiums to qualified employees for participating in clinic programs.
4. Build a Supportive Atmosphere
Healthy activity can be easily incorporated into your workplace and will result in higher engagement of the employees overall. These efforts can be as simple as eliminating high fat or sugar choices for staff meetings, initiating walking meetings, maintaining good air quality throughout the office, or providing clean staircases with pictures and motivational messaging to encourage employees to take the stairs rather than the elevator.
By focusing continued efforts to create programs within the office that improve your workplace design and culture, you may be surprised to discover you have higher rates of employee engagement and healthier behaviors in the office, resulting in increased productivity and lower healthcare costs through improved health outcomes.
Consistent and authentic engagement grows exponentially. When satisfied employees tell their co-workers about good experiences, others will be inclined to engage as well.
