The role of leadership in employee wellness
Published by HealthFitness on March 27th, 2024
When it comes to supporting employee wellness, it’s important to lead by example to help build a culture of health and wellbeing. Actions speak louder than words—this applies to everyone, but especially those in leadership.
Top-down wellness
When wellbeing programs work well, it starts from the top-down. At HealthFitness we’ve learned that visible support from a company’s executives sets the tone for employees—communicating that it’s acceptable to fit in a workout during the workday, take part in a weight loss challenge with co-workers or take advantage of healthy food options. But the reality is that many employees don’t have access to the senior leadership.
Senior leaders need to make sure that the managers get the message and that they give workers permission to exercise over lunch or when they don’t have a meeting. Encourage them to go for a walk or engage in other aspects of your company’s wellbeing program.
Another notable example of top-down wellness is how the employees of a financial services company were surprised and thrilled to see their CEO lead the spinning class in the fitness center—and share his favorite music during the workout!
Meetings on the move
Integrate wellbeing into your meetings. Some managers lead walking meetings, and some have taken the next step to invite HealthFitness staff into meetings to lead energy breaks for their employees. The most successful employee health and fitness programs have visible leadership that can be called upon for support—whether it’s approving strategic program decisions or taking the first official step in a new walking program.
For example, senior leaders at one health plan “walk the talk” as they lead weekly walks with employees—virtual and on-site. Employees track their total steps daily and those that “beat the boss” for the week are entered into a raffle to win a prize—and bragging rights.
Leverage your voice
Share your perspective on health and wellbeing in various communications channels throughout the company—whether as part of the company newsletter, town hall meetings, on posters or email. At one technology firm, video interviews of company leaders describing what being healthy means to them play on video monitors throughout campus. The videos are also shared with remote employees as part of the company’s wellbeing communication initiatives.
Work out on the clock
When a leading financial services company was struggling with engagement and participation for its wellbeing program, we created a focus group of employees to understand why. When employees were interviewed, they shared being afraid to be perceived as a slacker if they were seen using the facilities during the workday. Our staff helped change this perception by recruiting C-suite leadership to work out while on the clock, opening the door for other employees to recognize that health was a genuine priority throughout the company.
Top-down wellness
When wellbeing programs work well, it starts from the top-down. At HealthFitness we’ve learned that visible support from a company’s executives sets the tone for employees—communicating that it’s acceptable to fit in a workout during the workday, take part in a weight loss challenge with co-workers or take advantage of healthy food options. But the reality is that many employees don’t have access to the senior leadership.
Senior leaders need to make sure that the managers get the message and that they give workers permission to exercise over lunch or when they don’t have a meeting. Encourage them to go for a walk or engage in other aspects of your company’s wellbeing program.
Another notable example of top-down wellness is how the employees of a financial services company were surprised and thrilled to see their CEO lead the spinning class in the fitness center—and share his favorite music during the workout!
Meetings on the move
Integrate wellbeing into your meetings. Some managers lead walking meetings, and some have taken the next step to invite HealthFitness staff into meetings to lead energy breaks for their employees. The most successful employee health and fitness programs have visible leadership that can be called upon for support—whether it’s approving strategic program decisions or taking the first official step in a new walking program.
For example, senior leaders at one health plan “walk the talk” as they lead weekly walks with employees—virtual and on-site. Employees track their total steps daily and those that “beat the boss” for the week are entered into a raffle to win a prize—and bragging rights.
Leverage your voice
Share your perspective on health and wellbeing in various communications channels throughout the company—whether as part of the company newsletter, town hall meetings, on posters or email. At one technology firm, video interviews of company leaders describing what being healthy means to them play on video monitors throughout campus. The videos are also shared with remote employees as part of the company’s wellbeing communication initiatives.
Work out on the clock
When a leading financial services company was struggling with engagement and participation for its wellbeing program, we created a focus group of employees to understand why. When employees were interviewed, they shared being afraid to be perceived as a slacker if they were seen using the facilities during the workday. Our staff helped change this perception by recruiting C-suite leadership to work out while on the clock, opening the door for other employees to recognize that health was a genuine priority throughout the company.
Share
Author
Written by HealthFitness
HealthFitness is a proven leader in providing fitness solutions that engage and connect people both on-site and online, to create a strong community of health.
Topics