What’s next in wellness?

With 2022 on the horizon, we’ve gathered the top wellness solutions and trends that we are seeing in the market right now as well as what our customers are asking about and purchasing. It’s clear that many employers are still feeling the impact of the pandemic and have committed to pivoting to virtual options to ensure their employees stay happy and healthy at work and at home.  

Top 3 solutions we are seeing entering in to 2022:

1. Virtual Workout & Challenge Programs: Our customers have been looking for ways to connect, incentivize, and keep employees’ endorphins moving, while also keeping social connections alive. We’ve partnered with a few of our favorite vendors in this space to offer solutions that do all of this and more.

2. Virtual Health & Benefit Fairs: Virtual fairs have been a wonderful way to take the traditional on-site benefit fair into a virtual space. Virtual fairs can be catered to be live or a mix of live and pre-recorded sessions to accommodate employees who may have shifts that don’t coincide with the normal 9-5 schedule. Clients love how easy they are to plan and how interactive and educational they are.

3. Home Test Kits: With many employees working remote, we’ve seen a big increase in at-home testing options. It’s a fast, simple, and seamless way to offer your typical biometric screenings all from the comfort of your employees’ home.

Top health and wellness concern we’re hearing from employers right now:

• Mental health concerns

• High stress

• Work-life balance

• Financial security

• Job security and satisfaction

• Feeling connected to a team, purpose, and values

• Employees’ overall health and access to care

Reasons employers need to be thinking of wellness:

Forbes wrote a wonderful article, explaining that the best companies are keeping wellbeing central to their efforts and ensuring they’re putting people first for the benefit of their employees and business and below are a few reasons why:

• Sociological literature finds wellness programs have value even if they’re underutilized. Why? Because of the messages they send. By providing a wellness program, this tells employees that the company values their people and provides resources to support them.

• Burnout is real. Providing adequate time off, flexibility, and space to breathe are critical solutions that should be incorporated in a wellbeing program to help combat panic-productivity, technology burnout, and stress.

• When companies provide solutions like EAP, nutrition, or activity programs, they create a culture of empathy. And when implemented strategically, they remove barriers and empower employees to do their best and contribute more effectively.

• People need to feel connected—and with remote work being more prevalent, employees need the opportunity to continue to engage in healthy ways- and a wellness program fosters the perfect opportunity for just that.

Finally, who doesn’t enjoy a good list of interesting articles to browse and read through? We thought the below articles were worth a read. Let us know how you like them!

• https://www.letsroam.com/team-building/resources/employee-wellness/

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/11/01/mental-wellness-at-work-should-no-longer-be-taboo/?sh=9ce3a4047420

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2021/10/14/future-work-health-wellness-with-leena-nair-nick-patel/

• https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/great-resignation-may-lead-employers-to-offer-financial-wellness-perks.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/business/work-spaces-design-employees.html

Vivacity is an organizational wellbeing and productivity consulting company. We help employers develop strategic wellbeing visions that are linked to their business goals to help create and sustain healthy, engaged, and productive employees.

Thinking about adding or mixing up wellness in your organization? Let’s talk.