A healthy corporate culture is one of them. A good corporate culture has a lot of benefits. Some of them are:

  • Higher productivity and striving for higher quality
  • Bonding between employees
  • Your public image and identity

A good corporate culture can even have benefits for your sales. Customers want to know that you take care of your staff and want to know that the company is also internally healthy. Buyers will be proud to purchase your goods or services. A good employee health and wellness program can become central to your identity – a way to show that your company cares.

Revenue is just one of many clear benefits to a good well-being program. We’ve found seven more that should get you excited.

1. Build unity and team spirit

It’s probably no surprise, but a united and committed workforce is key for a healthy corporate culture. Sentiment will be created when there’s togetherness at work, apart from numbers and facts. A good thing to create this is sports, especially team sports.

An example of this in practice is communications tech business Bandwidth. The company is known for offering a 90-minute “fitness lunch*¹” to everyone who wants it. That is, you can take 90 minutes for your lunch break, provided you do something active. So that’s already a good excuse to workout together. 

But Bandwidth also holds monthly company-wide fitness challenges, sponsors office sports teams, and plays daily basketball or ultimate frisbee games. Employees are thus not only working out together but do fun things together as well – which connects them on a deeper level.

2. A healthy workforce – that stays healthy

The benefits of healthy employees are quite a few. The greatest among them would be the need for fewer sick days and reduced health costs for companies who provide cover. 

But there are also psychological benefits to making health a priority. If people associate the office with stress and tiredness, that becomes part of the company culture. If they, however, associate it with fun and healthy activities, the corporate culture will automatically improve.

So companies need to find ways to encourage healthy habits among employees. Think about upping physical activity, massages, and meditation to reduce stress.

Activity tracker Fitbit uses its own technology*³ to help its team be more active. Employees wear Fitbits to work. By challenging them at work to be active and handing out prizes to the most active employee every week, it becomes a game and also awakens the competitive spirit of an employee. By making physical activity fun, Fitbit makes sure their corporate culture becomes more healthy.

3. Enhance your employer brand

Companies are desperate to find good people and the competition is big – also called “War of Talents” – and know they need to provide an exceptional workplace to do this. That can mean massages, nap rooms, and table tennis.

It can also mean remote work and teleconferencing. Especially now this high on the list of employees and applicants. OneFit for Business can offer a great solution here: employees can work out at home with online classes and stay fit while working at home.

If you want the best talent, you have to provide the right environment. And if you want to keep that talent, they need to constantly be able to identify themselves with your company. This means creating an environment that suits workers – not just finding workers to suit the environment.

Unfortunately, the expectations of employees and the services offered by employers are not always on the same level yet. Always think about this: every ‘extra’ service you offer as a company, will attract applicants even more and encourage employees to stay. Employees want to see that a company also invests in them. If the central point of a company is a healthy culture, employees will appreciate this and this improve their work mentality and quality.

4. Increase employee engagement

“Engagement” is a popular term when it comes to a healthy corporate culture. Every CEO and HR manager wants to ensure that their team participates and commits fully to the company’s vision. And with good reason, it seems: engaged employees*⁴ are more motivated, more productive, and strive for better quality. So always go for higher engagement!

Thankfully, physical health and engagement go hand in hand. 62% of engaged employees*⁵ feel their work improves their health. Meanwhile, one survey found that 75% of companies*⁶ say wellness programs have a positive impact on engagement within a company.

A study by The Economist*⁷ found that a wellness culture magnifies the benefits that employees gain from their participation while driving increased engagement. This was especially the case, if companies offer a wide range of choices.

Diversity, therefore, is important. Offer flexible solutions to employees, without telling them exactly what to do. OneFit for Business is a good example to offer flexibility and freedom of choice.

The good thing about OneFit for Business is that the ultimate decision is with the employee. That way, your company is supporting a healthy corporate culture, without limiting the employees’ freedom of choice.

5. Reduce employee turnover

The other major benefit of increased engagement is that it’s one of the best ways to keep your team around for longer. When employees are less committed to the cause, they’re far more likely to look for greener pastures. Health and wellness programs improve engagement, as we’ve seen. They’re also recommended*⁹ as a way to keep employee churn to a minimum. 

When team members feel that their health and well-being is a priority for management, they’re more likely to stick around. And clearly it works. 60% of employers*¹⁰ report that wellness programs have improved employee retention.

Something as simple as giving exercise and relaxation options to your team can be the difference between constant churn and a workforce that sticks around for the long haul.

6. Get better creative output

Physical health and well-being are inextricably linked with strong creative yield. A 15-country study*¹¹ (with nearly 29,000 participants) found that companies that promote health and wellness are also more likely to encourage creativity and innovation. Companies with health programs don’t just have healthier employers – although that’s certainly the case. They actually see more creativity, too.

The ultimate goal is to relax as a team and think about something other than work. This makes employees more productive – and more creative – when it’s time to focus.  

7. Improve job satisfaction

It’s super important that companies pay attention to the satisfaction of their employees.

Why does this matter? Because employees are choosing happiness*¹⁶ over more money more often nowadays. So only a higher salary doesn’t cut it anymore when it comes to wheeling in new talent. And of course, happier employees stick around longer, too.

In successful cases of a healthy corporate culture, the benefits of health and sports are being adapted to the individual needs of the employees. Wellness coordinator Kelly Maher*¹⁸ explains “our programs get people to realize that stereotypical exercise isn’t the only way to be well and be happy. It’s about getting people to do what they like, voluntarily”.

Maher makes sure that health initiatives are always changing, and that employees with different passions and levels of fitness will always have something to make them happy at work. Once again, it’s about associating work with a positive, healthy culture. And while that doesn’t always mean gym workouts and team sports, being active is so important. 

Make health and wellness benefits a cultural touchstone

Modern companies choose many factors to be central to their corporate culture. Popular choices include customer-centricity, innovation, and the right to fail, radical honesty, and financial transparency. We believe employee health and happiness should be first on every list. The evidence is clear, and the benefits are too many to count. 

We’ve looked at seven good reasons in this post, and we could easily give dozens more. Employee well-being can truly be the foundation for an exceptional corporate culture. After all, without employees, you have no culture at all. 

Want to know more about OneFit for Business?

References
*¹ https://www.bandwidth.com/blog/how-i-lunch/
*² https://www.bandwidth.com/blog/how-i-lunch/
*³ https://risepeople.com/blog/10-companies-with-amazing-workplace-wellness-programs/
*⁴ http://hrexecutive.com/engagement-through-wellness/
*⁵ https://inside.6q.io/employee-health-wellbeing-matters/
*⁶ https://community.virginpulse.com/2017-business-of-healthy-employees?utm_campaign=CAM-09-Biz-of-Healthy-EEs&utm_source=press-release
*⁷ https://www.digitalhrtech.com/best-employee-wellness-programs-examples/
*⁸ https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/business/how-to-reduce-staff-turnover-by-prioritising-wellbeing/
*⁹ https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2018/employee-well-being-programs.html
*¹⁰ https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/wellbeinginnovation.aspx
*¹¹ https://www.freshgigs.ca/blog/creative-cultures-mobify-makes-work-fun/
*¹² https://www.freshgigs.ca/blog/creative-cultures-mobify-makes-work-fun/
*¹³ https://workplaceinsight.net/over-50-percent-of-uk-employees-choose-job-happiness-over-pay-cheque-size/
*¹⁴ https://www.geteverwise.com/leadership/how-tony-hsieh-and-zappos-are-shaping-the-future-of-employee-satisfaction/
*¹⁵ https://mashable.com/2015/05/15/unique-corporate-wellness-programs/?europe=true

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