As the line between personal- and work-life blurs, employees are often left feeling overwhelmed, depleted, and disengaged. Workplace wellness and well-being programs help employees manage both their office and personal lives, contributing to marked increases in employee engagement, workplace morale, productivity, and overall satisfaction, which all have an impact on business performance.

To get a better understanding on how well-being programs can help employers and employees, Dr. Rajiv Kumar answered some questions from BenefitsPRO on how best to engage, implement, and drive success with well-being plans. Dr. Kumar is the president and chief medical officer at Virgin Pulse, a company focused on designing technologies to breed healthy lifestyle choices for employees.

What is the most complicated factor in implementing a well-being program?

The most complex aspect to implementing a successful well-being program is designing a program that reflects and reinforces an organization's unique culture. Well-being shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all bolt-on program, but rather an integrated and personalized component of an organization's culture.

This requires an organization to define who they are, what their mission is, and what values they want to proliferate across the company to support the achievement of that mission. Well-being programs that are embedded into the culture of an organization see stronger enrollment, higher participation rates, and greater long-term sustainability — which leads to higher overall employee engagement.

What are the top 'perks' employees want in a well-being program? If the program doesn't have it, how does that affect morale surrounding the program?

Rather than focusing on perks or rewards, we have found that employees are simply looking for effective, relevant and engaging programs that will help them meet their personal goals, overcome challenges, and be successful at work and in their personal lives.

That means having access to personalized tools, benefits information and programs that focus on the whole employee by spanning a variety of well-being topics — financial, mental, physical, emotional, and social. Employee populations are diverse. No single program, perk, or reward will resonate across all demographics.

In fact, the most successful well-being programs are those that take into account all of the varied factors that contribute to health, engagement, and satisfaction in and beyond the workplace.

Is the purpose of an employer-sponsored well-being program more to benefit employee health or employee retention?

I believe well-being programs that reflect and promote an organization's culture drive an even greater value: employee engagement. We know that employee engagement is a critical business success factor and an indication that your workforce feels supported and cared for.

When employee engagement is high, businesses thrive. Research shows a strong connection between employee well-being and engagement. There's a significant value-on-investment here — by investing in programs and benefits that enhance employee well-being, employers reap the benefits of improved workplace culture, higher employee retention, and better overall performance.

How can employers measure success in a well-being program?

Success metrics will vary and tend to be tied to specific company values, goals and opportunities. We help clients measure VOI, or value-on-investment, as they evaluate the success of their well-being investments.

This approach looks at well-being's impact on broader business outcomes, including productivity, absenteeism, employee satisfaction, recruitment, and retention. It also includes health outcomes, which can translate to lower health care costs.

Finally, there are the metrics that are specifically aligned with individual businesses. For example, we have clients who have measured a decrease in workplace safety incidents after the implementation of their well-being program.

Others have tied well-being investments to higher customer satisfaction. While desired business outcomes vary by company and industry, well-being's value as a driver of key business outcomes is becoming more apparent and, thanks to advances in analytics, increasingly measurable.

What are some of the shortcomings of a well-being program?

Investing in employee well-being is a critical step towards creating an engaged workforce. For well-being programs to reach their full potential, they must be rooted in culture and have executive and managerial buy-in, from the highest levels of the organization down to departmental supervisors.

Without vocal, visible support from company leaders, well-being investments will not yield the best results. Employees must know that their participation is encouraged and supported by leadership.

Technology-enabled platforms can recruit, engage, and support employees in their well-being journey, but technology alone cannot change culture. Well-being must have clear support from leaders throughout the business.

What do different generations want from a well-being program?

Regardless of generation, employees generally share the same overarching goal: a desire to be successful, balanced, and fulfilled, both at work and at home.

That said, there are differences in priority depending on age. People often have different financial well-being goals at various points in their lives: creating a budget, saving for a child's education, or planning for retirement. The same is true for physical well-being.

Younger employees may be more interested in using activity tracking devices to chart their progress than older workers. Generations also vary in their affinity for technology. While millennials are accustomed to using smartphone apps to interact with programs, baby boomers may prefer a web-based portal.

All of these varying preferences, concerns, and needs confirm my belief in well-being programs that support the whole person. The best, most engaging, and most effective programs appeal to broad cross-sections of employees and are accessible across multiple technology platforms. In addition, well-being programs that include social networking capabilities—the ability to share progress, advice, and motivation — can unite a diverse workforce, bridging generational gaps through shared interests, goals, and journeys.

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