Top 10 features of Wellness Platforms and what to look out for in 2023

As is rightly said, the future of work is employee well-being. HR leaders give employees' well-being and mental health top priority as remote working causes a blurring of the lines between work and personal life. The development of organizational resilience depends on this emphasis on supporting employee well-being.

Employee well-being and mental health were ranked as a key priority by 68% of senior HR leaders (of whom 40% were CHROs), according to the Future Workplace 2021 HR Sentiment study. It's understandable that HR leaders would prioritize this, given that the corporate well-being industry in the United States is now projected to be worth $20.4 billion and is expected to reach $87.4 billion by 2026.

Employee well-being has evolved in recent years to include not just their physical health but also their emotional health, financial well-being, social well-being, professional life, community, and purpose in life. The requirement for more adaptability in terms of the manner, location and timing of work is at the centre of this evolution.

Establishing and designing Employee Wellness Programs

• Conduct Evaluations

The first step in creating a workforce wellness program is learning about the health of the workforce and the organization's readiness to make changes in response to this knowledge. With this knowledge, the employer will be able to create programs and services that will benefit both the company and the employee.

Some suggested ways are:

1. Assess the needs and interests of employees in their personal well-being.
2. Taking a workforce health assessment will aid in selecting the interventions to be implemented.
3. Conduct an organizational evaluation.

• Get support from the management

Building a successful wellness program requires the support of management. As with any effort, getting management support is essential for gaining funds, winning over the company, and establishing the program's policies and procedures. By assisting in the connection between health promotion goals and business outcomes, management may further aid in establishing wellness as an integral part of the company.

• Create a wellness committee

An employer can establish an internal, employee-driven committee that aids in establishing and sustaining a wellness culture in the company after performing a needs assessment and getting management support. The wellness committee may be in charge of the following duties:

• Assessing the programs, services, and policies that are currently in place at work.
• Evaluating the requirements and preferences of employees.
• Creating a health promotion operations plan including goals, objectives, and a vision statement.
• Helping to implement, oversee, and assess wellness programs.

• Set goals for the Employee Wellness Programs

Employers can set goals and objectives for the program using the data from the workforce evaluation. An important objective for many firms is to raise employee wellness and, as a result, lower healthcare expenditures. Other objectives can be to decrease absenteeism, increase productivity, and improve employee retention. Every goal contains one or more targets to make sure that it will be completed.

• Establish a budget

Organizations should include the cost of incentives, promotion, and program design when establishing a wellness budget. Pedometers and other fitness monitors, meeting expenses, advertising materials, screening vendor or other provider costs, HR representative and committee member time, etc. are examples of typical budget items.

• Design the Wellness Program

Wellness programs can be of the following types:

• Programs for reducing stress
• Programs to lose weight
• Programs to stop smoking
• Health risk evaluations
• Health examinations
• Activities and programs for exercise
• Education in nutrition
• Clinics for vaccination

• Choose the wellness program rewards or incentives

To alter bad behaviours, maintain healthy behaviours, boost participation rates, or assist participants in finishing a program, incentives or prizes are helpful tools.

"What factors should I consider while choosing the finest employee wellness program?"

Here is a list of my assessment standards:

• User Layout (UI): Employee wellness solutions should have welcoming aesthetics, a tidy interface, and straightforward navigation to make visitors feel good. Dark and crowded wellness solutions are ineffective in their mission.
• Usability: Platforms for employee wellness must be simple to use and understand for administrators, content developers, end users, and workers. Apps that are difficult to use and understand how to use work against wellness programs.
• Integrations: To guarantee you are getting the most out of employee wellness platforms, link them to other corporate apps, such as communication tools, performance tracking, KPI reporting, training management, and staff.
• Value for money: Since employee wellness platforms are a very new and developing area of software, I recommend not spending a fortune on anything that's too experimental. I prioritize simple scaling, fair and clear pricing, and risk-free trials or free programs.

A well-designed, comprehensive corporate wellness platform may provide you with all the necessary solutions in one location, whether you need to know the performance of each employee individually or the overall wellness programming progress.

Key features of great Employee Wellness Platforms

• Health Monitoring: Tracks and evaluates the user's health in order to create a unique and adaptable wellness plan
• Content Library: Offers a collection of articles and videos to aid people in their quest for well-being
• Gamification: The use of social and gaming components to increase motivation and engagement (see the "workout ring" on the Apple Watch)
• Rewards & Rewards: Offers users incentives for achieving wellness goals or achievements, such as gift cards and badges

Best Features of Employee Wellness Platforms 2022

1. Wellness Index: Employees receive a real-time picture of their general well-being based on an index compiled across many wellness factors, with scores ranging from 0 to 100. Employees may change their behaviour for better well-being by using the Wellness Index to link their behaviours to their well-being.
2. Focus on Modules: To support habit change, companies provide an educational system made up of four courses, one for each quarter, in addition to monthly fitness challenges. Each week, experts provide employees with instructional video advice on the quarter's wellness theme.
3. Community involvement: The wellness platform should place a strong emphasis on teamwork and community development, and it should provide team discussions to further those goals.
4. Gamification and badges: Wellness platform provides gamification, together with incentives, achievements, and a scoreboard to encourage participation and rivalry.
5. Multiple users: Wellness platforms open up to accommodate the family members of the employees, to promote positive change in the employee’s family as well.

Trends to watch out for in Workplace Wellness Programs in 2023

Employers and their HR teams encountered a variety of difficulties in 2022, including burnout, the Great Resignation, and silent quitting. How can companies, as we approach 2023, better support their workers' health and well-being in order to boost output, lower absenteeism, and control the growing cost of benefits?

Adopting digital health technology can inspire a more proactive and preventative approach to healthcare as well as healthier communities and workers. By utilizing the possibilities of digital platforms, working-class Indians may obtain timely, efficient health services more readily, which promotes inclusiveness for various communities. This change is in line with how employees use goods and services in their personal lives.

Trend 1: Integrated Digital Experience through Digital Platforms

The pandemic increased the demand for online healthcare systems. The scheduling of appointments changed to online, and we noticed a rise in demand for health-related applications that support particular face well-being. Emerging technological platforms gained popularity in response to the rising need for digital tools, whether it be for weight loss management or meditation.

• Healthcare resources are immensely useful tools, including employee and family assistance, and virtual care solution well-being. Utilization, however, may suffer if these materials are offered in fragments. When users require access to resources, there may be gaps in care or just too many passwords, steps, or applications for them to handle.
• A combination of these services will be the next step in the development of digital healthcare. No matter where they are in their path toward health and wellness, employees may discover the answer they require by having access to a variety of services that cover the whole spectrum of care. Employers may address the demands and interests of their employees without introducing needless complexity when services are provided as an integrated suite of linked offers.

Trend 2: Use of AI/ML for Personalization

Personalized digital experiences may now be delivered at scale by emerging technological solutions due to ongoing advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Every employee is distinct and is travelling a different path toward health and well-being. They encounter particular challenges and have diverse levels of competence, comfort, and expertise. The personalization that workers have grown to anticipate in their digital lives may be provided via machine learning, which is necessary to maintain behavioural change.

Machine learning, for instance, might suggest helpful information tailored to a person's well-being journey based on their hobbies and present health state. Machine learning models continue to improve as more data is supplied, taking into account each new stage of an employee's life to be current and useful.

In closing

Employers must assume a leadership position in ensuring the wellness of their workers in order to assist recruit and keep a joyful, healthy, and productive workforce. This can be crucial for the present and long-term financial stability of businesses as well as the health and happiness of individual employees.

About the author

Arundhati Upadhyay (Gold Medalist MBA) works at a startup in Bangalore. She is extremely passionate about innovation and creativity. She specializes in Talent Branding,  Talent Attraction, Social Media Outreach Initiatives for Employer Branding, and Recruitment Marketing Outreach Initiatives. She is also an Art of Living Teacher and conducts Mind Management Programs for people across generations.