Speaker 1: In this video, we're going to talk about wellness programs. It is a huge topic. I mean, just think about all the things we could put into a wellness program. Hopefully, we're going to have some clarity at the end of this episode. Hi there, I'm Andrea Adams and the host of the HR Hub. This is a rebrand of the HR Shop Talk, but we're still going to talk about all things HR here. I encourage you to subscribe to the show or podcast to keep learning from my guests. Today, my guest is Rena Volcone. She's a mom, a former Google employee, a burnout survivor. She's the author of a book, The Wellness Empowered Woman. Currently, she is a consultant advising companies on their wellness programs, and she's also the owner of PassionFit. Irena, how are you? I'm doing well, Andrea. How are you? Thanks for having me. Oh, I'm great. I'm great. And looking forward to learning about this. This is not an angle I've had on the show yet, and I've been doing this for two years. I always start at the beginning. So just talk to me and provide an overview of what is a workplace wellness program.

Speaker 2: Yes. So a workplace wellness program is an initiative within a company for their employees to help with their overall health, their happiness, their engagement, and their productivity. Oftentimes, employee wellness programs can include things like different types of memberships, discounts on health and wellness services, perhaps health screenings, different types of workshops to educate employees on different elements of health and wellness, and much more. Every company is a little bit different in terms of the types of programs that they implement, but really the whole point of it is to focus on the whole person. And an employee in terms of their health and how they are feeling both mentally and physically so that they can be most productive on the job.

Speaker 1: I mean, that's just so huge. You talk about the whole person. I thought you could cover just about anything. I think we'll get to that. And before we do, what are the benefits of having a workplace wellness program?

Speaker 2: Yes. I think it's becoming more and more important for companies. I think what once used to be a nice-to-have, in my opinion, is really a must-have, especially after living through a pandemic globally over these last three years. It's created a lot of burnout with employees. And they've been trying to manage their home life. Obviously, that has been disrupted and changed due to the pandemic. And for many years, the kids were in virtual school. For any employees who have children, even the workplace shifted. And many people were working remotely for two to three years. And then the workplace shifted again. And they had to go back to the office. Or maybe they're taking a hybrid approach or maybe still working remotely. But ultimately, these employees really do need, one, a company that they feel cares about them. Because work is often a huge component of stress for people. And they have a company that really cares about them and wants them to have different tools to manage their stress so that they can be at their best. That's really a benefit. But it's going to help with decreasing health care and medical costs, sick days and absenteeism. It's going to help with overall engagement, productivity levels, and hopefully retention. Hopefully, you're going to keep that loyalty with your employees. Because again, they know that you care about them. And you have programs to help them in multiple areas of their life, again,

Speaker 1: thinking of them as a whole person. They can do so, so many things. Are you setting the bar too high? Are you raising expectations beyond

Speaker 2: what a wellness program really can do? Well, I think that wellness programs have to be customized and tailored to fit the company culture, the mission of the company, the values of the company. You want it to be in alignment with that. But then I think it's also important to talk to employees about what they're needing and seeing what would be most beneficial for them. So I think I'm listing a lot of different elements of a wellness program and different benefits. But it's not a one-size-fits-all approach for any company or any employee, since everyone's different. So I do think in order to have a successful wellness program, you do have to take some time to do your research and really look within your organization to see what is going to be the most beneficial and also most cost-effective. Okay, all right. I know we're

Speaker 1: going to have a separate episode where we're going to talk about some of those practicalities of implementation. Before we get there, can you reflect on some of the innovative programs you've seen through your work and just describe a few features of what the possibilities are?

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think obviously in this day and age, in 2023, technology is a huge part of it. So I definitely, all of the many companies that I talk to about corporate wellness programs, having a technology platform I think is a really important starting point so that you can, you know, have employees take different types of assessments so you truly understand, you know, where they're coming from, where they are today, and maybe where it is that they want to be. And, you know, being able to track their participation and what types of wellness activities they're participating in, that can be a really big part of a technology platform. Being able to, you know, keep score, you know, not to create any negative sort of competitive types of environments, but more motivating. So maybe there's a leaderboard of some sort, if there's some kind of a walking challenge or a nutrition challenge or something of that nature. I know we'll get into more details later, but I think technology is huge. Using artificial intelligence can really help. Again, doing these types of assessments and really plugging it into some of the more health-oriented screenings that companies do can help as well, because you kind of want to know what are your numbers, right, in terms of things like cholesterol and blood pressure and blood sugar, and then what are the types of wellness programs and activities you're going to need to help you to be at your, you know,

Speaker 1: healthiest. Wellness, at least in my mind, I could be wrong, but wellness programs seem to ride this wave of trendiness. So, you know, at one point it was, yeah, everybody was getting gyms and then, and I don't know if this is exactly a wellness initiative, but pool tables, let's all get pool tables lately. It feels to me more like mental health, which in my mind is a good thing, but is this kind of a really trendy area, and is that a bad thing? And regardless, what components do you think are critical for the success of any wellness program?

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question, and I can appreciate the question and where people might think that. I think, you know, for myself, having been trained and certified in health coaching and mindfulness and mental and physical health through fitness and nutrition and other things, you know, I follow the industry very, very closely, and I think what you might see in a wellness program isn't so much a trend, but it's basically mirroring the evolution of the health and wellness industry because it's going to evolve and change over time. The pandemic is a great example, right? You know, people weren't probably paying as much attention to things like mental health and even elements of their physical health until they kind of were forced to. Even with gym memberships and things like that, everybody does need to exercise. That's been proven to be important for your heart health, for reducing risks of obesity and diabetes and other things, but the way in which people are exercising changes, you know, it was very much focused on gyms and studios, and then when we were in lockdown during the pandemic, then it shifted to online classes and live stream classes and mobile apps. Now, we're kind of more in a hybrid approach, and so I think as people continue to evolve and change within the industry, the workplace has to follow suit, and again, I don't think it's meant to be this sort of trend that everyone's trying to jump on the bandwagon. I think if you, you know, to answer your other question about what makes a successful wellness program, it's one that is timeless, but one that is flexible to incorporate changes that are happening in the world and society that affect all of our health, and so being able to be on the forefront of that, also leveraging technology will make these wellness programs more successful and hopefully stand the test of time and not just be a trend.

Speaker 1: At the moment, given, you know, as you say, you're following all the trends in the industry and probably trends in, you know, what employees want, are there any particular pieces at the moment that are maybe a little bit more important than others? Yeah, that's a great question. I think,

Speaker 2: you know, yeah, really getting down to the heart of the person and what their needs are, I think, is what's most important. You know, we're in a recession right now. A lot of companies have been having to lay off employees and cut costs, and that's really affecting, you know, people's mental and physical health. The stress levels, the anxiety levels are at record highs right now, and then that doesn't even include all of the changes that have been taking place in the workplace and, you know, where people are actually working, whether it's remote or in the office or a combination of the two. So, I would say rather than trying to create, you know, these fancy programs and having, you know, all of these in-office perks and things like that, while it's nice to have, I think the world is changing and the workplace is changing, and it's not about that. I think employees just want to know that they have resources available to them if they're struggling with things like anxiety or depression or stress or burnout or because of all the stress, if they're noticing other, you know, potential, you know, diseases or physical health issues, that they have the right tools and resources and education to take care of that as well. So, I think it's really being authentic and genuine and wanting to serve your employees and have, you know, their best intentions at heart because at the end of the day, that's also going to be good for the company.

Speaker 1: So, some of that stuff like treating some of those conditions can be very expensive, like you should be sending people to the psychologist a number of times and it could be quite expensive. I mean, the cost of a wellness program could get out of hand fast. So, what's your perspective on balancing the cost of implementing and managing a program versus what that perspective of what your employees need at any given point?

Speaker 2: Right. I mean, I think think of like employee assistance programs, right, and then the medical benefits and the insurance benefits. Some of that is already baked into costs that every company must incur, and when you're treating things like anxiety and other both mental and physical health conditions, you know, ultimately you are going to be, you know, referring out to the proper medical resources for that employee. So, again, I don't look at the wellness programs as necessarily incurring all those costs beyond what a company would already incur for, you know, health care and insurance coverage. I would say the more important thing is to provide the education and the resources and some of the tools, you know, after you see a medical professional, they may tell you practice mindfulness or practice yoga or journaling or different things to manage your anxiety after maybe they treated it from a medical perspective, or even if somebody is, you know, suffering from prediabetes that, you know, creating the wellness programs that involve the right exercise programs, mobile apps, you know, community within the company to help with that. So, the wellness programs really are sort of the tools that a doctor or a medical professional might recommend, and in terms of making them cost-effective and keeping the cost down, I do think it is important to figure out what is a good mix of things that you can do in-house, things that you can bring in from outside vendors, and then ultimately really measuring the participation and the engagement so that you can see what the ROI is. In all the years that I have worked on corporate wellness and, you know, spoken to the HR leaders and the CFOs of the companies, that's obviously the first question they ask is, what is the ROI going to be? I think it can be something that's a little bit more complex. It's not as cut and dry as maybe other parts of the business, because we're talking about people, right? We're talking about behavior and behavior change, and those are not things that are just going to happen overnight. The human, you know, person, it's very complex, and so I think it's looking at, okay, the best things that we can do are measure level of participation and engagement, do surveys so that you can really see how people are feeling about the programs, what's working, what's not, providing that level of community and support, and then looking at, okay, are we seeing a decrease in sick days? Are we seeing a decrease in, you know, people leaving the company? Are our health care costs and medical care costs going down? But that's not something that you're going to be able to measure in a two-month program or three-month program. It takes time, and I think companies have to be in it for the long haul, just like you're investing in your employees for the long haul. Part of that is their health and

Speaker 1: well-being as well. Are you seeing any trends around using wellness programs to address loneliness?

Speaker 2: Absolutely. I think being able to create programs that create community is really important, especially because more people are working remotely, and that does create participation. So having programs where people can connect on a level that it's honestly deeper than just, you know, the current agenda for the meeting and the current key one priorities, but getting into the heart of the people behind it, I think it can absolutely help with things like loneliness.

Speaker 1: You know, there's so, so many factors at play, but interesting to think about. Okay, final question here. If someone is just at the start of developing their own wellness program, can they do this themselves, or do they need a consultant? Like, what advice do you have for them when they're getting started?

Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say, you know, look at the organization, the size of the organization, the number of employees that you are thinking about, and then also look at your HR organization and see what levels of expertise you already have in-house. Oftentimes, when I work with companies, I'm talking to HR leaders, people specifically in employee benefits, in total rewards, in people operations, right? There's so many different types of divisions now that kind of all ultimately fall under the HR umbrella, but I think it's important to see where there is expertise. I would definitely encourage companies to rely on their insurance companies because insurance brokerage firms usually are working with vendors. I've worked with them directly myself for my company, PassionFit, so then they can figure out what are the right types of vendors and resources that you may need to pull in if you don't have that expertise in-house. But I think another really great thing that companies can do is, you know, pick people to be wellness champions of their organization. You don't necessarily have to focus on HR, but they could be somebody that leads a team or an office through, you know, different types of, you know, challenges or races or cooking classes or things like that. I was a wellness champion when I was at Google. That was not my day job. I worked in sales and marketing and business development, but I was a wellness champion for my organization at that time, and I would teach classes in the corporate fitness center. Honestly, it's what led me to, you know, really develop this passion for corporate wellness and do what I'm doing today. So, I think there's probably lots of people inside of your organization that can help the HR organization lead the charge and figure out what to start with, and I would say start small. It doesn't have to be this big, expensive investment and an elaborate program because you really want to make sure that it's going to work, right, and that it's going to be customizable for each employee. So, start with something small. See what type of engagement you get. Send out surveys to get direct feedback from employees, and just figure out how to make an overall healthy community within your organization and have that be a part of your culture, and that will go a long way in helping you to develop a more robust

Speaker 1: program over time. Thanks, Reena. That was informative and gave me some things to think about for sure. I did a couple of episodes actually on wellness recently, really quite different than this one and certainly not a wellness program, but have some insight, and those links are right here. Thanks for watching out there, and we'll see you next time.