“Great things in business are never done by one person: they’re done by a team of people.”
This quote by Steve Jobs holds true for employee wellness programs.
Employee well-being is often bestowed on Human Resources.
On top of recruiting, interviewing, compliance, and benefits, adding employee wellness can be daunting for a bustling HR department.
A wellness committee will help you meet the goals of your employee wellness program by delegating tasks. This allows you to focus on your overall wellness strategy and inspire committee members to take pride and ownership in their duties.
A wellness committee is vital for many reasons.
Committee members can provide valuable ideas and feedback from their peers. They are also an essential part of promoting the program and new initiatives. Email, text campaigns, and flyers do a great job of communicating information, but personal communication can add more value and committee members may also be responsible for owning specific wellness initiatives and ensuring they’re carried out.
Assembling a Wellness Committee
The CEO or another senior executive can formally appoint individuals to lead and serve on a wellness committee.
By communicating the committee is important to the overall goals and health of the organization, employees feel privileged to take part. You can also survey employees to gauge their interest in who would like to serve on the committee.
When sending an employee interest survey, include a question about who would like to serve on the wellness committee and give a brief description of the committee members’ duties. Once you have a list of interested parties, determine who would be a good fit.
Be sure to choose employees from different departments and divisions of the organization, and don’t forget about remote employees or those at a branch or satellite location.
Leadership
A solid wellness committee must have strong leadership.
Whether this is the HR or Benefits Manager, the Wellness Coordinator, or another leader, this individual is crucial for spearheading the committee, keeping the group on track, and implementing wellness initiatives for the company.
Establish clear goals for the committee, hold consistent meetings, and prepare an agenda for each meeting. Delegating will be key since one of the main reasons for establishing a wellness committee is for others to join in the mission of the health and well-being of the organization.
Set Expectations
Once you establish the wellness committee, set clear expectations for its members. This will help keep everyone on task.
For example, members may need to attend at least ten of 12 annual meetings, write one article for the monthly wellness newsletter, hang flyers in their respective office or intranet if remote, take meeting minutes once per year, etc.
Some organizations will offer a half day of PTO or credit to be spent on company swag at the end of the year if committee members complete their duties.
Communication
Decide the cadence of when you will meet. Aim for meeting once a month for an hour. Sticking with the same day and time of each month will create consistency.
Thanks to Zoom and Teams, regardless of where employees are located, everyone can participate in meetings.
Since most wellness committees meet once a month, it’s essential to communicate in-between meetings – create an email group for updates and quick check-ins.
You may want to ask each member to take meeting minutes and then distribute them to the group after.
Create a team folder to house agendas, minutes, and any other pertinent documents for the committee.
An employee wellness program is essential for the health, well-being, and safety of the organization.
Healthier employees are more productive and engaged, less stressed, take fewer sick days, and are more collaborative with team members.
Creating a wellness committee will help implement the company’s goals for the wellness program and create engagement and sustainability.
READY TO ELEVATE EMPLOYEE WELLNESS AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE?
Don’t leave the health and productivity of your workforce to chance.
Elevate your employee wellness strategy with indi and experience, firsthand, how our scalable, user-friendly platform can drastically improve employee wellness, reduce healthcare costs, and positively impact your bottom line.