What are corporate prescribed self-care programs?
Corporate Prescribed self-care programs (otherwise known as Workplace Wellness Programs) are a feature of most American workplaces. Though they date back to the 1870s, they gained popularity in the 1970s. By 2020, 81% of large companies offered their employees access to a corporate wellness program.
So … something so widely accepted has to be a good thing, right? Actually, we don’t really know. What we do know about Workplace Wellness Programs is that they don’t list employee wellness as a top benefit. We know that sounds strange, but trust us, we did the research.
Do Workplace Wellness Programs work?
According to recent research, the top 3 benefits of employee wellness programs are:
- Lowering the direct health care costs to the organization,
- Increasing productivity, and
- Reducing absenteeism
A bit strange that the word “wellness” doesn’t feature in those benefits at all, isn’t it? One of the reasons that corporate prescribed self-care doesn’t work is because these programs are not designed to make people well. They are designed to keep people well enough to work — thus, lowering the costs of healthcare and saving the company/organization money.
You might be thinking, “Well, do they actually save money?” Again, the answer is no. Research from 2017 found that most employers don’t know if they’re saving money through their Workplace Wellness Programs.
The second reason these programs don’t work is because they tend to offer a one-size-fits-all formula through outsourced plans or services. Self-care and burnout mitigation practices have to be varied because different people are different. They have different needs, goals, and wellness practices that suit their individual needs.
What’s the solution?
Since there is no one single solution to everyone’s burnout, what can corporations do to support their employees? Corporate self-care plans have to make sure that everyone has the best opportunity possible to engage in the broad spectrum of wellness treatments and options. What do people need to make this happen? We believe there are three things that can help facilitate this access:
- Access to healthcare
- Time
- Financial security
If leaders and managers can figure out how to make these three things a priority – over the benefits of Workplace Wellness Programs, they’ll start themselves on the path to a truly well workforce.
Learn more about our model for burnout mitigation HERE.
Read more about our exploration of Workplace Wellness Programs in our book, which you can find HERE.
