5 fatal flaws of wellness programs

Employee wellness programs have become all the rage recently, with companies leveraging them as competitive differentiators for hiring and recruiting.

Of course, organizations are also motivated by lower health care costs and the fact that healthier employees perform better. The problem many organizations run into, however, is that merely offering programs is not enough. While the program itself may be top-notch, getting people to participate and engage with the offerings is a much bigger obstacle. Why?

First, you’re asking people to change deep-rooted behaviors, some of which have been lifelong habits, and that’s extremely hard. Second, while everyone would agree that being healthier is important, results don’t always happen right away, and in our instant-gratification society, striving toward long-term goals can be tough for some people.

There’s also the issue of measurement. Choosing the right metrics to track progress can be tricky, because you want to measure meaningful data, without shaming or discouraging anyone.