By Jennifer Ortmeyer

Senior living operators continue to struggle with a dire shortage of workers: 99% have open positions and 94% are struggling to recruit. It’s an issue that will hobble the country as the population ages and care of older adults becomes an unmet priority. 

While it’s going to take a combination of strategies to solve the issue long term, one necessary starting point is with employee benefits packages and how these are typically structured.

The industry’s increasingly moving to a wellness model from the traditional service and care approach for residents. That same shift in providing for employees’ holistic health needs makes for better workers, helps attract new ones and also is good for the employer’s health.

Call it the “wellness effect.”

A wellness menu goes beyond a healthcare plan to encompass benefits that are customized to the individual. They support such needs as mental and financial health, weight management and/or exercise and can profoundly impact the workforce as a whole. Ultimately the wellness effect means optimized engagement and motivation, reduced absenteeism and presenteeism, and improved morale, productivity and physical health, too.

It also strengthens a company’s standing. Firms with exceptional wellness programs also have better performing stock – 325% ahead of the Standard and Poor’s 500 index fund, one study found. In addition, an effective wellness program can also be tied to lower employee benefit costs as well as worker’s comp rates.

Putting an effective wellness model in place takes a comprehensive, integrated strategy. Three of the most effective components to focus on follow.

‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast.’

Management guru Peter Drucker’s view of culture may have slightly overstated things, but there’s no question that a supportive culture plays a leading role in shaping an effective wellness strategy.

This means the organization must focus relentlessly on nurturing a human-centric culture, where employee well-being and satisfaction are priorities, and so is the forging of connectedness among individuals, across teams and the organization.

A human-centric culture nurtures high performers who are proud of their organization and feel valued and encouraged to provide the feedback necessary to make their environments better.  This boosts engagement and ultimately, recruitment and retention – particularly among millennials who will represent 75% of the global workforce as soon as next year.

It’s critical that culture, mission and values are aligned and, importantly, that company leaders  walk the talk on wellness. Some will share their personal stories on dealing with wellness issues, in blog posts or letters in house organs. Others get in the trenches, scheduling occasional “wellness appearances” with targeted employee populations.

Importantly, the culture is also supported by policies that align with workplace wellness initiatives versus barriers to achieving health like donut days and a cake for every birthday. And leave policies should be structured around employees’ everyday real life versus periodic life events.

The power of integrated programming

An effective wellness program is built around the connection between every dimension of an employee’s performance and health. The goal is to deliver a quality employee experience with customized well-being assists at each of those connection points – career and growth, money and security, culture and connection, health and energy, productivity, communication and engagement.

An integrated program structure is effective and efficient. By aligning similar resources, it also encourages access to more targeted resources.

This was how one HUB client responded to increased demand for mental health support, by surging behavioral health resources: an Employee Assistance Program, a behavioral health telehealth service, and third-party mental health counseling. The client also implemented a coordination of care model, increasing engagement and maximizing investment. From intake to follow up, improvement levels increased: anxiety, by 35%; depression, by 39%; and stress, by 34%. 

If you build it, work to make sure they come

Driving participation may be the biggest challenge to successful wellness programs. Most wellness programs see participation of less than 50%. The best-run achieve participation levels of over 75%.

Incentives alone aren’t sufficient. Shared ownership helps a lot. Great communications are the secret sauce.

Four communications measures have become critical. First is the need to “brand” the program. A look, a voice, and an identity all help support the story. Second is the role of a single portal – a wellness page or website – for the program, where messaging is streamlined and integrated. Another is the need to use video liberally, especially given today’s information consumption habits. And finally, information should be kept short, sweet and simple to align with today’s preferences and literacy levels.

Some workable ideas to increase participation include:

·         Create movement challenges, enterprise wide, with teams formed according to function.

·         Provide seed money for local offices to create their own wellness initiatives.

·         Involve supervisors and managers in strategic planning – giving them a voice, not just a task.

·         Make wellness relevant and connected to the work environment.

·         Design a work environment that supports healthy choices.

About the author

Jennifer Ortmeyer is senior vice president of benefits, Northwest region, for global insurance brokerage Hub International. She specializes in working with businesses to provide strategic solutions to control costs with their employee benefits program.