People leaders are like Swiss army knives that can resolve interpersonal crises, file paperwork, and bring a box of bagels for a special celebration. So when you read yet another article on improving employee wellness, I bet you’re thinking, “First, how am I supposed to help others when taking a break is a luxury for me? Second, when should I design a wellness program when I have to deal with a tax deadline?” Even if you are that one-of-a-kind people leader who does have time to design a wellness program, where do you start?
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What’s an employee wellness program?
Gen Z employees expect their companies to have wellness programs. An employee wellness program is a set of projects to help people feel healthy and safe. Here is a list of basic projects you should have:
The basics Get health insurance Establish paid time off Establish parental leave Get people ergonomic workstations Quiet rooms, inclusive restrooms, breastfeeding areas Healthy food and drinks Manager training on work-life balance practices (don’t message employees at night) A channel for employees to ask questions and complain
Regular physical and mental health events Let employees exercise several times a week (a fitness center or pop-up yoga classes) Create space for monthly mental breaks and time with coworkers (cooking classes, local scavenger hunts, art workshops) Make it easy for your employees to look and feel good (hair salon pop-ups, dental clinic pop-ups) Help your employees understand their finances Host family days
The best HR leaders do it all: they take care of the basics and run a solid program of physical and mental health events. How do they do it?
Hire a dedicated wellness coordinator
Let’s pause here for a second. A dedicated wellness coordinator? Is this a real thing?
Yes, it’s a real position that Revelry created. Revelry is a product development company based in New Orleans. They won the 2023 Top Workplaces Award and have raving employee reviews on Glassdoor (4.6). Virtually every employee comment mentions Revelry’s culture and dedication to employee wellness.
This is the result of Revelry’s People team’s work. And it’s every leader’s dream. Yet, when leaders consider funding a wellness initiative, the decision is far from obvious.
Why Revelry hired a dedicated wellness coordinator
Thomas Knoll, former Revelry COO, pushed to hire a dedicated wellness coordinator. Thomas shares why he hired for wellness.
“Wellness is cheaper than sickness. If we help people feel good, be healthy, and build better connections, then they won’t disappear when they are sick. Of course, this isn’t always 100% true. But investing in wellness is a lot cheaper than dealing with sick leave and rising insurance costs.
When you say “connection and wellness are important,” you have to back that up. We put money aside for monthly employee events, such as cooking classes, a sound baths, meditation sessions, yoga, or kimchi classes. Some classes aren’t purely about health. They are about connecting with people, learning new things, and getting exposed to new experiences. We put those events on the calendar and let people show up for the ones that interested them.
Finally, we hired someone to dedicate all their time to running the wellness program. We didn’t want to make it the tenth thing someone else was doing. We wanted to show that we were intentionally investing in wellness.”
What does a wellness coordinator do?
Dani DeLorme, Revelry’s VP of People Operations, shares what it’s like to have a wellness coordinator on her team.
“Avery, [the wellness coordinator], is very creative. People love having a wellness coordinator. Avery takes care of the full wellness program:
team-building events helping employees be more financially secure weekly round-ups, where employees share what went well and where they need help Because Avery is focused solely on wellness, employees feel more comfortable sharing their problems and feedback with him.”
Read our interview with Avery Jolly, Revelry’s wellness coordinator , where he shares tips on setting up and running a successful wellness program.
Let Spaciously help with your wellness events
When your employees need health insurance, you don’t set up your own fund. You use a health insurance provider. When you want to offer lunch at the office, you aren’t going to cook it yourself. You partner with a catering company. So why are people leaders expected to organize wellness and team-building events?
Don’t you wish you could schedule a year of wellness events for all your offices? Imagine spending only an hour a year planning and executing your wellness program. Spaciously allows you to do exactly this.
You can book your wellness events one-by-one on our website. But you could also let us design and schedule your entire wellness calendar for the year. Schedule a regular class (like yoga), or have us bring a new wellness event every month to your office (cooking and art workshops, nature adventures, hair salon pop-ups, and more). You’ll be the mastermind behind your program, and we will execute it for you. The best part? You won’t have to pay more than you would if you booked the same events on your own.
Starting a wellness event program might seem hard, but it doesn’t have to be. Even companies with the most complex hybrid setup manage to run successful team-building and wellness programs. Outsourcing saves countless hours, which you could use to get more work done or take a much-needed break.
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