Tap Into Your Benefits to Increase Your Wellness
Some employers offer mental health programs. Others provide yoga classes. Still others hold routine health screenings.
Sounds great doesn’t it? Here’s the problem: Too few employees take advantage of such programs. Get the most out of your benefits – and be healthier – by tapping into your employer’s wellness offerings. Following are some common programs and ways to make the most of them.
Employee Assistance Programs. One of the most-neglected of all employee benefits, Employee Assistance Programs (or EAPs) provide a wide range of free resources for people trying to improve their physical, mental, family or fiscal health. Contact your HR team and ask for information.
Mental health services. With increased awareness of the importance of mental health concerns, employers are adding mental health services to their standard menu of benefits. If you are having mental health concerns, connect with your company’s Employee Assistance Program, and find a mental health provider within your network. Many employers cover more sessions for mental health care than in the past.
Financial wellness programs. In a recent study, 60% of employees said that financial issues are their top source of stress. Recognizing the impact stress has on their teams, employers are offering more and more services that help employees facing financial challenges. Talk to your HR team about services that might be available to you.
On-site fitness centers. If the gym is at your workplace, your excuse for not working out withers. A couple of times a week, substitute a workout for lunch at a restaurant or schedule a fitness session before or after work. Choose activities you enjoy and recognize that the goal is better health … not professional-athlete fitness.
Classes and programs. Do you smoke? Need healthy-diet info? Want to de-stress? Nearly every workplace offers free classes and programs that help you eliminate bad habits and develop better ones, and many classes are online and, therefore, flexible. Squeeze something worthwhile into the time you otherwise would step out for a smoke, get a snack at the vending machine or something like that.
Group activities. Many employers sponsor group activities such as team participation in a community walk or run, on-site fitness classes and more. Grab your work friends and make participation a social activity. You’ll have so much fun, you might forget it’s about wellness.
Regardless of how you connect with your employer’s wellness programs, you’ll discover that those programs do what they’re supposed to do: increase your overall wellness. That’s a benefit everyone should take advantage of.
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Tags: employee assistance program, health, wellness