Of all the social media platforms available at our fingertips, YouTube is the best go-to for workplace wellness. This platform offers a number of in-depth, content rich videos that can help employers take the next step towards developing their workplace wellness plan.
Hear from companies who are implementing successful workplace wellness plans, discover the latest workplace wellness trends, or follow guidelines around how to run wellness and health promotion programs. Not sure where to start? Check out these three informative videos, each of which focuses on a different form of workplace wellness and health education.
Global Wellness Summit 2015
This is a one hour video from the Global Wellness Summit in 2015. It includes a panel of four speakers from different companies. Each company representative talks about the benefits and components of successful workplace wellness programs. These are all companies who place wellness at the forefront of what they do. The four speakers on the panel in the video are:
1. Enrico Bracesco, Chief Commercial Officer, Technogym
Bracesco emphasizes some of the key benefits and components of a successful workplace wellness program. One statistic he shares states that net savings in excess of $20 million dollars can be achieved for an organization of 10,000 employees that carries out a successful wellness program. (Learn more in Wellness Program ROI: Are Wellness Programs A Good Investment?). He then provides suggestions regarding the various components of wellness such as stress, sleep and physical activity.
2. Roberto Arjona, Chief Executive and General Manager, Rancho La Puerta
Arjona highlights what Rancho La Puerta does as a company to help with important issues such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory disease. As he points out, these are the lifestyle related diseases that are killing people. He explains that diet, alcohol, tobacco and a sedentary lifestyle were identified as the major contributors to these diseases and from there Rancho La Puerto created a program to get to the root of the problem. Watch the video to find out how they took their program further by including the family members of their workers and to hear about the amazing results they have achieved so far. (Learn more in 6 Ways Wellness Testing Benefits Companies).
3. Denise Bober, Vice President, Human Resources, The Breakers Palm Beach, Inc
Bober explains that the reasons behind their wellness programs were not ultimately related to return on investment (ROI). She points out that by taking care of people and their bodies they were in turn taking care of business. After at first struggling to find good corporate wellness programs, Denise talks about the great program they ended up discovering. This program has a multi-level approach. The mental, emotional and spiritual elements addressed in the program are all essential in terms of getting the physical body into shape.
4. Michelle Hawking, Health and Performance Manager, Google
Hawking talks about the shuttle program at Google, which helps remove the strain and cognitive load from the start to end of an employee's day. At Google they have a massage program, movement and recovery program, as well as an 'aspirational space.' Through the aspirational space, Google aims to create an environment where an employee is "better off in their lifespan because they came to Google." This contrasts a more typical workplace experience which may even trigger the negative factors in a person's life.
Extraordinary Workplace Wellness Programs
This video highlights three companies that are offering extraordinary workplace wellness programs. You get the opportunity to hear from employers and employees of these companies and learn what makes their program so great.
1. Nextjump
When this video was published in 2015, Nextjump reported that they had previously achieved 30% sales growth every year for 5 years. However, over the last 2-3 years, the growth rate jumped four-fold to 120%. The only variable they moved was around continuing to invest in their people. Nextjump highlights the huge benefits they have received from embracing a Workplace Wellness Program. These benefits are not limited to just fitness and health; they extend much further into building a company culture as well as strong bonds between the people in the company.
2. Johnson & Johnson
At Johnson & Johnson, employees are given permission to take care of themselves. The physical environment looks and feels healthy and the company recognizes that everyone has a responsibility to be part of a wellness program. Johnson & Johnson highlights wellness as a key concept for business sustainability over time.
3. USAA
At USAA the CEO is down in the fitness centre every morning, demonstrating that wellness starts at the top and then filters down through the organization. One employee points out that each person in the company has a choice about what they do to improve their personal wellness status — no one is forced into doing anything.
The Secret to Building a Healthy and Happy Workplace
Wolter Smit, co-founder and CEO of TOPdesk, conducts this TEDx talk on how to build a healthy and happy workplace. He begins by highlighting two types of people. One is the type that believes that nobody likes or enjoys work (X type). The other (Y) type believes that people like to work because it's an enjoyable thing. Smit fundamentally believes in the latter — that people want to work and don't need a 'stick and carrot' to get going.
Smit came to the realization that he was actively seeking out the 'Y' type of people to work in his organization and that much of the success behind a healthy, happy workforce is about getting the right people on board to begin with. In his initial interviews he focuses a lot on the 'soft areas' of a person's life to really get to know them and the things that have made them excited and fulfilled in the past. When he observes the things that have ignited a spark for them he considers how he can create a similar experience for them in his workplace.
Smit describes these 'Y' type people as 'self-propelled'. They will drive themselves forward and have fun in the process. He then goes on to discuss strategies to help employees grow, maintain their energy and continue to have fun. His final parting comments are centred on the importance of finding a job that you really enjoy doing, rather than focusing on the money you will receive.
For more information on who to follow, check out the best workplace wellness feeds on Twitter.
