Ever have one of those days – usually it's a Monday – where between the emails, the voicemails and the water cooler banter haunting the hallways, you discover you're so overwhelmed by everything you haven't done yet that you don't even know where to begin to tackle the list?
That's where I find myself this morning, as the lunch hour slips away beneath the sound of the steady rain against my office window. I came in here today to vent about wellness programs and how most companies run these things like holiday parties: everybody's worried about the food.
Right now, roughly 60 percent of employers offer wellness programs, while another 8 percent are mulling it over for the coming year, according to the latest numbers from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Recommended For You
Funny thing is, running a wellness program's a lot like parenting: Everyone thinks they're an expert but there are a helluva lot of people making it up as they go along. I should know; it's a wonder my oldest daughter's still alive, let alone stable.
We're going through that right now where I work. Our CEO decided recently – and rather suddenly, as CEOs are prone to do – that it's time we tackled this issue as a company. And like any good mid-to-large business, we've already set up a committee to get together and hash some things out, presumably ideas about incentives and rewards, health risk assessments and even ROI – which, last time I checked, hovered around six bucks for every dollar put into them.
But I'm worried we're off to a bad start. There's no more vital component to any benefits program – particularly a brand new wellness plan – than open, transparent communication. But I've asked about a dozen people about our new initiative and no one can tell me anything. I swear J.J. Abrams is running this thing.
I just hope this wellness movement amounts to more than a bunch of "No Smoking" signs, disappearing vending machines and castigating emails. Any benefits expert will tell you carrots work better than sticks.
Maybe I should've written about Boss's Day instead. I just didn't want to sound bitter since none of the people who report to me actually showed up today.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
