Email is great. Texting is convenient. A phone or video call is better. Having regular virtual meetings with employees with the sole purpose of checking in is a great way to start discussions about workplace wellness and figure out what support your employees would benefit from. These check-ins shouldn’t be focused on deadline reminders or work chat; they are an opportunity for employees to share how they are feeling physically and mentally. Managers should come to each meeting prepared to listen with an open mind and ready to provide information about different services and programs that employees can access.    

In addition to one on one check-ins, workplaces should host virtual meetings where employees can visit with one another and decompress. These regular opportunities shouldn’t include any work chat rather feel more like a coffee break in the staff room. Employers can consider bringing in outside specialists to talk with the group about things like healthy work from home habits, mindfulness techniques, nutrition, relationship skills, sleep hygiene, or anything else the group expresses interest in. These virtual coffee dates give employees a chance to connect and that can foster engagement and team building.     

Many workplaces offer on-site Occupational Therapy (OT) to ensure that employees have ergonomic workstations. Since transitioning to remote work, the majority of offsite workers in North America are working in sub-optimal conditions that are causing increased neck, back, shoulder, arm, and wrist strain. This translates to more insurance and worker’s compensation claims. Thanks to technology, workstation assessments can be done virtually. Ensuring employees work safely is one of the most important workplace wellness strategies.

Desperate times call for flexible responses! In the past, it might not have occurred to small and medium-sized businesses that they should offer financial subsidies for things like health activities. Today, we see that this type of benefit can be a real incentive for recruitment and retention. Consider offering to subsidize a wide variety of health-related activities. This could include things like 

• exercise equipment;

• virtual fitness classes; 

• a mindfulness app subscription; 

• one on one consultations with health specialists; or even 

• leisure fees for activities such as camping, park passes, and expenses related to joy-inducing hobbies.   

Let your employees choose what will have the most impact on their physical and emotional health.  

Wellness Spending Accounts are inherently flexible and have always offered employees a significant amount of choice with respect to which wellness-related activities or products they could claim. Employees now working from home may be considering expenses that they wouldn’t if still working on-site. This includes things like home office equipment or tools to facilitate remote learning for dependents. We know that Wellness Spending Accounts have a tremendous impact on employee engagement, but this is only true if the benefit meets their needs. Talk with your employees to identify gaps in eligible expenses and then make a plan to fill those gaps. 

Workplace wellness matters whether employees are working onsite or remotely. Decades of research proves that these types of strategies increase productivity, decrease workplace accidents, increase employee engagement and retention, and decrease costs related to illness and injuries. The above mentioned strategies are easy to implement and maintain. Which one are you most excited to launch in your workplace?