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A state of physical wellbeing is not just the absence of disease.  It includes lifestyle behavior choices to ensure health, avoid preventable diseases and conditions, and to live in a balanced state of body, mind, and spirit.  Optimal physical wellness is developed through the combination of beneficial physical activity/exercise and healthy eating habits.

Research shows that the best way for people to quit using tobacco is through evidence-based tobacco cessation technologies and programs.  Tobacco users who take part in cessation programs are more likely to successfully quit than those who attempt quitting on their own.  These programs are led by a certified Health Care Professional trained in tobacco cessation. 

Financial Wellbeing refers to how comfortable you feel and not about how much you earn but rather how effectively you manage your economic life. Educating employees about such things as, savings plans, budgeting and retirement planning, help to increase perceptions of financial wellbeing.

Do you have something you do each day that you are passionate about? Do you jump out of bed in the morning or do you hit the snooze button? What you do each day slowly shapes who you are and how you show up to the world every day. When people are happy and doing what they love, their excited over the opportunity to wake up every day and create something.

Wellness is moving away from just a focus on a person’s physical health to focus on a person’s overall wellbeing.  As this focus changes, so will the initiatives that support the wellbeing.  And employers can have a significant influence on an employee’s wellbeing.

More businesses are offering wellness programs for their employees. There is a lot of work that goes into planning and implementing a wellness program, and whether you’re starting a wellness program or you have an established wellness program, you’re going to run into speed bumps along the way.

While some individuals take action to make positive changes on their own, chances are they will fall off the bandwagon if they do not have a proper support system. That’s why, wellness programs that implement health screenings, but include no post-screening support have little positive impact on employee health or organizational productivity.

You may have the best of talent, but if your employees are sitting sedentary at their desks for eight hours straight with no motivation, those talented minds become inactive. If you notice your employees are starting to lose motivation, it may be a great time to incorporate some high energy activities into the workplace and fitness classes are a really effective way to do just that!  

Hosting a nutrition education presentation is a great way to attract employees who are already interested in making healthy food choices, but how can you attract those that aren’t quite there? That’s where cooking demos come in. Cooking demos are a fun way to boost employee engagement, teach employees how healthy eating can taste great, and give them the skills to do it themselves.

At Alyfe, we believe that managers are an important part of the solution. Think about this; most employees belonging to large and medium-sized organizations report to a team lead.  These managers play a crucial role in shaping a mini- culture within their teams. They educate, inspire, and lead their teams towards success.

The success of well-being programs has traditionally been determined by the Return on Investment (ROI), often measured by savings in health claim costs. However, the real value of employee well-being programs to the organization is usually higher than what the ROI indicates. Well-being programs influence the performance of organizations by having a profound impact on the their most important asset – its people.

When you think about workplace wellbeing, a few things may come to mind: exercise, nutrition, stress management etc. However, there is a less obvious factor that you may have overlooked: Is your workplace breastfeeding friendly? And why should a breastfeeding friendly workplace be an important part of your wellbeing program?

Although there is broad access to wellness, participation is limited, leaving employers with a trial and error process for incentives to try and drive more engagement. Many employers are somewhat resistant to experiment too much with incentives in fear of violating EEOC policies. As controversial as they may be, having the “right” incentive in place has been proven to increase involvement and is a critical component of any wellness and well-being program.

With rapidly escalating health care costs, it is not surprising that organizations are implementing employee wellness programs to dramatically shift the health of their workers. As part of employee wellness programs, there are a wide variety of technologies available to employers. Many of these devices are currently being used on a personal level by the consumer but are becoming an emerging trend in corporate wellness programs.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the improvements to the nutrition facts label on packaged foods have been finalized. The new food label has been updated to reflect current scientific research and will help consumers make informed decisions on their food choices. Manufactures will need to use the new nutrition facts label by July 26, 2018, and manufactures with less than $10 million in annual foods sales will have an additional year to comply.

Did you know that engaged employees are 28% more likely to participate in a wellbeing program at work? Take a moment to conduct a mini check-up on the engagement of your employees. Ask yourself, “is there anything that I can do to improve my employees’ engagement?” To help you get started, check out these three novel ways with which you can boost the engagement of your employees.

We all know that healthy eating is a huge part of a healthy lifestyle. But the food choices your employees make are personal decisions. So how can you use your well-being program to promote healthy eating choices without being too pushy? They key is to keep it fun! Here are some ideas.

When organizations invest in the overall well-being of their employees and their families, they reap significant reductions in costs and increases in value over time. Data shows that people who have thriving well-being take significantly fewer sick days and their lost productivity is around $840 per person, compared with $28,800 per person a year for employees with very low levels of well-being.