Wellness at Work

By Sienna Nalin


Wellness programs and benefit packages at work are starting to trend and become the new hype. I even heard of a law firm in Santa Monica, California that would set aside a few hours each week for yoga. When your job is behind you in trying to make sure that you are healthy that pushes you more to do so. Employers are not just doing this to better your health, but they know if you are in a better state of mind you will produce better work.

Now I know that many of you are questioning, what is a wellness program? Wellness programs tackle helping you achieve a healthy diet, achieving a stable state of mind, working out and much more. These programs are great because it is a huge investment for everyone that shows a return.

Johnson & Johnson, a leader in wellness programs, offers a $150 benefits bonus to overweight employees who reduce their body mass index by 10 percent. Its wellness program slowed the rate of increase of healthcare costs by $565 per employee. Citibank debuted a wellness program in 2008 and found that every dollar spent on wellness returns $2 to the company!

Interestingly, many organizations are turning to an old Buddhist tradition called mindfulness as a path toward stress reduction. Our modern world is filled with distractions - gadgets, electronics, texting, emails, calls - which almost seek instantaneous responses and multiple demands for our attention. Workers feel compelled to multitask. Mindfulness is a state of open, active and nonjudgmental attentiveness to the present. It's an awareness of moment to moment experiences. Companies such as Google, Target and General Mills are offering courses in meditation and mindfulness to their employees.

In order to be an effect employee or leader, one must be aware of all things and be able to make clear concise decisions. By having wellness you are able to do that rather than making decisions that you may regret later because you were under pressure and stressed out.

Wellness plans essentially make an employee feel motivated because they see that their employer cares enough to offer up such a package. In order to be mindful one must take time out of their day and just breathe and watch how they breathe and see how each breathes is precious. We need to know how to focus our thoughts rather than having them jumping all over. Some people train their thoughts just by listening to music which has shown to be very effective.

...More at Trend: Wellness Programs Enhance Employee Engagement

If your job offers a wellness plan, I recommend taking advantage of it because you will see how much better your life will become after implementing whatever is taught in your program in your life. These programs are not built just to influence your work ethic, but your everyday life.




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