Social Wellness Models: A New Technique to Inspire Employees to Get Healthy
Wellness programs are being marketed as a panacea to preventative medicine across the globe that lead to longer lives and good health. Wellness is something that is not only for the people who are already ill but moreover for those who intend to stay healthy and fit.
A corporate wellness program is intended to present medical support and advice to the employees who desire to stay healthy & well in person as well as professional life. The objective, of course, is that what you pay today on health & well-being enables you to live a healthier and disease-free life or at least minimize the risk of any kind of serious health concerns.
With the advent of new digital communication technologies, hosts of new ways are opened for communication. At the present time, social media has stimulated beyond just a fad stage – it has now become a core element of the way we converse with each other. While most of us are probably using social media in some way or the other, have we ever thought about leveraging social media to boost our wellness efforts?
A new and innovative style of programming known as “social wellness” has started to do just that. While reasonably new, these programs have showcased great success in driving engagement, increasing participation, as well as improving overall outcomes as part of corporate wellness efforts.
Related article: 3 Reasons Corporate Wellness Is The Key To Success
What is social wellness?
Social wellness models focus on online networking platforms and look forward to tapping into various social pressures to manage wellness outcomes. Social wellness platforms offer a place where the participants of the wellness program can converse with each other regarding their wellness and health-related goals, challenge each other in any competition or activity as well as track results.
By forming a place where employees can speak about their health & well-being efforts, social wellness model builds accountability and peer support– the two key ingredients for the success of wellness. A company-wide competition on social platforms adds a flavour health engagement from the participants that further makes wellness more effective and fun. Incentives to draw more & more participation can be tied for attaining specific results, for example, verified metrics of weight loss or hitting activity goals.
What makes social wellness models unique?
The thing that’s unique about social wellness models is that the wellness goals don’t essentially have to be laid down by the wellness director as well as pushed down to the organization. Employees individually can set their own goals for wellness and further challenge each other to participate in competitions. With the help of such programs, employees take responsibility for their own wellness journeys.
For wellness programs to succeed, it must spark individuals for kicking off positive change for themselves. If you’re successful in motivating individuals in setting attainable wellness goals that will improve their health, you will have program employees will be passionate about.
The group support and transparency in the social wellness models make a real difference in the wellness program. As accountability and healthy social pressure are often seen missing in employer-sponsored efforts.