Corporate Yoga: Revive your Wellness Program
We have come a long way from the days when corporate wellness programs were viewed as good-to-have rather than as a need-to-have. Indeed, employee wellness has become a strategic imperative for most organizations across the globe and not without reason. An increasing number of studies point to evidence that the returns on wellness programs go way beyond healthy and happy employees.
A study by Towers Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health shows that organizations with highly effective wellness programs report significantly lower voluntary attrition than do those whose programs have low effectiveness (9% vs. 15%). On the other hand, an internal assessment by Johnson & Johnson found that the return on their wellness programs have been $2.71 for every dollar spent, resulting in cumulative savings of $250 million on health care costs for the company over the past decade.
Thus, the question no longer is 'why employee wellness' but 'how?'
As workplace wellness gradually becomes the norm, offering membership passes to a fitness centre is no longer enough to generate and sustain employee interest in wellness. Employers are now riddled with the need to offer creative and comprehensive wellness facilities in order to bring about a real difference in employee health and more importantly, motivation.
Reviving Workplace Wellness
The same study by The National Business Group on Health also found that there is now a trend towards enhancing onsite programs aimed at stress management and holistic wellness. Since almost about 50% of corporate healthcare costs are said to be lifestyle related and therefore, potentially preventable, organizations not only want to spend on cure but also invest on prevention and good health. It is in this respect that the ancient science of Yoga has found preference in the corporate world as a comprehensive wellness prerogative, replacing all other healthcare investments.
Why Yoga?
Yoga is not just about being able to perform complicated poses and movements. It is a holistic approach to physical and mental health, as well as a person's well-being and personal growth. Corporate Yoga is the extended concept of working peacefully in the midst of a hectic corporate environment. An international report by the World Health Organization reveals that depression is the most disabling illness for the corporate sector, second only to cardio-vascular diseases.
Long hours, multi-tasking, stiff competition, rigorous commute, irregular eating habits, sedentary desk jobs and bad sitting postures, all combine to create a pool of highly stressed, inefficient and thus despairing workforce.
Eventually you need to remember that corporate Yoga should be designed to increase well-being for employees' optimal health, productivity and performance. It must thus be made accessible to people at all levels and offered in a safe and comfortable environment to pursue balance, healing and inner strength.
Reference:
https://www.corporatewellnessmagazine.com/article/wellness-program