It has been proven time and time again, that human beings have a hard time making huge changes in their lifestyles that actually last. Think about how many times you gone on that week long diet that started on monday, and by wednesday you were going out to Chinese food for dinner. Any kind of drastic change is very difficult on the body both physically and mentally, which is why it is often so difficult for human beings to change their habits.
However if someone has a constant reminder of how they need to be healthy, and they have something or someone else motivating them on a daily basis, the change becomes gradual. Gradual change can turn into long term habit. Employers face a difficult challenge when they are trying to get their employees to change their wellness habits. For while employees may be interested in the short term, long term motivation seems unattainable.
It is a well known fact that many companies have turned to corporate wellness programs to reduce their health care costs and improve employee health and productivity. The most effective corporate wellness programs implement a complete system that analyzes the weak areas of each employee, provides educational resources, and then implements a long term plan.
There is one component that makes this long term plan incredibly effective, and that is known as the "daily dose of wellness". With how technologically advanced and possibly dependent society has become, the best way for the employee to achieve their daily dose is online. Just as it is difficult to break bad habits, it is often difficult to form new ones. Therefore by receiving daily motivation and instruction, the employees can gradually change their ways.
A thorough wellness program will provide an online program that is customizable to each individual employee, and that can provide them with their daily health needs. For example, such a program can send the employee their daily nutrition and fitness plan, in addition to educational videos that they can watch throughout the day.
Having these daily reminders, makes it more likely that employees will follow them. In addition, this allows the company to affect the employees that are not in the office daily. So employees that are constantly traveling will have daily access to information that will allow them to maintain their health, even when they do not have access to the on-site corporate wellness program.
This “hands off” approach also allows companies to ensure that their in-house employees are staying healthy without making sure that everyone is attending the weekly educational seminar or exercise class.
Again, because the information being given to them caters to gradual change, this makes employees more inclined to become healthier overall. Therefore, the online component is necessary for any company to ensure that the wellness program truly reaches all the employees in a way that actually creates an environment of workplace wellness long term.