There's nothing worse than planning the party that no one goes to.
But let's be real - many of us become leaders, particularly in HR, so we can provide cool parties. Ok maybe not that, but you know that a positive work experience make a huge difference and that culture matters.
You do this because you have extra people passion. You know that the bottom line is this - how employees are treated, and the systems that support them, matter. This is crucial work, because it makes a true impact on both the employee experience and company results.
These days, we need innovation to keep up with changing employee needs. This requires HR leaders to be extra crafty in choosing the right initiatives to support their team. No pressure, right?
But when these plans fail to make the impact we desire, it’s disappointing. It can even be aggravating to feel that our hard work and planning has been wasted. And not to mention the stress of needing to explain a poor investment decision to your team.
But instead of taking this personally lets look at the facts, so that you can make better informed decisions about your wellness initiatives.
Here is the top reason why wellness programs fail.
And it doesn’t matter if it’s an internal strategy or an outsourced resource.
Neither does it matter if it's about mental health, physical health, communication, DEI, etc.
Programs fail when they lack personal engagement.
Though just two words, they are very important. Let's take a deeper look at them:
Personal - means there’s a genuine human interaction taking place. Whether virtual or in person, these people authentically connect with your workforce. In an era where technology is taking the place of people, this is extra important. Change requires social motivation (monkey see, monkey do), and no technology can replace genuine human contact.
Engagement - means that there is value and attention. Attention without value is just distraction, and value without attention is worthless. The key to engagement is to have relevant material or experiences that have real employee buy-in.
And, when we put it all together we get the following picture of personal engagement...
Your employees having quality, interactive time with wellness experts who share relevant and valuable information in a captivating way.
Simply put, if any of these components are missing your wellness plan will fail.
Can organizations provide this internally? Yes.
Is it easy to do so? Often, no.
This is difficult to do internally because your HR team probably doesn’t include qualified wellness experts. Plus, I’ve seen leaders burn themselves out with the extra time and stress it requires to put these plans together themselves.
It’s much, much easier to hire someone who can worry about matching quality material with engagement outcomes. You have enough on your plate, do what you do best.
It’s also very advantageous to bring in outside professionals when it comes to boosting engagement.
Employees can be reluctant to open up and participate when prompted by leadership. This can even be awkward and uncomfortable, particularly around sensitive topics. New and exciting outsiders bring a fresh perspective. They can shake things up and get employees act (and change) in ways that are outside of the norm. Which after all, is what we want.
Enough going through the motions. Ready to revamp your wellness strategy? Ready to be the leader that gets transformative outcomes from their people? Continue the conversation by clicking the link below.
