What is Corporate Wellness?
Corporate wellness or workplace wellness is a focused attempt to create a healthier and happier work environment. It has been shown that fostering a workplace that enables and encourages self-care and wellness habits assists with improved performance. This can translate into increased career achievements for employees and better profits for companies. There are also results that show employees who are happier tend to remain in their jobs longer. Additionally, companies with a high retention rate of current staff usually find it easier to recruit new staff.
“Healthier and happier staff members translates into improved work performance.”
What does a Workplace Wellness Program Involve?
Corporate wellness programs are intentionally implemented programs which vary in form. Typically, they involve helping employees to understand health related risks and how to mitigate them. Companies often organize regular onsite screening days. During which employees have access to health experts as well as tests. Tests relate to a range of health issues such as blood pressure, weight and cholesterol. As well as initial screening and counselling for chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS. Access to a support or referral system may also be made available, for example, for depression or stress management. Some companies include other services, such as massage stations, skin and beauty care technicians or yoga and meditation sessions.
5 Reasons Why Wellness is Important in the Workplace
- Improved employee health benefits both the company and employees.
- Knowing vital health statistics enables better management of levels which improves work productivity.
- Attending medical screening days often results in Medical Aid reward points.
- Easy access to diet and exercise programs, with a regular follow up component, increases adherence.
- Referral to the appropriate medical experts where needed, is more likely to result in health seeking behavior.
“Wellness programs result in individual and corporate benefits.”
Coaches and Corporate Wellness
Most offices don’t have someone specifically assigned to actively ensuring and pursuing employee wellness. Often it falls under Human Resource Management. However, a company’s HR officer rarely has a primary focus on motivating employees to increase their self-care and improve their work-life balance. Thus, an outside expert, such as a coach, is an excellent option for providing focused assistance at improving corporate wellness.
5 Ways Coaches can Assist with Workplace Wellness
A Coach Can:
- Design roadmaps with milestones and goals towards achieving better work-life balance.
- Assist in creating diet and exercise program goals within an accountability framework.
- Create motivation and incentive plans for teams and individuals.
- Set up and oversee exercise clubs eg: Running or cycling.
- Help improve self-awareness thereby creating a healthier interactive work environment.
The Importance of Corporate Wellness for a High-Flying Career
Generally, the higher-up the corporate ladder you climb the more responsibility you have. And with more responsibility there’s greater potential for a worse life-work balance and increased stress levels.
For lots of people a promotion means working longer hours to “get more done” or “increase productivity”. Ironically, psychologists have repeatedly shown that with a good work-life balance you can achieve greater productivity and thereby, success. Accordingly, when you take time out, specifically to do things that help you relax, there are productivity, mental and physical advantages. Thus, changing gears from work related tasks to outdoor activities, socializing or enjoying a hobby is good for your career!
“A better work-life balance enables increased productivity.”
How to Fast-track Your Career Success
A Life Coach is not a therapist nor a mentor. Their aim is to assist you to maximize your potential. They are an unbiased partner who encourages you, provides realistic assessment of your ability and impartial goal accountability. They help you to leverage your talents so that you can better excel, while assisting you to be more aware of your blind spots. If you are in a management position, this is especially helpful when attempting to get your team to excel. Essentially, a coach can assist you to get where you want to go quicker than you would on your own.
5 Ways a Life Coach can Help You Leap-Frog Your Career
- Identify specific goals.
- Formulate work and personal vision(s).
- Create a strategy to achieve goals with milestones.
- Improve your output and productivity.
- Help keep you better focused on goals and provide accountability while working towards them.
How a Business Coach Builds Teams
A business coach focuses on maximizing an individual’s potential so as to enable a company to perform better. During the coaching journey, there is an expectation for individual team members to partake in a learning conversation. This conversation is focused on the short run, has a specific purpose and is performance orientated. There are at least 9 different roles that a business coach fulfills during this process.
The 9 Roles of a Business Coach
- Counsellor
- Facilitator
- Reflective Observer
- Coach
- Teacher
- Technical Advisor
- Partner
- Modeller
- Hands-On Expert
Within a work setting, a business coach will assist in analysing and reflecting within an identified area. Once goals have been identified, they will help draft a team roadmap. This will often have milestones and aim to help foster better cohesion and coordination within a team. As the team works towards their identified goals, the coach provides an external perspective on progress. This means that the roadmap remains dynamic and minor adjustments to better ensure success can be made. Thereby, the team is able to collectively work through unforeseen challenges as well as use newly identified skills to their advantage.
Having a business coach oversee this process allows management to be part of it and thereby sustainable systems are created. This also allows them to focus on how best to do their job and lead their team. As such they can do their job with the advantage of external insight and support instead of an increased workload.
“A coach can assist to improve both corporate wellness and employee work-life balance.”
Why Become a Coach?
Coaches wear many hats. They work with individuals, small groups and across big corporations. They focus on assisting others attain their self-identified goals. Coaches also enable people to see and use their strengths while overcoming their blind spots. They provide invaluable external encouragement, accountability and feedback as strategic plans are implemented. In this way, being part of an individual or company’s journey towards success can be an invigorating and rewarding career choice. If you have an interest in coaching, enquire about one of SACAP’s coaching courses. SACAP offers internationally recognised courses. Which are aligned with the International Coach Federation (ICF), and Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA). To find out more about a career that involves helping others maximise their potential, contact us directly.
