Canadian HR Reporter is the national journal of human resource management. It features the latest workplace news, HR best practices, employment law commentary and tools and tips for employers to get the most out of their workforce.
Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/1202688
www.hrreporter.com 25 results across the board as well as the results of employee surveys. Before implementing the program, be sure to send out anonymous employee wellness surveys and employee engagement surveys to establish a baseline. To get a complete picture, look at year-over-year results with respect to employee turnover, absenteeism, customer retention, waste rates, new business acquisition, average sales per rep and any other KPI you measure. After you implement a program, resend the surveys and compare all of the business results every three to six months to see how you are doing. A comprehensive program that includes training, surveys, analysis, communications and HR efforts may cost a company from $1,000 to $1,500 per employee, but it will easily save the employer three times that amount. And that is a highly conservative estimate. In the 1980s, there was a well-documented study of the effects of meditation on employees at H.A. Montgomery Company, a chemical plant in Detroit. Employees were encouraged to meditate twice a day for six months, and the results were astounding. They found that absenteeism was reduced by 85 per cent, injuries dropped by 70 per cent it didn't have any access to that information and that it didn't use that type of information to make decisions. Alternatives to tech Employers should consider using a multi-pronged approach to support employees. People learn in a variety of ways, so there is still a lot of value in live training and virtual training around meditation lessons, stress management, personal enlightenment and physical and mental health education. Employers can also leverage the power of internal communications, social media (such as Facebook groups) and the company intranet to share information that is less personal in nature but still really valuable. Consider also the value of holding contests for exercise, weight loss or group meditation (between departments, for example) and even combining wellness initiatives with employee engagement initiatives. After all, there is a direct relationship between employee engagement, mental wellness and feeling supported at work. Measuring your success Measuring the success of a wellness program requires looking at business and profits actually rose 520 per cent. More modern examples of the benefits of mindfulness and meditation include Aetna and SAP. Aetna is a U.S. company that promotes and practises mindfulness as part of its workplace culture. It wanted to decrease employee health-care costs and chose mindfulness as a way to achieve that. The company not only saved $2,000 per employee in health-care costs, but its productivity rose so significantly that each employee gave back a $3,000 increase in productivity. Aetna calculated its efforts cost US$120,000 per year and it received an 11:1 return on that investment. That's powerful. SAP has discovered that its mindfulness training has produced an ROI of 200 per cent. The company realized great improvements in employee focus and collaboration, reductions in stress and absenteeism Look at year-over-year results with respect to turnover, absenteeism, customer retention, average sales per rep and any other KPI you measure. and increased employee engagement. With all of this information, it's pretty safe to say that employee wellness programs, particularly those that promote mindfulness and meditation, are highly beneficial to companies. It is the understanding that results are driven mentally before they are ever achieved physically that makes these programs so effective. CHRR Renée Cormier is a certified coach and facilitator who uses her expertise in employee engagement, corporate communications, success coaching and mental techniques to positively impact employee wellness. Visit www.reneecormier. com for more information.