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Fall Into Employee Wellness
45% of employees want to focus on healthy habits in the fall. Channel that motivation to increase physical and mental well-being.
Why is fall the perfect time to encourage your employees to take charge of their health and well-being?
Well, fall is that sweet spot for change. Let-it-all-slide summer is over, and we’re ready to trade in our bad habits for a fresh start. Deep, dark, depressing winter, when nothing seems worth it anyway, still seems far away. (Watch our blog for more on that next month.)
Nature is changing all around us. Leaves are turning fiery red. Temperatures are dropping. Birds are flying south.
A Fresh Start
Turns out, you can channel your employees’ wish for a new beginning into some healthy motivation.
A recent Rally Health study showed a direct connection bringing out the sweaters and bringing on healthy habits.
Among the findings of the study:
- 60% of people feel re-energized and are ready for a fresh start in the fall.
- 45% want to focus on healthy habits.
- 38% plan to get back to a normal sleep schedule.
- Almost 70% would like to know more about preventative health care.
What does that mean for you? Your employees are primed for messages focused on taking charge of their health and exploring better options.
Change Matters for Open Enrollment
Change is a perfect theme for November, with OE on the top of everyone’s minds.
In a perfect world, employees would take advantage of OE each year to carefully review their benefits packages. They’d make informed decisions and choose better options each year. Unfortunately, the data (and most likely your own experience) shows that’s not happening.
AFLAC reports that 90% of employees keep the same benefits every year.
Employees are often stagnating with the same plans that they didn’t fully understand even when they signed up.
Before you can help your people choose their best plan, you’ve got to motivate them to want change. That’s where some fall fun can get everyone in the right frame of mind.
Change for the Better
Here are some light and effective ways to incorporate some fall motivation into your messaging this month:
- Fall Colors – Nothing shouts “change” like red, orange, yellow and brown. Using fall colors in your design can plant the idea of change in your employees’ heads.
- Take It Outside – Fall weather is perfect for outdoor activities. From football and soccer to hayrides and corn mazes, we all want to get out and play while we still can. Help your employees scratch that itch with outdoor events.
- Set up tables with OE materials outside.
- Host open enrollment meetings out on the lawn.
- Plan some fun wellness activities like relay races or even a hayride.
- Wellness Education – Offer your employees tips and info about healthy living. Hot topics include:
- The importance of having a primary care physician.
- Recommendations for preventative health tests.
- Healthy sleep habits.
- Focus on mental health – Turns out that when employees say fall focuses them on health, 44% are thinking of their mental health.
At work, improving mental health is all about reducing rampant workplace stress. In fact, the World Health Organization now recognizes employee burnout as an official medical condition.
And when it comes to OE, reducing stress translates to voluntary benefits. Pets and pet benefits, in particular, stand out when it comes to lowering employee stress. Employees with pets are more satisfied and less stressed.
"Playing with or petting an animal can increase levels of the stress-reducing hormone oxytocin and decrease production of the stress hormone cortisol." – Animal Smart
Capitalize on your employees’ interest with news and updates about your voluntary benefits offering and its mental health benefits.
Educating and encouraging your employees about health and wellness is a win-win all around.
