If your wellbeing program keeps getting knocked back, here's how you counter.

If you’ve ever tried to get a workplace wellbeing program off the ground and failed, chances are you’ve heard one or more of these objections at some point.

So, we wanted to give you some ammo for the next time you broach the subject that will get you across the line.

They’re expensive.

Wellbeing programs don’t have to cost a lot to be impactful. 

In fact, many of the initiatives you can run are absolutely free.

Even for the ones that you pay for, the cost is a fraction of what your organisation is losing in bleed costs and stands to make you a lot more than it costs. FYI: the savings from turning over one (that’s right, one) fewer employees per year could more than pay for a top-tier wellbeing program for about 200 staff. 

It’s too hard.

If people are honest about it, this is usually what it boils down to, that addressing wellbeing seems hard and they don’t know where to start. 

If this is the case, start with where you’re seeing the problems (stress, injuries, morale, psychosocial safety hazards etc) and reach out to some experts for a bit of advice on how to proceed. You can action their recommendations in-house and I promise it’s easier than you think. 

They're a distraction.

Wellbeing initiatives are only a distraction when planned poorly.

When they’re run well and integrated into work practices they can enhance productivity and more than make up for the relatively minimal amounts of time spent on them. 

Wellbeing is not a priority right now. 

Yep, this is something we’ve heard many times and is a sign of poor culture that starts at the top and bleeds down through the workforce.

Wellbeing should always be a priority and if it’s not, you might be in the wrong place. 

We didn’t get much take up last time.

If this is the case, it’s likely the initiatives that were on offer didn’t appeal to staff. 

Low buy-in will result in low engagement every time. 

First, find out where your health gaps are (through surveys, focus groups, supervisor reports, and worker’s comp data).

Next, figure out which initiatives would likely fix or mitigate these issues, then ask your staff what they would engage with, then plan your initiatives from the intersection of those two things.

Involve your staff in the planning and implementation of those initiatives and voila, instant buy-in and engagement. 

We’re not sure we’ll get ROI.

There’s plenty of evidence to suggest you will in fact get your ROI but every single organisation is different and so the results will be different.

Beyond looking at the previous evidence (of which there is a lot) just ensure you’re accurately tracking your ROI and VOI (Value on Investment) and you’ll be able to justify your program moving forward. 

Great things often require a leap of faith.

Employees should take care of themselves.

True, but if you have health gaps it means they’re not, and employees produce less and cost more to manage when they’re unwell as compared to when they’re well.

So, whether or not it’s the organisation's responsibility to look after the wellbeing of employees, it is the organisation’s problem if they’re unwell. 

We’re too busy. 

If you’re too busy to address health and wellbeing on an organisational level then chances are your staff are too busy to address it at a personal level.

When that’s the case, health and wellbeing deteriorate over time until they get to a critical point that’s tough to come back from.

Small, consistent application of effort and attention in health and wellbeing is all it takes to maintain or improve them, and that’s effort that’s more than worth applying. 

What this all boils down to is that these objections, while valid and definitely worth discussing, can all be addressed and solved.

At Kinex Health, we see it as the responsibility of all of us to solve them as health and wellbeing are the most important things we have and living without them is not a world we want to live in.

P.S. These solutions are obviously extremely abbreviated, so for more info on this just reply to this email and we’d be happy to share it. 

Question: Which of these objections have you come across and which are insurmountable?

🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵 🔵

My name is Phil and I'm a workplace wellbeing specialist.

Cool! But what does that mean?

It means I work with organisations to upskill their people so they can be healthy and well under any circumstances...

...whilst also helping the organisation to optimise their circumstances to make it easier for their people to be healthy and well.

If this sounds like something you could use, send me a DM.