Corporate wellness

Shifting the status quo with progressive approaches to organizational well-being

ANN-MARIE FLINN PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, CHAMPION FOUNDATIONAL CHANGE AGENCY

As someone with a passion for the future of wellness, I am excited to see where wellness/well-being is going over the next three years.

As a bit of a stats nerd, I study all the trends and winners/losers in the wellness industry. I also think about how these trends can be embraced to grow local business within HRM and in Nova Scotia.

One major shift in the wellness industry is corporate wellness. Corporate wellness with a difference.

Have you ever been to a conference or company “lunch-and-learn” and experienced a team-building session or wellness workshop? What did the session include? Was there a tightrope? A yoga session? A trust fall?

As someone who was in the corporate world for over 30 years, I have experienced all of these.

These approaches to corporate wellness may have worked in the past, but things are changing. With the pandemic, global warming, and political unrest, wellness experts are recognizing that a compartmentalized, programmatic approach to employee well-being is not particularly effective in tackling the rising challenges of stress, work-life integration, and mental health.

Progressive organizations around the world are shifting to more meaningful, holistic approaches to employee well-being. This new approach encompasses everything from changing company culture to focusing on the internal environment of employees’ physical, mental, and emotional wellness.

The traditional metrics used to measure the success of “workplace wellness” need to shift. “Wellness” now means far more than a lunch-and-learn workshop.

The goal with wellness is to figure out a set of habit-building practices you can implement into the culture of your organization.

What corporate wellness is

In its purest form, wellness involves doing whatever you need to do to thrive and feel well daily. There is no one-sizefits-all approach to achieving a general sense of well-being and overall health, and anyone who claims otherwise is selling you something.

With that said, corporate well-being incorporates anything that:

• Improves work-life integration

• Helps you manage stress better

• Fosters a more positive mindset

• Promotes habits of consistent self-care

What corporate wellness isn’t Corporate wellness is not:

• Drinking kale smoothies

• Keeping a yoga mat under your desk

• Swearing off alcohol forever

• Re-reading your copy of The Power of Now until its pages start fraying.

Approaches to corporate wellness are unique

Wellness isn’t about making one giant change and suddenly transforming your business — it’s about continually working to improve various aspects of your organization, so you can build a more sustainable culture mentally, physically, and emotionally.

The goal with wellness is to figure out a set of habit-building practices that suits the needs of your business and your people. In other words — things that work for you.

Industry leaders hoping to limit turnover (one of the top company expenditures) need to rethink their structure and operations to allow greater mental, physical, and emotional wellness/ well-being support.

The future is bright in Nova Scotia

I’m excited that there is a great rebirth of change happening around wellness and well-being in Nova Scotia. My business has been offering progressive businesses the opportunity to bring customized wellness and well-being programs into their organizations and conferences.

To the Champion in YOU!

Learn more about Champion Foundational Change Agency at: changechamp.ca