Introduction
Employee health and wellness determine the productivity of employees in organizations, making health and wellness programs crucial determinants of a conducive work setting. The workplace environment presents employees with job-related challenges that can affect the health and well-being of the most critical company resources. The current work setting has a lot of pressure due to the need to perform optimally and contribute toward corporate goals. External factors like the current inflation, COVID-19, and speculations of a recession also affect the ability of workers to function optimally. Employee health and wellness programs entail various interventions that address the well-being of organizational workers. They focus on physical and mental health through recommendations and incentives for employees to take better care of themselves. Companies adopt different health and wellness programs based on the nature of the business and factors that are determined to affect employee well-being and performance. This paper examines employee health and wellness programs, identifying their importance and role in achieving optimal performance.
Material
The systematic literature review approach was used to assess the topic. A systematic review of available literature was identified as the most appropriate method due to its effectiveness in the synthesis of available information. Several studies on employee health and wellness programs have been done in recent years. Researchers have addressed various factors on the topic, including their significance, role in contributing to performance, and effectiveness. The current literature entails several aspects of wellness programs that can provide a researcher with sufficient insight into the role and significance of the programs in ensuring the well-being of workers and high productivity. The systematic review was also selected since it is simple to perform and less time-consuming.
The primary research electronic databases were used to search for relevant articles for synthesis. A combination of managerial, business, and medical databases was used for the search. Some of the selected databases include Emerald, Journal of Management, Journal of Health Management, Medline, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library. The selection of the databases was based on the fact that they contain articles that are relevant to the topic. The key search terms were employee health, employee well-being, and employee health and wellness programs. The search was limited to the last five years to ensure that the latest articles on the topic were reviewed. Articles from the search were assessed to ensure that they were relevant and included or excluded based on their content.
Results of the Findings
The results of the review revealed that wellness programs are vital to the health of workers in organizations due to the time spent at work. Adams (2019) notes that employed adults can spend half of their lives at work or engaged in work-related. The time spent at work and the environment that employees operate in affect their health. Both physical and behavioral environmental factors in the workplace have an impact on employee health and productivity (Hafeez et al., 2019). Current studies on the topic emphasize the need for organizations to maintain a positive work environment to ensure the well-being of their workers.
Employee health and wellness programs aim to address the impacts experienced from working in an organization. Jones (2019) notes that the goal of employee health and wellness programs is to improve awareness, change behavior, and create suitable environments that encourage good health practices among staff. Programs are essential in maintaining and enhancing the health of workers. They achieve this by addressing the nutrition and physical activity of organizational employees (Song & Baicker, 2019). Nutrition and physical health are addressed through nutritional programs and awareness efforts on the significance of physical activity to one’s health. Song and Baicker (2019) acknowledge that workplace wellness programs are essential in improving the health of employees. The CDC notes that the goal is to also achieve work-life balance through the introduction of employer-motivated programs that ensure that workers engage in healthy behaviors that support enhanced productivity (CDC, 2018). Therefore, the goal of the agenda is to provide the overall well-being of employees by addressing the impacts of the workplace environment.
The significance of wellness programs in achieving high productivity is emphasized by available research. Ganu et al. (2019) note that the adoption of health and fitness programs has the potential to improve employee performance and output. Hafeez et al. (2019) indicated that employee health affects the performance of staff directly, which makes it essential to have wellness programs that address the health habits of workers. Qaisar et al. (2018) found that wellness programs are determinants of employee productivity. The increased focus on wellness focus is motivated by the need to ensure high productivity among workers who are affected directly by the workplace environment.
Wellness programs are also identified to improve job satisfaction among workers. A study conducted by Richemond and Needham (2020) showed that the existence of wellness programs is essential in achieving employee job satisfaction. Marshall (2020) notes that while there is a difference between intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction from wellness programs, the interventions positively affect the achievement of job satisfaction. Overall, the wellness programs that exist in an organization contribute to determining job satisfaction levels.
Discussion
The review revealed that employee and wellness programs are vital interventions in the workplace due to the impacts the environment has on workers. Employees spend a lot of time in the workplace or performing work-related tasks outside the organization. They are directly affected by the settings facilitated by their employers. The existence of wellness programs helps to mitigate the impacts of the workplace and those experienced from outside. Based on the current global situation, employees have to contend with the pressure to perform optimally in the workplace and try to maintain their well-being in a society that is experiencing economic constraints. The direct impacts of working in an organization can be directly mitigated through health and wellness programs that address specific concerns.
The well-being of employees is crucial to organizations due to it affects their products directly. Several studies have found that the health and well-being of workers have a direct impact on their performance. Health affects workers by reducing their energy and availability to work. Unhealthy workers are prone to be absent or lack the energy to perform optimally. Also, the mental health of workers determines their productivity. Individuals with psychological issues can fail to perform as desired. The role of wellness programs is to ensure that organizations are actively supporting the health of their staff through various approaches. Each manager has a unique way of ensuring the health and well-being of their workers, and they work on it using different methods. The bottom line is to ensure that organizations maintain the productivity of their workers.
Job satisfaction is a crucial element for an organization due to its role in various employee-related factors. Satisfaction affects job performance directly in organizations (Rodrigo et al., 2020). Workers who are satisfied in their job are found to achieve high performance, and they are motivated to enhance their productivity (Inayat & Khan, 2021). On the other hand, employees with low job satisfaction do not have an incentive to be productive. Job satisfaction also affects organizations through high employee turnover. Organizations with low job satisfaction experience high turnover as employees look for better work environments (Gebregziabher et al., 2020). The existence of employee wellness programs addresses the various issues that workers face and contributes toward the achievement of work satisfaction, which helps to improve productivity and avoid any negative impacts of low job satisfaction.
Conclusion
The workplace environment affects the health and well-being of workers directly. Employees spend most of their time in the settings and are influenced by the contact. The nature of the environment determines various factors among employees, including their performance and job satisfaction. Based on the review, employee wellness programs are crucial in addressing the impacts that their workplace has. They help managers to create a conducive environment for their employees that can facilitate greater productivity by ensuring that workers focus on their health through better nutrition and increased engagement in physical activities. They also implement wellness programs that help to address mental health and other factors that can affect productivity. Job satisfaction is also achieved through wellness programs that ensure the needs of workers are handled. Therefore, the existence of employee health and wellness programs helps to ensure that workers are in a conducive environment with interventions to ensure the well-being of workers.
References
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