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It goes without saying that most (all?) companies want their top employees to stay and grow at the firm. A recent Bloomberg BNA piece states: “A well-designed wellness program is one of the best opportunities for employers to engage employees.”

The report is based on presentations from the WorldatWork Total Rewards conference in San Diego. There Bloomberg reports that Lauren Benz, clinical account manager for MVP Health Care, told audiences that “wellness programs should encourage high-performing workers to remain at the organization to enable the company to be competitive in a global market.”

Dan Harding, director of total rewards and employee relations at MVP Health Care, added that “an effective wellness program should focus on multiple aspects of employees' lives.” This includes:

• “Nutrition, exercise and medical care, because self-care and disease prevention programs will address how employees can decrease sedentary lifestyles, fix unbalanced diets and encourage tobacco cessation.”
• “Friends, family and co-worker relationships, because healthy relationships and social interactions offer employees a better work-life balance.”
• “Mind and spirit, because self-esteem, stress and anxiety can affect sleep patterns, peace of mind and employee productivity.”
• “Money management, because programs on budgeting, income and expenses, handling stress related to financial security and how to eliminate debt will decrease employees' overall stress and anxiety in the workplace.”

Another key, as we know from previous posts here and here: Communication.

The report states: “Harding also advised that HR communicate these values and programs to managers to encourage employee engagement, as they interact with workers on a daily basis.”