You may not have noticed, but we have entered a bright new era of health and wellness. The buzz around Hong Kong, Mainland China and much of the world is one of feeling staying well and feeling healthy. People are talking about organic cotton in their clothing, natural plant extracts in their facial cream and moisturisers, and non-GM food in supermarkets. There are still many areas in which our and living environments are very polluted, but it seems that at long last we are trying our best to reverse this. Many of us share common fears about keeping our bodies healthy and in trim, but we also share the common problem of increased stress and long working hours.

Strained and stiff shoulder muscles, prominent dark circles beneath our eyes, facial puffiness and lower back pain are all, unfortunately, common problems faced in the office. Have you ever thought or dreamt of eradicating these undesirable elements from your life? If so, what are you doing, or, what should you be doing to treat both yourself and employees well? I know that here in Hong Kong providing medical and prescription drug coverage, dental insurance and vision care plans are pretty much basics and your employees would be shocked if you referred to these as ‘perks’ or ‘benefits’. Most of us would expect to see the above factors in our compensation package. This means, as a HR professional, you need to look further afield for exciting health and wellness benefits. 

Finding new health and wellness options that will excite your employees, keep sick days to a minimum and limit employee turnover is one of the biggest headaches facing HR professionals today. I am sure you are intimately aware of the dangers of other organizations offering your employees more attractive packages to lure them away from you. Without doubt, providing innovative wellness packages can be an important tool in preventing this and retaining your best employees as well as in attracting top talent to your organisation. The question is, ‘how?’

Benefits

If you were to ask what factors make an organisation attractive to work for, the answers you receive may shock you. The surprising factor for many is that pay is usually only the second or third most common answer. ‘Job satisfaction’ most commonly tops the list with ‘feeling good’ vying with pay for second. Therefore, the obvious question is, “how can you boost job satisfaction and make your employees feel good?”

Many organisations are keen to invest in training programs to help their employees develop as individuals and to ensure their office environment is both varied and challenging. Well-chosen and well-delivered programs satisfy employees’ desire to learn and will help talented individuals move onwards and upwards. Other organizations seek to inspire their employees with share options, pension schemes, work/life balance options and better vacation options. These are all great approaches. However, there is one idea that you may have overlooked.

For many organisations in Europe and North America, it has become a trend to offer traditional benefits such as high salaries and the factors listed above, but also to pamper their staff with spa packages. Many of these companies offer facial/massage coupons to staff on regular basis to help them relax and to wind down. Often, these schemes have fantastic results as employees begin to feel that their employers genuinely care about them and their well-being. Many organisations see time lost to sick-leave slashed in half and the feel good factor return to their office environment. Now, imagine the smile across your employees’ faces if you were to offer them something similar. Then, imagine the time, money and effort you will save because of the reduced sick days and employee turnover, and increased employee satisfaction.