The communications team is vital to a company when it comes to promoting its wellness program successfully. The team should always start by always answering the question “why?” when employees are introduced to a wellness program. Making the details of the program crystal clear to team members will help them understand which benefits will be most impactful to them or how to get started.
Now that many employees are looking for a steady work-life balance, creating a wellness program and promoting it accordingly will help it grow. Sixteen Forbes Communications Council members give tips for a communications team that may struggle when it comes to marketing a wellness program.
Forbes Communications Council share their tips on promoting a wellness program.
Photos Courtesy Of The Individual Members1. Personalize The Program
Today's communicators should reflect hyper-personalized, empathetic communications. Every employee has distinct requirements based on their demographic, gender and ethnicity among others that cannot be met with "one for all" wellness initiatives. At Mphasis, we've customized a help desk for our workers, where a counselor is allocated based on the first assessment, need and situation. - Deepa Nagraj, Mphasis
2. Explain The 'Why' Of The Program
I would recommend that communications teams communicate why this program is in place. Now more than ever, companies are having to rethink the integration of work and life into their core values. Employees aren't just looking for financial compensation — they are looking for companies who will help support the integration of work and life. - Hannah Nieves, Hannah Nieves Consulting
3. Keep Employees Engaged
Leverage your company's employee recognition platform and develop new initiatives that promote the launch and beyond. Clarity is key and communications teams should focus on keeping the messaging simple and engaging for employees. - Cord Himelstein, HALO
4. Gain Support From The Company
Wellness programs, like any other employee initiative, need top-down support. If your leaders are not setting the example by participating in the program and encouraging participation, it will often struggle. I recommend creating leadership communications (written and recorded) from your CEO and other key executives to kick off the program and help with continuous engagement throughout the year. - Kristi Harrington, FieldRoutes
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5. Highlight The Program Often
Continue to communicate the message! A wellness program has to be woven into the very fabric of company culture, which means continuing to spotlight your wellness program. It must be highlighted or expanded up in every all-hands meeting, on your "about us" page, in every job description and announced at team meetings when there are any changes. - Kate Gibbons, Star Staffing
6. Do Not Make Promises Early
It's important not to over-promise and to accurately mirror what the program involves. Describe all of the benefits and the rationale, but also understand and communicate the limitations. For example, a program may allow 15 personal days a year, but be sure to detail who in the organization may need to approve those. - Deborah Farone, Farone Advisors LLC
7. Gather Opinions And Experiences From Everyone
Identify a group of internal advocates, not managers, to share their opinions and experience throughout the company. Remember that photos and videos are always the best way to share the experience socially. - Cynthia Sener, Chatmeter
8. Promote The Program And Benefits
Get the basics right! Ensure that you provide consistent messages to your employees. Promote the program by giving background information as well as the benefit of the program. Often communications teams focus on the launch and neglected the post-launch activities. If you want to succeed, ensure the reporting, competitions, prizes and anything that would improve participation rates is there. - Anthony Wong, Attensi
9. Make The Team Fall In Love With It
Impressions, impressions, impressions! One of the biggest mistakes we make in internal launches is assuming employees take action more quickly than the general population. Run a fully integrated campaign leveraging email, videos, internal social, events and swag to over-communicate the program to employees. Track adoption and adjust your strategy as needed to build engagement. - Lisa Walker, Fuze
10. Build A Comprehensive Plan
When a company is creating and launching a new program or initiative for employees, regardless of the topic, the best action the comms team can take to support success is to create a comprehensive communications plan served up in multimedia ways (video, email, podcast, etc.) to deliver it in the way various users/employees will want to digest the information. - Abby Salameh, CAIS
11. Always Listen And Take Feedback
It may seem obvious, but the first step is to listen. Sounds simple in theory, but in practice it involves an intentional process. Ask for feedback and act on it. It may not always involve specific action as provided in the feedback, but acting on it should demonstrate that the input was considered and should include a feedback loop. Then, at launch, people see themselves in the solution. - Donna Dickerson, University of Michigan Credit Union
12. Be Clear And Concise
One of the best ways the comms team can establish trust while the company is introducing an employee wellness program is by creating a clear and concise message that communicates the program's benefits in a way that employees can understand and relate to. With a clear and concise message, the communications team can help to ensure that the employee wellness program is off to a strong start. - Tony Liau, Object First
13. Be Ready To Answer Employee Questions
Constant communication and feedback loops make a huge difference. Employees will have questions, so please have a wellness expert handy who can answer these either live, or over email or a forum. The HR team is only a facilitator, and not the expert for wellness. Listen to feedback to make the program better. - Ketan Pandit, Zuddl
14. Have Everyone’s Buy-In On The Program
You first need to make sure you have internal advocates who understand and will echo the message. It's not about just telling the employees or the market — it's really about explaining and earning buy-in from employees about what you are trying to accomplish. If no one uses the program it is not a success. You want people to understand the purpose and use it. - Lori Stafford-Thomas, Degreed
15. Show How Important This Is For Everyone
Ensure you nail the actual launch. If a program is vital, can help many, and you're looking for employee involvement, don't launch it using an email or Slack message. Here, too, the medium is the message. Make a day of it, get the CEO to discuss the benefits, answer questions and discuss future plans. Take time off your regular programming to show, not say, that this is important. - Pini Yakuel, Optimove
16. Have Goals And Data Points
What are the benefits? Both employees and stakeholders need to be aligned on the "why" of the initiative, and it needs to have real ROI attached to it. "Wellness for wellness sake" isn't enough. Data points, information and goals for the program should be articulated clearly. Plus, don't forget to make it fun and personalize it for your employees! - Christina Hager, Ovations Digital
