Introduction

Gone are the days when wellbeing programs were just a perk or something nice to have. Today, they are an integral component of people strategies in many organisations. This is partly due to the enormous strides in occupational health research that have demonstrated employees need to be both happy and healthy to be efficient in their jobs.

But what does this mean for you and your business? Well, if you don't have a remote wellbeing program, we recommend starting small to get an idea of what initiatives will benefit your employees most. Then, as your business changes, you can adapt the plan to adjust for the changing headcount.

Remote wellbeing programs for hybrid teams

Even when the majority of your team is based in an office, we recommend choosing a remote wellbeing program. But why? Your employees have busy lives and likely won't have time to visit the gym regularly. So working out at home or listening to a meditation or webinar on the go is much better than nothing at all.

Perkbox not only includes a wellbeing platform, but also thousands of discounts, deals, and freebies on wellbeing products. Additionally, if you want to build up a culture of celebration within your organisation, the points-based reward and recognition platform would be very helpful too.

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10 steps to launching a remote wellbeing program

10 steps to build a remote wellbeing program include.

Step 1: Get key stakeholders on board

This is a necessary step, regardless of the change you want to make in your organisation. Senior leaders and stakeholders must be on your side as they make the financial decisions and, ultimately, have the last say on where the company money is spent.

Before approaching them, it's a good idea to talk to other colleagues who may have previously submitted proposals. Something else to consider is gathering additional insight from supervisors or managers as they can vouch for why a wellbeing program is needed for their teams.

Step 2: What do employees want from a remote wellbeing program

Send out a survey with a few questions asking how your employees feel about their wellbeing and what they need help with. You can also invite people to give one-on-one feedback. Don't forget to cover the three main areas of wellbeing, which are physical, emotional, and financial. When you have established what your employees want, you're in a much stronger position to support their health in a meaningful way.

Step 3: Make baseline measurements of remote wellbeing

The three main data points for your baseline measurements are: absence rates, staff turnover rate, and wellbeing survey responses. Once you have these baseline measurements you can calculate the impact of your remote wellbeing program.

Step 4: Set goals and narrow down your plan of action

Build a roadmap of your actions and formally document goals. Linking the program to existing company initiatives and demonstrating a healthy ROI will add extra credibility.

A simple plan might look something like this:

  • Employees want to feel more connected: Set up groups or digital hangouts and encourage recognition.
  • Employees want to build up savings: Improve financial education and help employees spend less.
  • Employees want to improve mental health: Reduce stress and promote mindfulness.

Next, research the cost per item. One thing to remember when planning your budget is to compare it to the cost of not launching a wellbeing program. This could include the cost of high absenteeism or declining remote employee engagement levels.

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Step 5: Choose what to include

By this stage you should know what your at-home employees want and how much of your budget you can allocate. Now, it’s time to put the wheels in motion and solve the problems.

Your updated plan should now look something like this:

  • Employees want to feel more connected: To set up groups, begin with a book or photography club and include prizes. Encourage recognition by introducing a new recognition and reward platform.
  • Employees want to build up savings: Improve financial education with online financial advice or webinars. Help employees spend less by offering employee discounts.
  • Employees want to improve mental health: Reduce stress by introducing digital wellbeing resources, such as sleep stories and meditations. Promote mindfulness with on-demand remote wellbeing classes.

Step 6: Recruit remote wellbeing champions

Look across your departments and identify people who would be willing ambassadors in each team to champion wellbeing. Ideally, you’d have one person per team that meets over video calls regularly. They can talk to their team about the initiatives you’re launching while opening the floor for feedback.

Step 7: Promote your remote wellbeing program

Put simply, if your teams don’t know about the remote wellbeing program, they won’t use it.

Some promotional ideas include:

  • Encouraging managers to promote the program to their teams
  • Rallying wellbeing champions to advocate for the program
  • Sending out wellbeing-themed newsletters
  • Working with internal comms on a wellbeing campaign

 

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Step 8: Set remote wellbeing challenges

Challenges are also a great way to make people aware of your remote wellbeing program. At Perkbox, we have a running club and occasionally introduce new competitions, such as a burpee challenge. Fortunately, there are plenty of apps that support these physical wellbeing challenges. Strava, for example, is very useful for setting up a running community.

Step 9: Measure your remote wellbeing program's impact

Depending on your preference or how other initiatives are tracked, let a set amount of time pass before measuring the impact of the remote wellbeing program — this could be every 3 months or so.

You can also track it alongside other elements of your business. Have you seen productivity increase, for example? Or have managers anecdotally said morale has improved? These are just two examples of measurements that demonstrate the impact of a remote wellbeing program.

Step 10: Celebrate the success of the remote wellbeing program

Report back to your people by sharing success stories. And, of course, don’t forget to celebrate your hard work!

How can Perkbox help you build a remote wellbeing program?

Starting a remote wellbeing program is daunting as there are so many factors to consider. Generally, when companies start anew or are in the process of increasing their wellbeing offerings, they use all-in-one solutions as they provide the most value for money.

Perkbox, for example, focuses on the three core areas of wellbeing —financial, social, and physical. All features can be accessed from the app, so it doesn't matter if your employees are in the same office, or on the other side of the world. Perkbox has both a local and international reach.

Find out how Perkbox can help you achieve your remote wellbeing goals

Put wellbeing front and centre with Perkbox

Show you care with a comprehensive wellbeing package that supports physical, mental and financial health.

  • Prevent employee burnout and absenteeism
  • Boost productivity and employee retention
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