Employee wellness programs : why employees choose to participate
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Kristi L. Wallace (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Pam Brown
Abstract: The rising cost of healthcare and decline in the overall workforce health and wellness is a serious concern for employers. A healthy workforce is critical to the overall mission of an organization and the individual employees’ quality of life. One proven way to improve the overall health and wellness of employees is to implement a workplace wellness program. These programs can lead to improved employee retention, job satisfaction, productivity, presenteeism and overall reduced healthcare costs. Despite these benefits, low participation in workplace wellness programs is common. Research to understand why employees participate, or not, in their workplace wellness program is necessary to curb the rising cost of health care, increase health and wellness, and to develop recommendations to improve overall program participation. The current study focused on a medium-sized municipality in central North Carolina, that employs approximately 1,400 employees across 24 departments. The employees have access to a workplace wellness program with a variety of amenities but yields less than 50% participation (ranging between 300-400 participants per calendar year). Municipality employees (n = 239) completed a survey that included questions examining familiarity with the workplace wellness program, reasons for participation or not, and suggestions to improve the workplace wellness program. Employees agreed the municipality had a strong wellness program. Personal health, enjoyment, and incentives were identified as specific motivating factors for participation. Specific barriers to engaging in their workplace wellness program included time/scheduling and location convenience. This research suggests that employees need to be aware of their workplace wellness program, incentives need to be provided, accommodating time/scheduling, and events at convenient locations to improve employee participation.
Employee wellness programs : why employees choose to participate
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Created on 5/1/2023
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2023
- Keywords
- Barriers to Participate, Employee Wellness, Municipality, Participation, Reasons to Participate, Workplace Wellness
- Subjects
- Employee health promotion $z North Carolina
- Health behavior $z North Carolina $x Decision making