At Advanta Health, we know inclusivity is more than just a buzzword. It should be at the core of a company’s values, ensuring that everyone is welcome and catered for equally. Businesses should actively encourage diversity and provide benefits that appeal to various demographics.

Wellness initiatives provide an ideal opportunity to prove how inclusive an organization is. Great wellness programs benefit everyone, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation. Yet so many health and wellness plans fail to give meaningful benefits to all employees. Investing in inclusive wellness initiatives isn’t just about keeping your teams happy; it’s also good business sense.

Inclusivity as a Growth Tool

A company’s diversity, equality, and inclusion policy (DE&I) should run throughout every internal process. Businesses that make genuine efforts to become more inclusive see almost instant results right from the recruitment stage. Research suggests that 76% of jobseekers look up a company’s DE&I stance before even considering submitting an application. It’s vital, therefore, to ensure that your organization is transparent and open about how you’re making improvements.

As well as attracting top talent, other benefits of increasing inclusivity include:

• Better strategic implementation due to embracing voices from different backgrounds.
• Increased productivity—studies show that increased racial diversity at all levels in a company boosts productivity.
• Additional profits—McKinsey recently reported that businesses that embrace diversity regularly outperform those that don’t.

Team members are far more likely to stay with a company that is organically and purposefully inclusive. Yet surprisingly, only 40% of staff members think their line manager encourages a culture of inclusivity. Reasons for this could include managers failing to listen to employees or perhaps only listening to certain demographics of team members. It may be that some staff members are overlooked for promotion again and again despite excellent performance results. However, exclusion doesn’t need to be as overt as this.

Failing to be inclusive also includes creating benefits packages that don’t benefit everyone. This includes wellness initiatives, which can accidentally exclude large workforce segments if not implemented correctly or via the correct provider.

Common Mistakes That Reduce Inclusivity

Corporate wellness programs exist for several reasons. They’re an additional benefit for your employees, helping empower them to take control of their own fitness and improve their quality of life. With a platform like Advanta Health, managers or HR teams can monitor who uses it and gain the most benefits most. But the primary reason most enterprises opt for wellness plans is to reduce absenteeism and improve productivity.

An effective wellness plan could reduce employee absence by over 25%. However, organizations only gain these maximum benefits when their programs are entirely inclusive.

For example, it’s well-documented that additional physical activity has major benefits for both body and mind. Yet if a wellness program only includes free gym visits, is this inclusive to any disabled people in the team? Also, is the interface of any digital apps or websites easy to interact with? If not, you could be excluding neurodivergent employees or those with processing difficulties.

Ways to Ensure Inclusivity in Wellness Initiatives

It makes sense, then, that the first step to providing inclusive wellness programs is to understand the needs of your workforce. If you have teams full of 25-year-old gym fanatics, then you might not need as much diversity within your health and wellbeing benefit offerings. However, the chances that you have this type of team are low, and you should always plan for the fact that you will take on a more diverse range of applicants in the future.

Conduct Regular Employee Surveys

One way to keep your finger on the pulse of what your teams want is by asking them. Surveys that provide plenty of options while being simple to fill out are a great way to quickly gather data on employee satisfaction. What do they love about your existing wellness programs? What are the challenges? What would they like you to change? Consider allocating 20 minutes of each employee’s time to complete the survey so they don’t feel like it’s taking them away from business-critical tasks.

Review Language for Inclusivity

Checking with members of the team from relevant demographics can help ensure the communications attached to your wellness initiatives don’t inadvertently exclude people who would really benefit from those programs. You should also consider providing documentation in alternative languages if you have a multicultural workforce and providing braille or other assisted options where possible.

Check for Accessibility

As mentioned, if your wellness initiative only focuses on certain types of physical activity or sports, it’s instantly excluding people who can’t access those activities. Look for plan providers who create holistic plans offering a wide range of activities and resources that benefit all of people.

Work with an Expert

Get the right help and support to ensure you’re offering meaningful benefits to all your team members. Working with a third party who has expertise in holistic wellness programs can ensure that you’re providing health and well-being packages that genuinely make a difference in your employees’ lives.

Advanta Health Offers Inclusive, All-iIn-One Wellness Solutions

Advanta Health Solutions is trusted by over 3,100 organizations thanks to its holistic approach. Rather than focusing solely on physical activity, mindfulness, or nutrition, Advanta Health offers an all-in-one platform that provides employees with exactly what they need.

This includes advice and activities focused on emotional wellness, for example. There are multiple ways to create emotional and mental resilience, and Advanta recognizes that no two individuals are the same. The sheer range and scope of activities make this aspect of our offering inclusive at a foundational level.

Of course, physical activity is important too. Adding more movement into your day is a key way to improve overall health and wellness. Yet not everyone can move in the same way, and not everyone wants to.  Advanta Health Solutions offers simple, flexible ways to add more physical activity to a weekly routine, from at-home workouts to yoga to simple step tracking.

Employees get the option to choose exactly what works for them rather than having to take part in activities that either aren’t meaningful or, in the worst-case scenario, that could even make their overall health worse. For example, running isn’t ideal for someone with rheumatoid arthritis in their knees due to the high impact when the foot hits the ground. Swimming, Tai Chi, or seated aerobics could be far more supportive and inclusive options.

Final Thoughts on Inclusivity in Wellness Initiatives

Most companies are now embracing inclusivity as part of their corporate values, and ensuring those values run throughout your wellness initiatives is the natural next step. If you want to know more, contact Advanta Health Solutions and discover how to make us your newest inclusive employee benefit.