5 Questions When Choosing a Corporate Wellness Provider

As an employer, what keeps you up at night? Is it hiring and retaining the best talent? Increasing your profit margins? The constantly changing healthcare environment and skyrocketing costs? How do you make sure your employees are happy, healthy and engaged while at work so that your company succeeds?

More and more employers are looking to corporate wellness partners to help with these issues. Deciding on which wellness partner is best suited for your organization can be overwhelming. You want a partner that will understand your organizational goals and act as a guide for your company wellness journey, versus just another vendor.

Here are some key questions you should ask when evaluating a wellness partner:

1. What are the qualifications of your wellness staff?
   Ask about the background, education, training and certifications of the wellness team with whom you and your employees will be interacting. This includes the account managers, consultation staff and coaching teams. The health and wellness fields are always changing, so understanding how your wellness partner stays up-to-date on the latest techniques
   and trends in wellness is important for long-term program success.
2. Is your program flexible enough to meet my company’s unique wellness needs?
   Every company is different – industry, demographics, locations, size. Not to mention corporate culture, communication and leadership style. The most effective wellness partners will be able to think beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to develop programs around your company’s unique characteristics, needs and organization goals.
3. Does your corporate wellness partner emphasize regular communication?
   A continuous, supportive presence is important to program success. Your wellness partner should be easily accessible when participants have questions or issues to discuss. To enhance communication, an online portal is a valuable tool. Here, participants can self-manage their program and can message their coaches when they feel a need to connect.
4. How will I know if my wellness program is effective?
   Make sure expectations are set with your wellness partner up front. Whether you are just beginning to integrate wellness into your company culture, trying to justify programs already in place or are wanting to take things to the next level, ensuring that you are getting meaningful and actionable information will help you feel empowered to set and achieve those healthy workplace objectives.
5. Do you love what you do?
   A wellness partner who is passionate about what they do and truly cares about your employees’ health and well-being will go above and beyond to deliver high caliber service with every program component. Your wellness partner should bring an element of fun and excitement to your wellness program. If they are engaged with your program, you can feel confident that they will inspire your employees to engage as well!