According to the RAND Employer Survey, employers reported overwhelmingly positive results from their wellness programs. A whopping 61% said offering wellness benefits reduced healthcare costs, while a staggering 78% reported less absenteeism and an impressive 80% reported higher productivity.
With the rise of remote work, HR managers are faced with the challenge of ensuring that remote staff receive the same or equivalent perks as on-site employees. While most companies offer their remote staff a mobility and office setup allowance, here are some wellness and lifestyle perks that go beyond the basics.
Wellness and Lifestyle Benefits to Consider Offering Remote Staff
For Physical health
- Gym membership and personal training: Companies can choose to reimburse remote employees for the cost of their gym membership or offer them personal training sessions and fitness subscriptions such as DocHQ Fitness as part of their employee perks. DocHQ Fitness includes training sessions from Pilates, to HITT workouts to simple warm-up exercises.
- Online nutrition counselling: Offer online nutrition counselling to remote employees. This can help employees eat healthier.
- Health testing: Offer remote employees the opportunity to get health screenings and tests at home or at a convenient location. DocHQ offers convenient health testing solutions for vitamins, cholesterol, and even menopause. This can help employees identify and address any health concerns early on.
- Remote Physiotherapy Subscription: Offer a remote physiotherapy subscription to help deal with discomfort or pain. This is great for roles that might involve sitting on the desk for too long. Companies like DocHQ offer stand-alone physiotherapy subscriptions or joint physiotherapy and PT subscriptions.
- Wearable fitness trackers: Provide remote employees with wearable fitness trackers, such as Fitbits and Apple Watches. This can help employees track their fitness goals and stay motivated.
For Mental health
- Virtual therapy sessions: Offer subscriptions to virtual therapy providers such as BetterHelp, Talkspace and more to remote employees. This can help employees to manage stress, anxiety, and depression.
- Life coaching: Offer remote employees access to life coaching services. Life coaches can help employees set and achieve goals, manage stress, and improve their overall well-being.
- Online meditation and mindfulness classes: To reduce stress and improve their focus and concentration. Offer employees online meditation and mindfulness subscriptions such as Headspace or Calm or have virtual team meditation classes regularly.
For Work-life balance
- Coworking space stipend: Pay for membership or give employees the option to offset the cost of co-working spaces
- Paid parental leave: Offer remote employees paid parental leave. This can help employees bond with their new babies and transition back to work smoothly.
- Child care subsidies: Go beyond maternity and paternity leave and offer remote employees child care subsidies. This could help employees who work from home be more productive and concentrate better.
- Flexible work hours: Offer remote employees flexible work hours. This can help employees better balance their work and personal lives.
- Unlimited vacation time: Offer remote employees unlimited vacation time. This can help employees take the time they need to relax and recharge.
- Continuous learning stipend: Offer remote employees a stipend to use towards online courses, conferences, and other learning and development opportunities. This can help employees stay up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies in their field.
Benefits of offering wellness and lifestyle benefits to remote employees
By offering these types of wellness and lifestyle benefits, companies can show their remote employees that they value their health and well-being. This can lead to increased employee engagement, productivity, and retention.
In addition to the benefits listed above, offering wellness and lifestyle benefits to remote employees can also help to:
- Reduce stress and burnout
- Improve morale and motivation
- Create a more positive and supportive work environment
- Attract and retain top talent
If you are looking for ways to improve the well-being of your remote employees, consider offering some of the wellness and lifestyle benefits listed above
About DocHQ
DocHQ is your wellbeing partner. As a UK employee benefits provider, our vision is to enable people to make informed health choices and inspire them to improve their quality of life. We are a specialist medical technology provider aimed at enhancing employee wellbeing at work and home – connecting businesses, providers and consumers through technology.
From employee health and wellness programs to physical wellness in the workplace and at home, DocHQ combines medical expertise and technology to offer wellbeing services and solutions in a post-pandemic world. Through developing a network of private clinics and providers across Europe, we deliver a range of employee benefits including Physiotherapy, Health Checks, Fitness, Nutrition and Travel Health.
