Once a rarely discussed aspect of wellbeing, the last couple of years has made improving employee resilience a top priority for most wellness professionals. Yes, you can design programs that make your people more resilient and able to handle what life throws at them. Here are some of the many ways a good wellness platform can help:

It connects them. 

An important foundation of being resilient is having a network of people you can rely on when times get tough. While immediate family and close friends are usually the first line of defense, fostering connections at work help your employees expand their network of support. Since most of us have moved to a remote work model, virtual tools for social engagement at work have become more important. A wellness platform with a solid social component (message boards, journal posts, kudos) provides opportunities for your workforce to continue to engage together socially and expand their circle of trust.

It encourages them to be physically well . . . 

Another important pillar of being resilient is being physically well. Eating well, stressing less, and moving more isn’t always easy but small changes can add up to big change. Since what can be measured can be changed, give your people the tools they need to track their daily habits and progress toward something bigger. What’s important to you may not be important to your people so it’s good to provide many options to meet your users where they are in their wellness goals.

. . . And to get enough sleep.

Even if you are eating well and moving more, you can’t bounce back from life’s challenges if you’re exhausted all the time. Think of sleep as a resilience backstop for your people. Getting enough quality sleep improves everyone’s lives. Educational content and a sleep logging feature can bring awareness to the importance of sleep. A wellness platform that syncs with wearable devices makes tracking sleep easy!

It encourages down time. 

A calm, relaxed brain can tackle just about anything. Working from home can be disruptive to balancing mental and physical health with work duties. Job burnout is often the result. Create a culture where your employees are encouraged to take breaks throughout their workday. How can a platform help? Ideally it has options for daily activities or challenges that get your people out of their chairs.  A library of mindfulness practices can also provide an opportunity to take a calming stress break in the middle of the day.

It can help them find meaning. 

Knowing you have a purpose that is bigger than yourself, helps you deal with the life’s obstacles. Encourage your employees to contribute to something bigger than themselves by volunteering in their community. Whether you organize company volunteering events or allow employees to choose their own path for service, a good wellness platform recognizes this as an important facet of wellness and gives you tools to schedule events or track time spent giving back.

It can break the mental health stigma.

De-stigmatize the use of wellbeing programs, EAP benefits, or other mental health offerings by putting them front and center in your platform. Use news and announcements, bulk emails, or push notifications to inform them of the resources available to them. Be a role model and post about your experience with any of your programs. Let your employees know you value who they are and not just what they do by promoting tools that keep them grounded, even when the world turns upside down.

It can leverage the power of gratitude.

Gratitude is proven to build resilience. Encourage your employees to keep a reflection journal with prompts that center around gratitude. Create targeted prompts for them to use or let them create their own. Add gratitude as an aspect of wellness in an incentive program or encourage them to journal at will – the choice is yours.

About BSDI

BSDI is a health and wellness technology company that powers flexible, powerful wellness programs. Our flagship Motivation Alliance platform is the most flexible, scalable, and customizable fitness and wellness software in the industry. Our platform is created to grow with you. Start simple and get more sophisticated as your program evolves and your confidence grows.