Corporate wellness coaching is one of the hottest trends of the 21st century. As more CEOs and corporate boards realize the benefits of having an in-house wellness coach or coaching staff, the more prevalent corporate wellness programs will be.

Physical Wellness

The first aspect of corporate health coaching is usually focused on the physical. Learning about proper nutrition, exercise, and healthy lifestyle choices are all part of a comprehensive wellness coaching program. The healthier people are, the more productive they are at work. They miss less days, get more accomplished at work, and usually have more energy from day to day, even working long hours. Healthier employees mean a healthier corporate bottom line.

Mental Wellness

Mental health is not often the focus of corporate health coaching programs, but gradually more attention is being paid to this area of wellness. Using meditation, yoga, mindfulness, and other tools to aid mental and emotional well-being are becoming more common for the general public and for corporate wellness and health coaching programs. Just as physical wellness programs benefit the corporate bottom line in the long run, so would mental wellness programs.

Holistic Corporate Wellness Coaching Programs

The best corporate wellness programs take a holistic view – working on both physical and mental health. For a holistic program to provide bottom line benefits, other factors should be considered:

• Senior leadership. The top dogs in the company should create a healthy vision and company culture.
• Top-down approach with a bottom-up focus. The leadership should implement a wellness program that begins at the top but focuses on all the employees starting at the bottom.
• Rewards. An effective wellness coaching program will offer rewards for changed behavior, reaching specific goals, or other stated circumstances.
• Quality Assessments. The best programs provide a means to measure and assess their effectiveness. The best programs are also adaptable and flexible, allowing for short or long-term changes when appropriate.

Do Corporate Wellness Programs Work?

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that these programs work to increase productivity, but the empirical evidence is still rather slim. A study, currently under review, that was authored by an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, an assistant professor at UC Riverside, and an assistant professor at UCLA, studied three years of data from a company with a little over 100 employees and found that the company’s wellness program had a significant positive effect on employee health and productivity.

The Corporate Wellness Program Trend Will Continue

If you are a wellness coach or are considering becoming a health and wellness coach, getting into corporate wellness might be a smart career move to make. More companies will certainly be looking into the benefits of corporate wellness coaching – more coaches will be needed, the pay will increase, and job security will be good.

Wellness coaches can work on their own and start their own practices, and while working for yourself is a great gig, not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Working within the framework of a corporate wellness program might just be the right gig for you!

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Fred Philips
Business Coach
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