Wellness Starts with a Personal Contract

It's no surprise that workplace wellness programs are showing up everywhere; from legacy institutions to start-ups to non-profits. Although the secret is out, and launched with the best of intentions, they don’t lead to enough real action and aren’t producing the kind of transformations they’re promising.

Just as numerous reports bemoan the way our personal resolutions quickly fall to the wayside, analyses of corporate wellness programs bring similarly dispiriting news. “The most credible research,” reports Fortune, “suggests mixed, if not ambiguous, results.”

Anytime I work with teams -- whether a mission-driven organization, an early stage start-up or a seasoned non-profit -- I like to start in an unlikely place, with this exercise below. Even with mixed results, it's still worth any company’s time to care about their employees’ well-being. But how about relinquishing the usual suspects, like a company preferred gym pass discount, free lunch, or the unused professional development stipend. What if managers made it more personal?

After all, most managers want to avoid losing their most valuable and high-performing teams to burnout; especially at a time when boundaries are being blurred. So, next time, make it personal. Ask each employee or colleague to identify what is most important to them and figure out how you can collectively help shape their personal wellness.