Employee wellness: Is your staff fit for duty?

Promoting employee wellness is a necessary component in the goals of any productive, thriving business. In the addiction recovery program profession/field, practicing what we promote to our patients is not just necessary, it’s vital. The stability and foundation for success of our organizations and those we serve depend on it.

Creating employees who are “Fit for Duty” is a primary goal of New Directions for Women. Employees come to work as vessels, pouring themselves into the people we serve, as well as into each other every single day. They empty themselves of spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual capabilities into their patients and families. To optimize their capacity to do this continually needs to be a priority of the organization, and it is up to us as employers to acknowledge their need for refilling their vessels and to encourage opportunities for them to do so. There are a multitude of methods and resources available to implement that provide the means for doing just that.

Supporting employees who are fit for duty can be as simple as providing walking and mindfulness meditation breaks, as well as more structured wellness activities such as acupuncture and massage. Wellness encompasses a holistic spectrum of actions and levels. In our New Directions for Women Employee Handbook, we’ve determined and listed Eight Dimensions of Wellness, which we strive to include in our programs. These include the following wellness categories: Social; Occupational; Spiritual; Physical; Intellectual; Mental and Emotional; Environmental; and Financial. The purpose of our Wellness Program is to actively promote all levels of wellness for all employees and members of our “family,” and to help model wellness to all persons served.

According to a recent national survey cited in a report prepared by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in collaboration with the Transamerica Center for Health Studies, “many businesses are interested in implementing a workplace health promotion program, but fear that they are 'too small' to support a comprehensive program, or that the program will ‘cost too much.’” Developing and maintaining cost-effective yet significant wellness programs that really work are possible for both small and large businesses. All that is required is creative thinking, commitment to scheduling time to create programs, input from all employees, and development of rewards that employees truly value. While participation is optional, we strive to promote opportunities for employees to take an active role in their own wellness plans.

Throughout our facility, wellness boards are displayed with the various wellness activities we’ve talked about in full view. We have coupons for places that our staff can attend or visit. A Wellness Area on campus has been created where staff members can meditate, rest, eat and exercise. We provide an on-site monthly wellness presentation from outside companies, such as One Source Wellness, so that our employees can interactively experience a sampling of the various wellness practices and products available. These might include employee chair massage, hands-on nutrition and healthy meal preparation, or an introduction to aromatherapy, chiropractic care or acupuncture. These actively encourage our employees to venture out and try new wellness practices in their own lives—activities that they will utilize and will encourage their friends, family members and colleagues to utilize.

In addition, we have specifically designed monthly wellness activities. Once a month on Mindfulness Monday, we stop for five minutes—everyone at the same time—and reflect silently on the vision of the organization, so that we’re all in sync. We have Tea Tuesday, Walking Wednesday, Thinking Thursday, and Fun and Faithful Friday. We feed ourselves spiritually, intellectually, and from an enjoyment perspective, because these are equal pieces in a holistic wellness partnership. When we’re filled up and we’re happy, we’re spiritually fit. This focus really encourages our staff to take part in their own wellness on their own time beyond what is provided.

We have a fun Wellness Gift Certificate program for employees, both hourly and exempt, who consistently clock a certain number of hours to receive a gift certificate toward a wellness activity. Whether they get a massage, see a chiropractor, or have an acupuncture appointment, we reimburse them a certain denomination in gift certificates toward the receipt they turn in for that service.

The aforementioned report states, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden has called physical activity ‘the closest thing we have to a wonder drug’ describing regular physical activity as ‘one of the most important things you can do for your health’ that has a tremendous effect on mental health… improved mood, sleep, thinking, learning, and judgment…. increase(d) energy levels, reduce(d) risk of injury, and help with pain management…” Participation in an additional physical activity or course, outside of work, is recognized with our Point Rewards Program, another way we help refeed our staff. Activities such as walking, riding a bike, taking a spin class, going to a gym, or hiking gives them points. Anyone who walks 10,000 steps a day receives points. If they have a studio or gym membership, they receive higher points. If they invite a co-worker to accompany them, and the co-worker goes, they receive double points.

If they attend a mental health activity, such as massage, acupuncture, therapy, or yoga, they receive points. If they attend self-help meetings or spiritual activities, such as going to church or a support group, they receive additional points. If they plan weekly meal preparation, they get a point per day. If they track their sleep or receive a flu shot, they receive points. In all of their actions, they need to show proof, such as a step counter, photos, a receipt, a copy of the church bulletin, showing the weekly meal they planned, or some other documentation. Or, they may write a narrative of the experience. Points add up for gifts such as a Target gift card, $20 off their gym membership, a $40 gift certificate to Green Leaf or Native Foods healthy restaurants, or an $80 massage voucher.

Our employee medical benefits and how much we pay into those benefits are now directly tied to employees’ participation in wellness activities. For example, if they can show proof that they’re nonsmokers, or are up to date with all of their preventative care, such as mammograms and their annual health exams, they receive more money paid into their medical benefits than others who do not. Once a month we choose a Wellness Champion, a staff member who is doing all of the preventative health care, receiving the most points on a regular basis, and encouraging co-workers.

More than most industries, employees who work in professions serving people in their healing and recovery are continually emptying themselves through their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual outpouring. These are the employees who many times give thanklessly, not asking for anything in return. More often than not, they do not recognize when their vessels are low or have become empty, when they are in pain, or when they are depleted. They are the nurses, the caretakers, the healers, the therapists, the counselors and the coaches who provide the place for miracles to happen for their patients and clients. They are the unspoken heroes in our world. As employers, we have the chance to provide opportunities and guidance to our employees, to show them a different perspective, and to teach them to give themselves permission to make self-care a priority.

Good clinicians can be educated in healthy lifestyle habits. But great clinicians have the foresight and willingness to do their own work, to implement their own self-care. And great clinicians have innate talents, talents that are nurtured through their education and their life experiences. However, it’s not up to us, the organization, to have them do their work, but to support and encourage them in their willingness.

So many of us know and understand that we can’t give away what we don’t have and that we are only able to give to the people we serve to the extent of the similar experiences we’ve walked. That doesn’t mean that we have to be in recovery in order to work in recovery, and it doesn’t mean that we have to have had a bad marriage to understand divorce. It certainly doesn’t mean that we have to be diabetic to understand diabetes, because, as humans, we all understand some level of pain: emotional, spiritual, or physical. We all have those experiences. But it does mean that we are able to get beyond those experiences, and the ways we’ve gone beyond them is what we end up sharing with others.

At New Directions for Women, holistic wellness means encouraging our employees to walk the same wellness path that we teach our patients to walk. The more we support our employees, the more they will support and touch others’ lives, whether it’s their families, their co-workers, their friends, or their colleagues outside of our organization. And most importantly, the integration of employees' experiencing being “Fit for Duty” enables them to be continually fed and filled. And in this process, they can more fully support the women and children that they care for every single day.