Firstly because the focus of these programs has become narrower and narrower. When wellness is deployed, it is often done in a way that ignores the other aspects of wellbeing and the relationship between these dimensions. The current model doesn’t take the whole person into account.
Complete health – or the term we use, complete well-being – is more than the absence of disease or having a ‘good’ cholesterol level. Instead, complete well-being is a homeostatic balance of many factors with physical health being one factor, and not the only factor.
In designing work for wellbeing, it is important to look at the mental and emotional barriers first.
If wellness programs solely address the physical factor of employees, we are not addressing the “whole person”, people with real lives and problems outside of work.
Secondly, it clear that there is still a fixation on quick hit “programs”. Wellness programs have become a tick box exercise.