Exploring the Impact of Wellness Programs on Hospitality Staff Morale

At Harri, we believe that the guest experience should never exceed the employee experience. Ultimately, the well-being of an organization’s people shapes the quality of their work and the bottom-line success of a company.  That’s why implementing a holistic well-being improvement program at your company will quickly amount to a better work environment and satisfied customers. 

Harri is here to help your team communicate and engage with one another as well as work. Combine Harri Engage with a wellness program and you’ll find your team is more engaged, reports higher job satisfaction, and even enjoys improved mental health. The results manifest in the form of a harmonious and productive work environment with a high retention rate and a better bottom line.

The Rise of Employee Wellness Programs in Hospitality

Industry experts with their finger on the pulse of the hospitality sector have identified a common theme in recent years. Restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality industry businesses are adding employee wellness programs.

In a post-pandemic world, an employee wellness program can serve as a key differentiator and critical means of long-term staff retention. According to a recent industry survey, a majority of employees ranked health benefits as the most important non-salary-related factor when considering a job. In a post-pandemic world that has increasingly come to encompass mental health and holistic well-being. 

While an uncertain financial market might make it difficult to compete with competitors on salary, workplace wellness programs can be a relatively affordable way to make your workforce feel valued and spread that sentiment to your guests. 

 Here’s a look at the scope of wellness programs along with examples of program initiatives.

Understanding the Scope of Wellness Programs

When the topic of wellness programs is raised, most people immediately think of corporate retreats, counseling, and team-building exercises. Wellness programs consist of diverse initiatives ranging from mental health counseling to physical exercise and even efforts to improve emotional health. Though emotional health was neglected in previous decades, it is front and center in the post-pandemic 2020s. Business owners who neglect employee emotional health do so at their own potential peril.

The Direct Benefits on Staff Morale

The combination of mental, physical, and emotional initiatives comprise a comprehensive wellness program that enhances job satisfaction as well as output. The accompanying improvement in employee camaraderie minimizes any potential alienation one might feel when working.

Give a comprehensive wellness program a chance for a couple of months and you’ll find it makes a meaningful impact on employee happiness. Happy employees tend to remain in their current posts instead of fleeing to potentially greener pastures. These engaged employees are more likely to be communicative, assistive, and positive toward guests and co-workers. 

The feeling of belonging to a collective greater than oneself is essential for team retention. The underlying purpose of implementing diverse wellness program initiatives is to promote engagement with one’s work and workplace peers for mutual benefit. 

Types of Wellness Initiatives and Their Impact

As time progresses, businesses and human resources professionals are broadening their wellness program horizons to include new initiatives. From fitness programs to mental health counseling and beyond, truly comprehensive wellness programs can take many forms and is flexible enough to fit any kind of workplace. 

Mental Health Support in the Workplace

In the hospitality industry, where high stress levels and long hours are common, mental health initiatives have become a crucial component of workplace wellness programs. Depending on the size of your organization and the scope of your program, this could take a number of forms. It could be as simple as providing access to mindfulness and stress management training (online or in-person) or be inclusive of counseling or expanded access to professional services. 

Mental health support for stressed employees constitutes a lifeline. In some cases, simply having someone to talk to has the potential to prevent a negative outcome such as missing a shift or deciding to quit. Comprehensive mental health support initiatives reduce stress and burnout. 

Fitness and Physical Health Programs

Fitness is often overlooked as a component of worker morale, especially within hospitality, where your workforce likely engages in both mental and physical labor as part of their duties. Fitness programs are just as important as mental health programs and other wellness initiatives as one’s physical health determines whether they can work. 

Examples of fitness and physical health programs can be as simple as offering dietary guidance, offering health-conscious meals, or offsetting the cost of a gym membership. Monthly health challenges and team sports events can serve a dual purpose, also fostering a sense of community and friendly competition among colleagues. For those working for a hotel, these perks might already be built-in! If you don’t already, consider offering your employees a nutritious shift meal or access to your company’s fitness center.

These initiatives not only enhance the physical well-being of the employees but also lead to increased energy levels and productivity, creating a more vibrant and healthy workplace environment.

Hospitality Specific Perks

As a hospitality industry business owner or manager, you have a competitive advantage in that you can provide more fringe benefits and perks than other organizations. Capitalize on the fact that hospitality is inherently people-focused and fun-focused, offer such forms of positive reinforcement to your contributors and you’ll find they reciprocate the favor in the form of attendance and retention. 

Examples of such perks in the hospitality industry are diverse and appealing. Family discounts on services can make a significant difference, allowing employees to share their work environment with loved ones. Discounted stays in hotels or resorts within your network not only provide a valuable financial benefit but also encourage employees to experience the service from a customer’s perspective, which can lead to improved empathy and understanding in their roles. No-cost meals, especially in a sector known for its culinary offerings, are not just a financial perk but also a nod to the importance of enjoying the very experiences they help create.

Ultimately, these tailored perks and benefits, not only enhance your employees’ job satisfaction but also foster a more committed and cohesive team.

Two hospitality employees sit in a cafe by the counter

Enhancing Team Spirit with Corporate Wellness

Corporate wellness programs are both individual and group-oriented. Group activities promote team-building and also create a sense of belonging among staff. Engaged employees are less likely to burn out or depart for another opportunity, potentially with a competing restaurant or hotel.

Reducing Burnout and Fostering Engagement

Employee burnout is especially common in demanding hospitality industry roles as the sector is fast-paced and demanding. Wellness programs boost employee engagement and productivity while decreasing burnout for higher retention. “Stability” is the name of the game when it comes to retention. Any efforts that keep staff actively engaged in their role and part of a greater team leaves them less likely to seek opportunity elsewhere. 

Additionally, supplementary programs like mentorship opportunities, professional development, and succession planning make employees feel as though their hard work is truly appreciated. Continue to provide opportunities for advancement and you’ll greatly reduce burnout while encouraging your team to be more thoroughly engaged with their work.

Building a Supportive Community through Wellness

Wellness programs ultimately create a supportive workplace that feels similar to a harmonious community. The overarching goal is to develop a work culture in which employees feel valued, respected, and supported. 

Implementing Effective Wellness Strategies with Harri

The Harri team has spent countless hours developing programs for employee engagement and success. Harri Engage and our suite of communication tools are especially effective in rolling out and managing wellness programs. 

Harri Engage directly addresses the hospitality industry’s turnover problem by making it easier to overcome retention challenges without resorting to the rapid-fire hiring of anyone available. Our program helps hospitality industry business owners identify the source of turnover and then reduce it. 

How does it work? Engage provides administrators and managers with a configurable means of automating employee engagement. This is your opportunity to highlight employee milestones and work accomplishments easily. Engage gauges employee sentiment, collects feedback, and shares announcements in places your employees already go to – at clock-in, or in their dedicated workforce management app, meaning participation is easy. 

Give Harri Enagage a try at your business and you’ll find it helps you find new opportunities to guarantee those new to their roles feel as though they are properly prepared. Engage will help your new hires get over those critically important 30, 60, and 90-day humps with the right engagement strategy from day one. 

Comb through employee feedback along with accurate data and you’ll have the information necessary to pinpoint areas that require action, driving employee retention all the more. We’ve gone to the extent of integrating the Engage platform with Harri IQ, making it easier for your team to derive actionable insights.

Measuring the Success of Wellness Programs

The success of a wellness program is defined by each organization’s unique benchmarks. Some companies are primarily interested in boosting their employee retention rate. Other businesses are looking for ways to reduce employee sick days. Some companies are more interested in a combination of wellness program benefits. 

Regardless of your benchmark, the most important part of evaluating success is choosing a metric and tracking it with a data-backed approach. Harri is here to help with this too, with the ability to easily define and quantify employee sentiment, absenteeism and retention rates from within our platform and at scale.  

When reviewing the success of a wellness program, consider its complete impact on human capital instead of honing in on one specific metric of success. As an example, quantifying the number of sick days taken before and after the implementation of an employee wellness program will provide insight into whether the effort improved or worsened employee health. 

Continue to track your wellness initiative’s effectiveness by measuring your retention rate. A drop in employee turnover is an indication that employees are more engaged with their duties and co-workers. Be patient and you’ll find gradual improvements to your wellness program even make a positive impact on the bottom line.

The Pivotal Role of Wellness in Employee Experience

A workforce that doesn’t feel valued will quickly result in a poor guest experience, and the truth is many hospitality industry businesses suffer from these issues simply due to the demanding nature of the business. Fortunately, you have the agency to combat the stress that is inherent to working in the hospitality sector. 

Recognize the rigor of working in the hospitality space, implement a wellness program in response and you’ll enhance employee morale. Harri’s platform was intentionally built to enhance the employee experience in the workplace. Give us a try and you’ll find it is the missing piece of your company’s wellness puzzle. 

The Harri platform has helped more than 20,000 hotels and restaurants in the United States and the United Kingdom successfully attract, manage, and retain more than four million hardworking employees. Companies in the healthcare and retail spaces are also implementing the Harri platform with great fanfare from their workforces. If your business is in one of the categories listed above or if you would like to find out if Harri is suitable for your unique operations, contact us to give our tech a try.

Reach out to Harri today to request a demo of our all-in-one employee experience management systems for hospitality!

Request a Demo