Wellness Programs in Higher Education

Abstract

Employee wellness has become a growing concern for many organisations, which are now allocating increased resources to provide Wellness Programs (WPs) with the intention of positive outcomes for both stakeholders. Nonetheless, not all employees actively participate in these programs. In order to develop greater qualitative insights into employees' awareness of WPs and their reasons for (non)participation, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers and employees from two non-teaching divisions in a higher education institution. Interviews revealed that many employees were unaware of the programs available to them, and that awareness, participation, and the positive outcomes were confounded by a lack of effective communication between managers and employees. The findings of this study will assist managers to acknowledge the needs of their staff in constructing appropriate and effective WPs and in utilising the communication methods most likely to be effective in facilitating employee awareness and encouraging their participation in WPs.