Corporate wellness is an $8 billion industry that’s been hailed as a panacea for everything from skyrocketing healthcare costs to talent recruitment and retention challenges. ROI can be difficult to measure, however, leaving many companies wondering if their investments are worth it. At Irvine Company Office, we have an imperative to dig deeper for our customers. Can wellness-based design directly enhance employee productivity? And, if so, how can we maximize the impact of wellness-based design in our workplaces to help our customers flourish?
The short answer is yes, workplace wellness design is the real deal. After carefully reviewing scientific research and consulting with top industry experts, we identified three key ways intentional workplace design enhances employee performance: decreasing stress, integrating movement into the workday, and eliminating barriers to productivity.
One of our most intriguing findings is that simply offering employees access to a wellness-infused environment can boost productivity. Research from Timothy Gubler, an assistant professor of management at the University of California, Riverside School of Business, found that even employees who did not improve their health as the result of a corporate wellness program experienced improved productivity. Gubler and his co-authors theorize the improvement is linked to higher employee motivation levels driven by increased job satisfaction, gratitude, and reciprocity– all as a result of providing their employees a wellness-rich environment.
Wellness is more than an amenity. It must be intentionally woven into the fabric of the modern workplace– and that’s exactly what we do. This belief has guided our decision to continuously invest in health and wellness opportunities across the Irvine Company’s Vibrant Workplace Communities.
Dig deeper into our scientifically proven methods for using wellness to maximize employee performance by reading our white paper “Workplace Wellness: A 360-Degree View.”