Why Travel Is The Secret Ingredient To A Great Corporate Wellness Program

The Rise of Wellness Programs

There is a new era of health and wellness exploding.  From healthy eating and active lifestyles to mental health and spiritual practices, the way people prioritize their overall well-being has definitely changed.  People apply their desire for an overall healthy lifestyle when deciding on a job. Employers have noticed this cultural and social change and are taking action.  Companies like Hyatt, Hilton, Google, and many others, have implemented wellness programs into their workplaces to help promote a healthy mind, body, and soul.  Take Hilton’s new Thrive@Hiltonpartnership with Thrive Global as a prime example which concentrates on mind, body, and spirit.

Wellness programs stretched across all industries improve company culture and include a wide range of perks from free gym memberships, healthy meal options, yoga classes, guitar lessons, nap rooms, walking tracks, meditation classes, and a variety of educational courses. Companies are also offering travel incentives to suit the growing desire that people have to travel more.

The Importance of Travel

The power that travel has on a person’s mind, life, and soul is undeniable.  People turn to travel for different reasons ranging from relieving stress, healing the mind after a hard breakup or a traumatic life event, to soul-search, to challenge one’s self and seek adventure, to meet new and interesting people, to build stronger relationships, or to find your life purpose.  There has been a huge surge in remote work and the internet is making it easier to have the digital nomad lifestyle.  Employees are even quitting their jobs, despite the salary amount, to travel the world.  The desire to travel is more than just to relax on a beach with a fruity cocktail but rather a quest for inner peace and balance.  People turn to travel to not only to “get away” for a bit but also to fill voids, find answers, and to feel refreshed.

How Travel Benefits the Workplace

Travel is a key component to improving the workplace and promoting a healthier work-life balance. Not only does travel positively affect employees but the overall success of the company. When someone has the ability to travel, they are exposed to the opportunity to learn and grow new professional and personal skills like learning another language or negotiation, their confidence is boosted, they develop leadership and problem-solving skills, increase productivity, reduce burnout, spark creativity, boost motivation to reach goals, promote immersion and a healthy interaction among employees, and increase a positive workplace morale.  Employees want to feel appreciated, heard, understood, and valued.  Travel promotes compassion, a thriving work ethic, focus, optimism, and the feeling of fulfillment.  Being able to travel and learn from people of other cultures, skills, and business backgrounds helps teams and global partnerships evolve and build a purpose-driven environment to energize employees and customer relationships. Travel helps people build and maintain mindful lifestyles while inspiring globally conscious mindsets.

Many companies fear that offering travel opportunities like remote work or extended business trips will result in lower productivity but the reality is that well-treated employees won’t want to shake things up and will want to keep employers satisfied. A happy employee is your greatest ambassador.  It’s financially wiser and less expensive to keep employees happy than to rehire and retrain new ones. Integrating stronger travel incentives into your overall wellness program is the secret ingredient to attracting and retaining valuable talent, decreasing turnover, and having a business model that proves the importance of employee well-being.  All which are critical to standing out among competitors and increasing overall company success.

Why Employees Would Need Help When Offered More Travel

Every company offers some level of vacation time, weekends off, part-time-off, business travel, or corporate travel incentives but not everyone knows how to make the most out of their time or they feel like it’s simply not enough.  No matter how much travel time is given, if someone doesn’t know how to go about planning, booking, and achieving their travel goals then they may not obtain the full benefits of travel that they want.  Not everyone can afford a travel agent or wants to give over full control of their trip.  Not everyone traveling for business knows how enjoy and appreciate the trip rather than feeling stressed and stuck their hotel room. By providing a travel incentive program that has a travel coach who teaches and empowers employees how to take control over their travel incentives and have the transformative experiences that they want, the ultimate results for offering travel will show.

How Travel Can Be Integrated into a Wellness Program

There are several ways that travel can be integrated into already established or new wellness programs or even as travel programs of their own.  Some options are expanding on sabbatical programs, hiring a travel coach, self-guided e-learning courses, travel training courses, “life leave”, offering remote work or volunteer abroad opportunities, and optimizing on business and corporate travel.

Whatever wellness program your company chooses, make sure it emphasizes travel and watch as your company culture improves.

Source: thriveglobal.com