Wellness is something we should focus on year-round, so what is the purpose of a “wellness month?” As with all commemorations, it creates an opportunity to talk about wellness and focus for a moment on prioritizing self-care, managing stress, and promoting healthy routines year-round. So, let’s celebrate National Wellness Month!
We found an interesting guide for business leaders at a website called ExtensisHR [LINK], and we would like to share some of the good ideas. The article points to the employer offering the right benefits package and providing a healthy work environment.
“Since its inception in 2018, National Wellness Month has aimed to increase awareness of stress management, self-care, and healthy routines, such as drinking more water, regularly exercising, making healthier food choices, improving sleep habits, and more.
“National Wellness Month advocates for the wellness of all people, including employees. The majority of workers reported experiencing some form of burnout last year, making it the perfect time for business leaders to consider how to encourage healthy habits in the workplace during National Wellness Month and beyond.”
Employee Assistance Program
The recommendations that they make are, for the most part, steps that AMS has been taking for a number of years. They encourage employees to drink plenty of water, exercise, create wholesome habits like healthy eating, get good sleep and engage in self-care. And they encourage businesses to offer a great benefits package including mental health coverage.
“A healthy mind is just as important as a healthy body. And with over 40% of employees feeling “a lot of stress,” equipping them with mental health benefits is a must. These benefits can include access to an employee assistance program (EAP), therapy session coverage, and more.”
At AMS we do have an employee assistance program, and we encourage our employees to utilize it fully – it covers employees and their families. We recognize that these are stressful times and sometimes a conversation with a mental health provider can help us to de-stress and cope with the changes.
What are we “stressed out” about? Well, August is back to school month, and for employees with children in school, there will be stress. For AMS management, August is the time to get ready for the busy holiday seasons right around the corner. Stressful indeed! And need we even mention the news headlines? There are plenty of reasons for stress, including health and finances. The Employee Assistance Program is the perfect place to go, and all employees need to do is make a quick call to HR with a request.
We asked AMS’ ESG Program Manager, Samantha Hicks, to tell us more about the Employee Assistance Program. Samantha offered the following:
“Employees’ work may suffer not only from substance misuse or substance use disorders, but from mental disorders, social issues, marital and family turmoil; medical, financial, or legal problems; or psychological stressors. Providing employees with support for issues that affect their well-being and mental health will enhance the effectiveness of the workplace.
“An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a voluntary, confidential program that offers free mental health services to employees and their families. EAPs can help with a range of issues that affect mental and emotional well-being, including:
Stress
Grief
Family problems
Psychological disorders
Alcohol and substance abuse
Depression
Anxiety
Work-life balance
“EAPs can also help with other issues, such as legal, financial, and retirement assistance, and specialized trauma-intervention services. EAP counselors can provide short-term counseling, assessments, referrals, and follow-up services.”
A Positive Workplace
AMS is a B Corporation, and what that means, in essence, is that we want to be a Positive force in the world. Employee health and wellbeing is ‘up there’ in the goals that we set. We have stakeholders in every business decision we make, and those stakeholders are our employees, our community, our environment, our clients and ourselves. We are not in business for profit alone. We are committed to ‘do good’ in the world, and readers will see evidence of that in our employee benefits and EAP, also in our free education and training of employees, and in our safety programs.
To our valued employees we say, please do take steps to care for yourself. We will help you in any way we can, as you Matter! You are the reason our clients come to us and appreciate us – it is your mind, your time, and your labor that make AMS successful and we Thank You. The EAP can help with a whole lot of stressors, so please check it out, and utilize every benefit you need.
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AMS Fulfillment is a Certified B Corporation, dedicated to People and Planet before Profit. We work to B the Change we wish to see in the world.
