5 Steps to Take Before Implementing a Wellness Program in Your Contact Center

So, you want to incorporate a wellness program into your contact center? But, you’re on a tight budget.

Guess what? It’s possible!

Hold on now - before you toss out the Doritos and Tastykakes from the employee snack cabinet into the trash can, there are a few pre-wellness program preparation steps you need to take. These steps will not only make your wellness program rock; they will ensure long-lasting success with your team. You have limited time and money; you might as well take the extra time to do this right!

5 Preliminary Steps to Take Before Implementing a Wellness Program in your Contact Center

1. Lower your expectations

As a leader in the contact center, you probably have a list of QA items that your agents must complete during every customer interaction. You keep your expectations high to ensure a positive customer experience. However, when it comes to implementing a wellness program for your team, I encourage you to lower your expectations. Sounds ridiculous, right? Shouldn’t you have the ability to motivate and change the habits of your employees? When it comes to making personal changes, whether it be to quit smoking, start exercising or eat more leafy greens, you can’t force this upon your team, as it could lead to resentment and negative energy in the workplace. You have to be prepared for people not to care and go for the donuts over the kale chips, no matter what type of wellness program you create.

2. Ask your team

If you’re not sure where to start, survey your team. Send out a questionnaire via your favorite survey platform or have an in-person brainstorming session - however you do it, ask your agents what they’d like to see when it comes to wellness in the workplace. Create a safe environment for this feedback, as wellness can trigger insecurities. Set aside time to go through the answers, ask your agents follow up questions to ensure you understand and work to see how you can make the program come to life. The more feedback you have from your team, the more likely they are to stick with it.

3. Lead by example

If you want your team to care about their health, you’ll have to care about your health. Anyone in the company - from the tier 1 agent to the CEO can set the stage for wellness. If someone sees another person making positive change, they’ll likely hop on board if that is a change they need to make in their own life. For example, if you’ve established a Fresh Friday into your workplace, make sure you’re also cleaning your desk along with your team. If you don’t, they may not take the program seriously, and it will be doomed to fail.

4. Money doesn’t always motivate

If “wellness” to you is throwing a Biggest Loser challenge with the winner getting $100, then great! But, consider how you will keep the team on the path to health after the competition is over. Money doesn’t always motivate when it comes to long-lasting health and wellness - whether we’re spending it or earning it. Think about those that fork out money each month for a gym membership only to never actually step foot in the gym. Money can’t always fuel change. The change has to come from a place within.

5. Progress, not perfection

You don’t have to do an abrupt clean sweep of the snack cabinet - baby steps, people! If your agents want healthier snacks, try replacing one or two items with healthier versions and see if your team eats the replacements. If your agents decide to give up smoking, but fall off the wagon a few times, be patient. It’s about progress, not perfection. We’re human, after all, and we have strong emotional attachments to our bad habits. While some people can quit cold turkey, we must realize that others cannot, and that’s okay. Repeat after me - “progress, not perfection.”

This is just the starting point.

Simply taking time out of your day to even consider implementing a wellness program in your contact center is impressive. Once you dig through your survey results, you’ll have many more steps to take to build out a plan within your budget.

Should you have any questions, feel free to connect with me on social media!