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FOR DECADES, corporate giants have used their workplace wellness programs to woo top employees. Today, tailored options offer small and mid-sized business that same edge.

“There’s definitely a lot more interest in wellness programs in companies of all sizes, but it’s really starting to hit for small and mid-sized business,” says Chris MacDonald, Waterloo-based associate vice-president of wellness, absence, and disability solutions at Manulife. Over the last two years, she’s seen increased client demand for quick, in-workplace initiatives such as blood pressure clinics, stress reduction lunch and learn sessions and biometric screening. “These interventions don’t take up a lot of time, 10 or 15 minutes per person, but provide a lot of return because they interest employees.”

Common problems such as lack of sleep and poor nutrition can trigger larger physical and mental health issues down the road, but are largely invisible to co-workers and managers, and even employees themselves. “Oftentimes people don’t have an awareness of their health risks,” says MacDonald. Resources such as Manulife’s online health risk assessment tool can help employees evaluate their personal risks and identify solutions through an anonymous, online questionnaire.

Employees need to use, and see benefits from, the wellness plan you set in place for it to succeed. MacDonald suggests adding fun to the program to engage your employees, such as team challenges for physical health, incentives such as a company mug for participating in health screening or longer lunch breaks for gym-goers.

Entrepreneur-run firms are flexible and have easy access to employee opinions and ideas, making it easier to tweak wellness plans to earn employees’ attention, says MacDonald. “These business owners know their employees first-hand, and this is just one more way to illustrate that they’re interested in them.”