In the age of #fitspo and green juice, it’s no wonder that health and wellness initiatives are becoming more and more common at many companies.

And according to a recent survey from Fitbit, these initiatives are playing a big role in recruitment – 94 per cent of CEOs believe a health and wellness program is essential to attracting top talent. In addition, they can also drive employee engagement and retention.

These findings are especially important for campus recruiters. Clearly, today’s top candidates are looking for more from a potential employer. Millennials are paying more attention to their health and wellbeing, so it makes sense that the opportunity to incorporate those values into their work experiences would be a huge plus for them. Therefore, if you’re hiring students and new grads, it wouldn’t hurt to play up your company’s commitment to health and wellness in your recruitment marketing.

Here are the top four ways employee wellness programs can help you attract and retain top millennial talent.

Culture Fit

As you already know, finding the right employee goes beyond assessing a person’s resume and credentials. The key to a successful hire is finding an individual that adds value and meshes well with your existing team. Therefore, if your organization prioritizes health and wellness, highlighting your wellness program in your recruitment marketing ensures that you’ll find candidates with similar values.

This approach works because it is a perfect example of the “show, don’t tell” approach to marketing. You’re putting your money where your mouth is, so to speak, by illustrating exactly how your company invests in the wellbeing of its employees.

Work-life Balance

Entry-level employees play many different roles in their lives. They are family members, friends, volunteers – and they have to balance these responsibilities with their work, as well as with their need to care for their own physical and mental well-being.

Workplace health initiatives are a great way to ensure your star millennial hires stay productive, and don’t burn out from undue pressures. In fact, 80 percent of CEOs saw corporate wellness programs as integral to reducing stress amongst employees.

Employer spotlight: TJX Canada’s in-house fitness centre helps keep their employees healthy and happy!

Sense of community

It can be intimidating to start a new job, especially for students and grads who might be entering the workforce for the first time. Therefore, if you want to attract this demographic, it’s important to find ways to show potential candidates that they will feel like a part of the team from the very beginning.

47% of CEOs feel their corporate wellness programs help foster a sense of community amongst employees, and it’s easy to see why. Whether it’s a daily step competition among employees or weekly “walking meetings,” employee wellness initiatives have benefits that extend far beyond the health of a workforce. These types of initiatives help employees to bond with one another, encouraging collaboration and company growth.

Employer spotlight: TalentEgg employers KPMG and LoyaltyOne incentivize a healthy workforce by offering fitness reimbursements and wellness subsidies for their employees.

Personal development

Simply put: top millennial candidates are attracted to employers who encourage professional AND personal growth and development. After all, these two goals go hand in hand – Healthy employees are more productive, creative, and driven to achieve strong results.

To highlight this in your recruitment strategy, turn to content marketing. Recruitment content channels like social media and company blogs are well-suited for disseminating job-related information, but they can also be used to share helpful resources that encourage your employees to prioritize their health and wellbeing.

Employer spotlight: Along with information about their career opportunities, Northern Health uses their Twitter account to provide health and wellness advice for their followers.

‘Health and wellness initiatives can be a powerful force in campus recruitment but remember: Millennials want more than free snacks and step counters. Your health initiatives are most effective when they fit into a larger narrative of supporting a more positive and collaborative work experience for everybody.

Discussion: Does employee health and wellness factor into your recruitment strategy?

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