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What are the most common employer benefits? According to Forbes, the most popular employer-provided benefits are health insurance, life insurance, and retirement programs. However, one highly popular benefit that few people discuss is lifestyle coaching, which is something that many companies are interested in.

One recent survey we conducted with our clients at HealthFitness told us 92% of employees are satisfied with their coaching programs. That’s a big number, but it makes sense when you think about the massive impact lifestyle coaching can have for employees—and employers.

First, let’s define lifestyle coaching because there are a lot of different coaching programs out there. Health coaches help employees better their health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally, through guidance and support. With lifestyle coaching, the approach differs from health coaching because it goes beyond the physical aspects of good health to support the whole person including emotional, financial and social wellbeing.

What does lifestyle coaching look like in action? Employees can usually choose to meet and talk in-person with their coach or enroll in digital coaching — or both! Lifestyle coaches seek to understand employees’ unique situations, their challenges, strengths and opportunities (which they often don’t recognize!). These coaches help employees brainstorm ideas, problem solve, set realistic goals and create plans of action. Ultimately, they are accountability partners and can provide judgement-free support to employees when pursuing their health and wellbeing goals.

Why is lifestyle coaching starting to become more relevant as an employee benefit?

A few reasons come to mind:

Lifestyle coaching is filling a key need for employees with chronic conditions

Lifestyle coaches provide coaching for all employees – even those with chronic conditions. For these employees, coaching can be a powerful adjunct to the clinical care provided by the medical system, which doesn’t have time for the lifestyle change counseling process.

Studies have shown that physicians simply do not have the time, infrastructure, resources, or do not receive compensation for counseling patients on how to provide and implement proper lifestyle practices or education. Instead, the physician’s focus is usually on acute medical issues, chronic disease and pharmacological therapies versus prevention. Lifestyle coaches, on the other hand, can support and provide this missing service with one-on-one support.

Lifestyle coaching supports all dimensions of wellbeing

When you think of a health coach or a personal trainer, what comes to mind? Physical health? Lifestyle coaches focus on much more. Their aim is on physical health, but these coaches are also focused on emotional, social, and financial health, too, and all of those are intertwined when it comes to personal wellbeing.

For example, lifestyle coaches will often take a holistic approach and address factors that can negatively impact emotional wellbeing and mental health (e.g., physical activity, social support, managing stress, sleep, nutrition, etc.). And while lifestyle coaches typically do not deliver clinical services, they can sometimes be certified in Mental Health First Aid®, which teaches how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges and refer individuals to appropriate mental health benefits and resources. Lifestyle coaches can also support employees in learning skills that train the mind to be more focused and calmer, building resilience for adversity and stress — hugely valuable to many employees.

Lifestyle coaching is hyper-personalized and convenient

Lifestyle coaches often use a variety of techniques and tools to create personalized plans for employees. For example, a process called ‘motivational interviewing” is fairly common as are other evidence-based techniques including social cognitive theory, self-efficacy, ability and readiness cues and reinforcers and use of credible information.

Because lifestyle coaching is often a benefit that is offered either in-person or digitally, it’s convenient for busy employees, too. An employee that works with one of our lifestyle coaches recently said: “My coach kept me accountable with my sleep and financial goals, giving me a realistic target date to achieve them by and checking in regularly to support the challenge. I felt the check-ins were extremely valuable to my success. Just what I needed!” Those regular check-ins — either digitally, or face-to-face — make all the difference and are extremely convenient for employees who are working from home or in the office.

Lifestyle coaching will only get more popular with employees in the next few years. Employees are more focused on their overall health than ever. But they’re also very busy, so finding help in a way that’s convenient for them is key. Lifestyle coaching fits the bill.

In one of our recent surveys, 42% of participants said the lifestyle coaching increased their average minutes per week of physical activity. Forty percent said lifestyle coaching helped them improve their BMI. And 88% said they improved in at least one nutritional area as a result of lifestyle coaching.

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Contact us for a no-obligation meeting and learn more about lifestyle coaching and our other health and fitness programs.