When you think about “wellness,” what comes to mind?

You might imagine sitting in a johnnie on a doctor’s exam table, waiting to get blood drawn. Maybe you think about your bathroom scale (and how it’s casually collecting dust in the linen closet, if you’re like me). The treadmill at the gym could come to mind, or the blood pressure station at your local pharmacy.

Seeing a trend?

For most of us, the term “wellness” is synonymous with physical health (an important part of our well-being, for sure), but that’s pretty limiting. Think about it: you may be getting annual physicals or hopping on the scale each month, but how good is your health bound to be if your finances are a disaster or if you haven’t caught a wink of sleep all week? Not very.

Why “Well-Being”?

Over the past couple of years, there’s been a shift away from “wellness” and toward “well-being.” This change may seem more about word choice and less about meaning, but there’s actually a big difference between the two. While wellness focuses on physical health alone, well-being takes a holistic approach to health and includes five components.

1. Purpose: Enjoying what you do everyday and being motivated to hit your goals

2. Social: Having supportive people, relationships, and love in your life

3. Financial: Managing your money and finances to limit stress and drive security

4. Community: Liking where you live, and feeling safe in and proud of your community

5. Physical: Having good health and enough energy to get through your day

Some might argue that the areas sound a bit fluffy at first glance, but the five components of well-being actually have a tremendous impact on people – particularly at work.

For example, people with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their careers nearly 50 percent more than those without a close work friend. What’s more, 30 million U.S. workers say they’re financially distressed and dissatisfied with their personal financial situation – and that kind of stress has a direct affect on their work.

Here’s Where You Come In

Feel like your hands are tied when it comes to growth across all of these areas? They’re not.

You can have a major affect on all aspects of your well-being – even those seemingly fluffy areas – by taking advantage of or asking for tools and resources that support them in forming habits that matter. Programs and policies at your organization tap people’s true motivations and give them a range of ways to improve what they want to change. 

Once you start improving one area of your life – be it your physical health or social well-being – you’ll naturally start improving other areas, too. And that means major outcomes for you that go beyond what wellness alone will provide.

Want to learn more about the shift from “wellness” to “well-being,” and why it’s one you should make at your organization? Read our whitepaper, “Making the Case: Supporting Well-being, Molding Better Business”.