1. What are Wendel’s “Health, Wealth, and Self” Weeks?

At Wendel we developed 3 week-long, recurring initiatives that rotates throughout the year with different areas of focus:

•  Health Week – Dedicated to physical well-being, including nutrition, fitness, and preventive health.

•  Self-Week – Focused on mental health, mindfulness, stress management, and self-care practices.

•  Wealth Week – Centered on financial wellness, offering resources and education around budgeting, planning, and long-term financial security.

Each week-long program provides employees with learning opportunities, activities, and resources designed to promote holistic wellness. The goal is to support employees in all aspects of their well-being—physical, mental, and financial—since each aspect effects the others whether we realize it or not.

2. How do you decide which activities and initiatives to implement during these weeks?

We align our activities and initiatives with the theme of each week, using it as the foundation for brainstorming. For example, during “Self-Week” we focus on initiatives that promote self-care and well-being. One of our popular activities is “Self-Care BINGO”, a weeklong challenge that encourages employees to engage in daily acts of self-care, such as attending a workout class or getting a full eight hours of sleep. Our primary goal is to choose activities and challenges that foster employee engagement and enjoyment!

3. What are some additional initiatives you’ve done throughout the year?

Each month, we send out a wellness email to all employees, focusing on a specific topic. We typically align the topics with that month’s awareness theme. In addition to our “Health, Wealth, and Self” weeks, we also run wellness challenges throughout the year. One of our recent challenges was the Sun Safety & Hydration Tracker Challenge. All challenge participants are entered into a raffle to win a wellness related prize through our employee recognition program. We also offer a year-round health stipend which employees can use for wellness related expenses like gym memberships, home workout gear, standing desks, and more. We remind our employees to take advantage of this benefit before the year ends so they don’t miss out. To keep everything in one place, we have a wellness landing page on our internal website. It includes a variety of helpful resources, such as mental health tools, our healthy recipe book, and information on the monthly wellness topic. Other wellness initiatives include hosting onsite flu shot clinics to support preventive care.

4. How does leadership support employee wellness at Wendel?

Leadership at Wendel recognize the importance of work–life balance and show that through our flexible scheduling and encouraging time off, which give employees the ability to manage both personal and professional responsibilities. In addition, leadership prioritizes wellness by supporting a dedicated budget, allowing us to offer meaningful initiatives and incentives that engage employees in programs focused on their health and well-being.

5. What barriers has Wendel had to overcome when implementing employee wellness? 

One barrier we face is incorporating our regional offices in all wellness activities/challenges. It’s important to us that every employee can benefit from our wellness efforts. To make this work, we focus on activities that can be easily organized at the regional level without us being there in person. We usually reach out to find volunteers in each regional office to help with setup, and we choose activities with materials we can ship directly to the offices.

6. What advice would you give to someone starting a wellness program at work?

My biggest piece of advice would be - don’t feel pressure to roll out a huge program right away. Start with one or two initiatives that are easy to manage, then expand as you learn what resonates with employees.

7. Is there anything else you’d like to share about the wellness initiatives at Wendel?

Our wellness initiatives reflect Wendel’s commitment to fostering engagement, inclusion, and the overall well-being of our employees.