Credit unions looking to encourage employee innovation may want to consider a wellness program.

Organizations that promote employee health and well-being are 3.5 times more likely to encourage creativity and innovation, according to research by Right Management, the talent/career management division of Manpower.

"We found fewer than half of the more than 28,000 employees who participated in our worldwide study reported that their organizations actively promote health and wellness," said Deborah Schroeder-Saulnier, senior vice president for global solutions at Right Management. "Yet we now have persuasive evidence linking health and well-being to greater employee engagement, organizational productivity, talent retention and–of utmost importance in today's post-recession economy–creativity and innovation." Among those employees who gave their organization's health and well-being efforts a low rating, only 20% took a favorable view of their organization's encouragement of creativity and innovation.