8 Ways to Maintain Workplace Wellness
Workplace wellness has become a prior concern for business owners and leaders in recent times. Having a safe and clean work environment requires doing things to help employees stay mentally fit and healthy.
The parameters of workplace wellness go beyond food, exercise, and sleep. A sound workforce can ultimately level up your business and bring in more productivity.
According to a survey done by Career Builder, these are the top five reasons for missing regular work days:
a. Constant tiredness (29%),
b. Sleeplessness (26%),
c. Aches and pains (24%),
d. Increasing anxiety (23%) and,
e. Weight gain (18%).
Hence, the question is what can you as a business owner or employer do for your employees to promote workplace wellness?
Here are a few basic tips to enforce wellness in your organization or office and let your employees be the force to drive your business’s potential to its highest.
Be a Responsible Employer
As a business owner or employer, you should be familiar with the needs and necessities of your employees. Ensuring workplace wellness is an important aspect of work culture in any organization. It plays a vital role in building the reputation of your business in the market.
No marketing or promotional strategy can beat "word of mouth." According to the American Psychological Association, 89% of employees recommended their company as a good place of work if it made efforts toward employee well-being.
Therefore, as a responsible business owner, you must include employee wellness in your business plan. After all, when you keep your employees happy, your work culture and ethics are marketed invariably.
2. Offer Personalized Wellness Programs
A lot of business owners today are incorporating wellness programs into their business operations. Offering wellness facilities as benefits to your employers provides a great benefit to their wellbeing and helps to draw better talent to your company.
According to a recent report by Aflac, 61% of employees agreed that their company’s wellness program helped them to make healthy lifestyle choices.
Hence, including personalized wellness programs isn’t only beneficial to the employers but it also increases your credibility as a business owner.
3. Decrease the Sedentary Work Style
Many corporate businesses follow the cabin or desk work structure. A sedentary lifestyle is the root cause of some health problems. Therefore, allowing your employers to move out of their chairs greatly benefits their wellbeing.
You can include different work methods. For example, A business meeting room where all the people have podiums to stand instead of chairs to sit. It is all about being innovative and giving another dimension to the usual things in life.
4. Organize Fitness Contests or Competitions
Wellness at the workplace can also be propagated by encouraging employees to participate in various fitness driven activities and creating a team environment with friendly competitions.
It is absolutely not necessary to do something high end and over-the-top. Just simple activities like providing your employees with a fitness track band to check and submit their walk routine would go a long way.
5. Provide a Safe Physical Environment
The mental health of an individual is often drawn from what is happening around them. A clean and safe physical work environment contributes abundantly to the wellness of your employees. Hence, it must be taken care of. A good physical environment can include:
- Clean and neat workplace
- Facilitating healthy food service in the office
- Meditation breaks
- Using stairs over elevators
- Walking paths or jogging tracks
- Cycling or basketball within the office premises
These are just a few suggestions one can follow as a business owner to maintain a safe and healthy physical business environment.
6. Make the Workplace Pet-Friendly
In 2017, a news report provided by Purina to PR Newswire stated that they have allowed pets in their workplace for as long as 20 years. The report highlighted the examination of the behavior and health of the employees and employers while having pets at the workplace. It stated that the decision facilitated 80% of their employees feeling "happy, relaxed and sociable."
Employees who were bringing their pets to the workplace also had lower stress levels. Their pets being present may help them with a reduction in blood pressure and even decrease their feeling of loneliness.
7. Be Open to Communication
As a business owner, you must allow open communication at your workplace. Abiding by your title of “boss” should not imply being bossy and tough with your workers. Initiating real and genuine conversations makes it easy for you, as an employer, to know about your people at the ground level. This will help you to design your business plan in favor of your employees so as to make them more productive and the company overall more successful.
Always hoping for your wellness
Shweta
