5 Ways Businesses Can Encourage Better Employee Health

No matter what business you’re involved in, your employees are your most important asset. Their well-being affects your productivity, efficiency, competitive edge, and bottom line. Still, so many don’t understand how much poor employee mental and physical health affects their operation. Poor health leads to more absenteeism, which leads to a greater strain on the rest of your workforce. This then translates to dissatisfaction and lower morale, which leads to a higher turnover rate. This, in turn, affects how much money is being spent on recruitment, onboarding, and training, not to mention the amount of money in benefits you’ll have to spend. The simple solution is to start focusing on employees’ health and wellness starting today. Here are a few ways businesses can encourage better employee health.

Work On Prevention

The first thing you should do is start working on prevention. Offering benefits that will allow your employees to be healthier will not only reduce your number of sick days, but it also sends the message that you value your employees. This could include everything from onsite flu vaccinations or incentives on health insurance. Arranging informational visits with healthcare professionals on general health would also be a great investment in the well being of your workforce.

Boost Office Morale

If you are looking to encourage the health and well-being of your valuable employees, it is essential to boost morale within your office. Celebrate your individual employee and company culture wins whenever possible. Rewards and recognition for exceptional performance can greatly motivate and encourage employees to work harder. Some businesses even develop creative employee recognition programs in order to further encourage positive office health. Hold frequent meetings in order to discuss performance, set goals, and praise positive efforts. Practice morale boosting tactics in order to show your employee appreciation and promote positive health in your workplace.

Encourage Healthy Eating Habits

Did you know that unhealthy eating increases the chances of reduced productivity by around 66%? While as an employer you may have limited influence on how your employees eat when they’re at home, you can have more control once they’re on your premises. Make sure that you make healthy options available to them. This could be anything from having free fruit bowls, replacing your drinks machines with sparkling water, or installing vending machines with satisfying snacks that will not only be healthy but also boost focus and productivity. If you don’t have vending machines yet, know that vending machine leases are very common and you can find leases for as little as £11.50 per week. You’ll be able to recover your costs through sales and make sure that your employees have healthy snacks available on hand at any given time.

Strengthen Your Work-Life Balance

In order to encourage the better health of your employees, you need to improve your work life balance. In order to encourage the better health of your employees, you need to strengthen your work life balance. Work-life balance is essential for modern businesses. Without a sufficient work-life balance, your employees will feel drained, overworked, and exhausted. Monitor a sufficient work-life balance in order to ensure sufficient employee health. Give your employees frequent mental health days off, the ability to work from home, or reduced hours during the holidays. At the same time, you can create additional programs like leaving early on Fridays, setting some days to arrive late, or taking a long lunch. With these solutions properly integrated, your valuable employees will never feel like they are being worked to hard.

Encourage Physical Exercise

There are plenty of ways that you can do this. One of the simplest is to have a gym onsite. This will allow your employees to get a quick workout before shifts, during breaks, or before they go home. Another thing you could do is start encouraging walking meetings. Not only are they a great way to stay healthy, but research has shown that they could actually boost creative output by as much as 60%. But, if you want these to work and be productive, you have to do them right. The first step is making sure that everyone knows that your next meeting will be a walking one. This will allow people to prepare mentally, and also get dressed properly. These types of meetings also work better in smaller groups, so you could encourage management to do a walking meeting with specific teams, or you could do one with senior management only.

You also have to make sure that you have a clear agenda for the meeting. You have to be clear about what you’re trying to accomplish, and the things you want to go through. Also make sure that the meeting is actually appropriate for a walking format. Formal meetings like status updates, for instance, are better held inside. But, walking meetings could be great for building on shared goals or discussing ideas. An investment in your employees’ health is an investment in the health of your business. Make sure that you always put your employees’ well being at the top of your list, and don’t be afraid to hear their recommendations as well.