Employee wellbeing is something that all employers should consider when it comes to their workplace. Knowing how the staff is feeling when they’re in the office can help employers create a better work culture while ultimately increasing productivity.
Many employees feel stress and pressure in the modern workplace, and it’s up to the employer to make sure that the employees feel valued and safe. A happy workplace is more successful, making an investment in employee wellbeing worth it for everyone. Here are a few workplace wellness tips to incorporate into your office.
1. Provide Healthy Snacks
Healthy snacks and drinks in the office can encourage employees to each lunch together instead of at their desks, allowing for a much-needed break that can help them rejuvenate their minds before returning back to the grind.
Healthy snacks are better for employee health as opposed to sugary snacks that can make your employees feel sluggish and less productive after lunch. They can provide your employees with a fuel boost that they desperately need while satisfying cravings and keeping them healthy.
2. Encourage Activity During the Workweek
Office employees are typically very sedentary both on and off the job, which can lead to a ton of health problems, such as back pain and obesity. Employees who aren’t healthy will have problems focusing because they’ll be in pain or uncomfortable at their desks. By encouraging physical activity like offering lunchtime yoga classes or free gym memberships, you give employees incentives to focus on their fitness and improve their overall health and wellbeing.
3. Make Health a Priority
While fitness and healthy food offerings are great, your employees can still come down with illnesses if your office doesn’t make the health and safety of its employees a priority. Encourage everyone to clean and sanitize their desks daily to keep bacteria and germs at bay.
You can also invest in bulk hand sanitizer for your employees to use at their desks before and after lunch or after meeting and shaking hands with important business partners.
4. Consider Ergonomics
Those with desk jobs often get back pain and more associated with sitting long hours at a desk with bad ergonomics. The right ergonomics will reduce strain on the body, allowing your employees to work sitting at their desks for longer periods of time without feeling uncomfortable.
You don’t have to spend a ton to make office spaces more ergonomic. Instead, you can get your office workers desk stools to use at their convenience to take the strain off of the legs and back.
5. Offer Flexible Working Practices
While the physical health of your employees is important, so is their mental health. Flexible working opportunities can take the stress off of your employees by offering them the chance to work from home or irregular hours so that they can take care of their families while providing them with the necessary finances. Consider all of the important things that your employees have to do in a day outside of work.
Adding eight hours of work on top of that, even if the work itself isn’t difficult, can stress your employees unnecessarily. If you have employees whose jobs can be done at home so that they can also take care of their children, you might be taking a huge load off of them, increasing their productivity since they aren’t stressed.
6. Communicate Only During Business Hours
When employees are at home, they want to be able to focus on their home responsibilities. Just as employers don’t like being bothered when they’re spending time with their families, neither do employees.
Remember, you’re paying someone for their time working, not to respond to your text past the time they’ve clocked out or are expected to work. Instead of sending messages to personal phones, send your employees an email that they can see and respond to the next morning to take any unnecessary stress off of them while they’re trying to relax at home.
Employee wellness is crucial since your business depends on the productivity of your employees. Those who are unhappy or stressed within their positions will likely be less productive and may even make more mistakes. Happier, healthier employees can help your business grow.
Image Credits: Pontus Wellgraf, tigerlily713
Like this article? Share with your friends!