Why Wellness Programs Are Important in Business Settings
Why should you care about the health of your employees? For one thing, healthy workers are more productive and less expensive than those prone to chronic medical conditions. There are many benefits of a strong wellness program, not least of which is producing a healthier corporate bottom line.
Whether you’re looking to prevent “quiet quitting” or reflect your own health-focused values in your corporate culture, any business setting becomes more stable and profitable when you implement wellness ideas for workplace improvement. Negatives like turnover and call-offs plummet, morale skyrockets, and your investment in employee wellness delivers ROI you can take to the bank.
Workplace Wellness Types
As you build an employee health strategy, consider both outer and inner wellness types. Let’s dig into these kinds of wellbeing, starting with the body then thinking about the mind.
Physical Wellness
Keeping employees physically safe at work means making sure everyone has the proper equipment and environment to do their jobs. That includes workstation layouts designed to prevent accidents, lighting that illuminates sufficiently and the availability of protective equipment when necessary. Physical well-being at work also stems from allowing breaks during a shift, ensuring overtime is voluntary and maintaining effective training and supervision. Of course, physical wellness also stems from regular exercise, eating healthy food and focusing on the mental wellness of individuals.
Mental Wellness
The best definition of a toxic work environment is one where there is no regard for an employee’s mental wellness at work. Bullying, infighting and verbal humiliation for speaking out create undue stress that can lead to employee burnout and chase away the best talent. If there are no boundaries, no trust and no room for mistakes on the job, mental wellness is also absent from the workplace.
Increasing Physical & Mental Wellness at Work
The truth is that mental and physical wellness go together — and thinking of both types of wellness as part of your corporate culture will make implementing a plan much easier and more effective. Here are some of our favorite wellness ideas for workplace improvement that are cost-effective and proven to deliver results:
Install The ‘Right’ Kind Of Lighting
Whether you’re running a factory, a hospital or an office, your workers need to see what they’re doing. Ensure you’re using layered lighting — a combination of overhead, ambient and task lighting — that mimics daylight. If you’re not sure what type of lights will help the members of a department work better, ask them!
Make Physical Wellness Goals Easy to Achieve
An onsite workout room sounds great, until you realize that most employees have a long commute or are working remotely. In this case, underwriting memberships to multiple gyms could be more effective. Poll your staff to find out what will entice them to participate. Perhaps including families in your corporate wellness program will encourage workers to strive toward physical wellness goals. Or maybe your staffers are interested in online smoking cessation programs.
Offer Flexible Hours Or Work Spaces
One way to dovetail physical and mental wellness at work is to allow employees to work when and where they want. Remote work has become the norm, so start with a couple days of WFH per week to see how that affects productivity and morale. Other options include job sharing, wherein two part-time employees coordinate to accomplish tasks and meet goals meant for one full-time worker. Your flexibility will be rewarded with a staff that’s equally willing to meet you halfway.
Create Access To Healthy Food Options
No one likes being told their salty snacks or comfort foods are unhealthy. But one of the ways to make workplace wellness more inclusive is to gently encourage better food choices. Offering fruit and veggies in the breakroom, hosting a local farmers market in the parking lot and switching lunchroom menus to include lean options are all ways of helping workers reach their own personal physical wellness goals.
Celebrate Success Together
To keep employees engaged in corporate wellness programs, examples of success must be celebrated often and openly. Congratulate staffers who reach milestones like a month smoke-free or four consecutive visits to the gym. Whether it’s in a weekly newsletter, a personalized email or an announcement from the head office, your encouragement — and participation — in physical and mental wellness activities goes a long way toward building a healthier workplace.
Get a Customized Wellness Program For Your Business
Now that you understand why wellness programs are important for a well-run business, it’s time to design the program that supports both types of wellness and fits your workforce. Why choose Discovery Health Services to guide you? Our 20-plus years of experience in managing both public and private work cultures inform everything we do. Let our expertise and insight guide you toward happier, healthier employees who in turn will work toward a healthy bottom line for your business.