A global pandemic has made it clear to business owners and employees how important employee health is. The great news is that there are many ways employers can help their employees stay healthy through things like employee wellness programs, offering incentives for healthy living, and encouraging physical activity in the workplace. If you’re a business owner or in a position of power at your company, read on for three ideas on protecting your employees’ health.
wellness program for their employees. Typical wellness programs include various initiatives that support employees in several ways, including, but not limited to, mental wellness, physical wellness, intellectual growth, and job satisfaction. While the type of wellness program employers use varies from company to company, they all greatly reduce absenteeism and improve productivity. While the variety of wellness programs employers use differs from company to company, they all greatly reduce absenteeism and improve productivity. While the type of wellness program employers use varies from company to company, they all greatly reduce absenteeism and improve productivity.
Where one business might have a wellness plan that includes free counseling for employees in crisis, another might pay for employee gym memberships, smoking cessation classes, or discount cards for spa services. Other companies offer healthy living and cooking seminars or give employees free vaccinations, blood pressure checks, or flu shots.
Another popular wellness program is to offer social support in the workplace. Whether this is regular activities with employees, team-building exercises, or a fun Friday program where employees are encouraged to kick back and decompress before the weekend, these group activities can help promote a more relaxing work environment that improves employee happiness. By creating a culture that values good health and positivity, employees are more likely to want to come to work.
spa could be the perfect next step in increasing employee wellness at your business. If you currently run a basic incentive program, consider changing it slightly or adding a wellness component for employees who exceed expectations.
For example, if your employees work on a quota system and earn extra cash for exceeding the quota, you could add gift cards to spas, chiropractors, or the local health food store as an incentive for high performance. Not only would this show employees your company’s concern for their overall well-being, but it would also serve as stress management to help prevent burnout.
Facial massage, sauna time, and the spa experience can help promote employees’ mental wellness. Just as gym memberships will help with weight loss to prevent obesity and heart disease, spa treatments quickly become part of encouraging a healthier lifestyle for many companies in the U.S.
3. Group Activities and Lunches
Like social support groups, some companies use breaks and lunches to allow employees to network. This convenient way of providing employees an optional opportunity to connect can be as inexpensive as offering free, healthy snacks at regular intervals. These companies are offering fitness challenges and bringing in inspirational speakers to help employee morale during group lunches. After hours, these same businesses offer wellness fitness classes on-site to encourage employee health.
Regardless of how you protect your employees’ health, making employee wellness a top priority can go a long way in increasing overall productivity at your workplace. From reducing absenteeism to a better quality of life and happier workers, making employee wellness important will go a long way in helping your business succeed.
