A sedentary and uninspired work life can be hazardous to an employee’s health. How can this issue be remedied so employees are more productive and empowered to live healthy lifestyles? Implementing and promoting health and wellness isn’t only an investment in employees, but it benefits employers as well.
What Is Employee Health and Wellness?
An employee’s health and wellness is the state of their physical and mental health, inside and outside of the workplace. It takes into consideration any medical and behavioral conditions or habits, as well as energy, mood and motivation levels. If an employee’s health or wellness suffers, it affects not only their own performance but can also harm their team, organization, and personal lives. Because of that, supporting employees through a lens of workplace wellness is invaluable.A healthy employee tends to have steady levels of energy, proactive behaviors, higher productivity and focus, and a positive disposition that improves comfort levels in the workplace. However, because it’s not always obvious who is and isn’t healthy, employers should make efforts to engage with their workers and understand how to best improve their workplace experience.
How to Promote Wellness in the Workplace
The first step to meaningful wellness practices is to be aware that wellness is a moving goalpost and means different things to different people. As such, it’s important to employ a variety of tactics to ensure everyone is encouraged and supported in improving their health and overall well-being.
Evaluate Employee Health Risks
Provide Healthy Snacks
Offer Paid Fitness Memberships
Provide Access to Advice Lines
Evaluate Office Ergonomics
Benefits of Health and Wellness at Work
With these extra investments in an employee’s wellness, employers may wonder “what’s in it for the company?” If organizations invest in healthy work environments, they can reap the benefits of health and wellness through improved performance and consistency.
Less absenteeism: Studies have shown that employee fitness and a healthy work environment can result in workers missing fewer days.
Savings on health insurance: While it shouldn’t be an employer’s primary reason to utilize a workplace wellness program, most companies see a decrease in health costs and payouts for employee claims.
Higher employee satisfaction: Employee reviews and surveys consistently show that wellness programs increase satisfaction in the workplace. This includes better teamwork, communication and job performance.
Greater job retention: Recruiting new employees is time consuming and expensive, ergo retaining the same employees is beneficial to companies. If organizations treat their employees well by offering benefits and a comprehensive wellness program, workers will have more incentive to stay.
Improved Productivity: Sponsoring employee health directly correlates with increased productivity. Workers tend to work harder if they are healthy and enjoy the work environment that surrounds them.