Did you know that healthy employees are 18% more productive and 27% less absent than unhealthy colleagues? This evidence shows the importance of creating a workplace environment that prioritises the well-being, happiness, and fitness of your team.
And with more people now working from home – without the daily support or check-in of colleagues and friends – it’s even more important to make sure that they are looking after themselves, getting some exercise and not falling into a downward mental spiral. Here are our three easy steps to promote the health of your employees.
Step 1: Facilitate your employees
Many of your employees will already be investing in their own personal health, but others don’t know where to start. And that’s really the hardest part – just to begin. By taking on a facilitating role as an organisation, you can help remove any existing barriers, making it easier for them to get started on their health journey.
Here are some ideas:
- Give your employees the space to work on their health during working hours. This way, you as an organisation take on part of the responsibility. Ultimately, this pays for itself in less absenteeism and employees who feel better about themselves.
- Actively share relevant content about a healthy lifestyle. This could be as simple as healthy recipes or stretching exercises one can do behind the desk. Or get a dietician in for a corporate wellness day. Use your existing resources as much as possible, such as an internal newsletter or the intranet.
- Encourage your employees to read up on health and vitality themselves. Give them 24/7 access to online training courses on the subject, ensuring that they are armed with the right information and knowledge to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Step 2: Don’t forget mental health
Mental health is often overlooked, but it’s becoming a massive problem around the world, especially with the impact of Covid-19 and the many lockdowns it’s necessitated. Stress, anxiety and isolation, together with new the ways of living and working, is affecting the mental health and well-being of your employees in some way, no matter how well-adjusted they may seem. So how can you deal with this as an employer?
- Maintaining contact is a priority. Work-related matters are easily discussed and dealt with during working hours, but it’s also important to set aside times for more personal conversations. Schedule a virtual coffee break with your employees once a week or a team get-together on a Friday afternoon every month. In this way you’ll be building a personal bond with all of your staff members, giving them the confidence to speak to you, should they have a personal problem that they are battling to deal with. And together, you’ll be able to brainstorm about how to deal with the stress in question.
- Did you know that 72% of employees feel pressure asking for days off? Help them by organising mental health days, where all staff members have the space and time to work on their mental health. Include healthy activities during these days, such as yoga classes, a healthy cooking demo or a volleyball tournament, and call in the professionals to talk about mental health. It’ll get your employees out of their usual routine, help to ease their daily stresses and give them the knowledge they need to live a healthy life, both mentally and physically.
Step 3: Know how to motivate your employees
Unfortunately, even with all the tools in the world, if your employees do not have the motivation to get moving and stay healthy, they won’t achieve results. So you need to motivate them to get started, and then show them why it’s important for them to keep going.
Sharing your own experience is a great way to communicate your support. This can be done during virtual coffee breaks. If your team hears that you take the time to look after yourself, chances are they’ll see the value in it for themselves. Sharing success stories about colleagues also works well. Think of colleagues who have started exercising, stopped smoking, lost weight or even completed a whole host of health-related training courses from SkillsTown in the field of health and vitality. When they see that their colleagues can do it, they are motivated to give it a try themselves!
Are you eager to inspire your employees towards a healthier, more fulfilling lifestyle but unsure where to start? Contact us today for a free demo, and we’ll show you the many options and endless possibilities you’ll find on our online training platform.
