Stimulate the health of your employees in 3 steps

Did you know that vital employees are 18% more productive and 27% less absent than unhealthy colleagues? (Source: hchealth.co.uk). You would think that employee health lies with the employees themselves. Partly this is true, of course, but an important task for you as an employer is to encourage employees to work on their health and vitality.

Especially now that they work from home and are on their own. When you make sure employees feel good about themselves, they also have more energy to work. Plus, you're working toward a positive employer image. As a company, you show that you care about the health of your employees. But as an organization, how can you ensure that your employees get moving? With the 3 steps in this article, you will stimulate the health of your employees!

Step 1: Facilitate your employees

Some employees are already hugely engaged in their personal health, but others don't know where to start. By taking a facilitating role as an organization, you remove existing barriers. This makes it easier for employees to actually get started. How can you facilitate?

• Give your employees space during working hours to work on their health. That way, as an organization, you take on some of the responsibility. Ultimately, this pays off in less absenteeism and employees who are more comfortable in their own skin.
• Actively share relevant content about a healthy lifestyle yourself. Think healthy recipes or stretching exercises at the desk. Use existing resources such as an internal newsletter or the intranet for this purpose.
• Facilitate knowledge about health and vitality. Some employees may not be aware of any harm. So make sure they can gain the right knowledge when it comes to a healthy lifestyle. For example, with the help of online training courses on health and vitality. These are available 24/7 and employees can decide which topic they want to work on.

Step 2: Also consider the mental health of employees

Physical health is important, but the mental aspect is often overlooked. Stress at work is a growing problem worldwide that affects employee mental health and well-being. On top of this, the corona crisis has already caused aggravated mental health problems in 60% of the Dutch. How can you deal with this as an employer?

• Maintaining good contact is a priority. Matters discussed during work hours are often work related. Make sure there are times when conversations are more personal. For example, schedule weekly virtual coffee breaks with your employees. The bar is then lowered and you build a personal bond. This gives them confidence that they can also come to you for other things. So it is not a bad idea to brainstorm together on how to deal with stress while working from home.
• Did you know that 72% of employees feel pressure when requesting days off (Source: one.fit/en). You can accommodate employees in this by organizing mental health days. During these days, you give employees the space to work on their mental health. If this is central to the entire organization, employees will feel less burdened to pay attention to it. As an employer, you facilitate healthy activities during those days. For example, taking a long walk, taking a yoga class or offering knowledge around mental health. As long as employees get out of their normal routine.

Step 3: Know how to motivate your employees

Even if you offer such good tools, if your employees don't have the motivation to actually work on them, you won't get results. Therefore, invest in employee motivation and show why it is so important for them to work on their physical and mental health.

Take a role model role and show that it is perfectly normal to focus on vitality during work hours. Sharing your own experience is a good way to make your support clear. You can do this during virtual coffee breaks, for example. If the person hears that you as an employer are putting time into it, they are more likely to see the value in it. If you insist too much on doing sports or activity it could backfire.

Sharing success stories about colleagues internally works very well. Think about colleagues who started exercising, quit smoking or, for example, successfully completed a certain number of SkillsTown health and vitality trainings. When they see that their colleague can do it, they are motivated to take a look for themselves!

A helping hand?

Do you want to boost employee health and motivate your employees on health and vitality, but could use some help? Then make the move now and request information about SkillsTown's health and vitality training programs.