How healthy is your workforce? How productive are they? Do they feel valued and supported? If you're not sure, or if you want to improve things, read on. This blog post will discuss 5 steps to a healthier, more productive workforce.
We'll talk about ways to overcome anxiety, fatigue and stress at work. We'll also discuss how to improve mental health, diet and resilience. So, whether your workplace is in need of a total overhaul or just a few minor tweaks, read on for some helpful tips!
Step One: Address Mental Health
One of the most important steps to improving overall wellbeing at work is to address mental health. According to a study by Mind, poor mental health costs UK businesses £26 billion each year in lost productivity. This is because employees who are struggling with their mental health are less productive and more likely to take time off sick.
So how can you address mental health in your workplace? Well, the first step is to make sure that employees feel comfortable talking about mental health and that making it clear that support is available where required. You can also provide training for managers on how to identify and support employees with mental health issues.
Another way to support mental health in the workplace is to provide employees with access to therapy. This can be done through an employee assistance programme (EAP), which provides counselling and other support services for employees. Many employers offer EAPs free of charge, so it's a great way to help employees manage their mental health.
Step Two: Encourage Wellness
Wellness is another important factor when it comes to overall wellbeing at work. Workplace wellness includes things like physical activity, healthy eating and stress management. And encouraging wellness in the workplace can have a lot of benefits for employees. For example, employees who are physically active are more productive and have lower rates of absenteeism. They're also less likely to experience stress and fatigue. To improve wellness in your workplace you can provide employees with access to health and fitness programmes. Many employers offer discounted memberships to local gyms or other health and fitness facilities. You can also promote healthy eating by providing employees with access to healthy food options at work.
This can include things like fruit and vegetables, healthy snacks and water stations. If your employees are working remotely you can subsidise the cost of private consultations with a qualified nutritional therapist. We provide a full range of ideas to organisations with our Wiser Wellness offerings.
Step Three: Encourage a Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is another important factor when it comes to overall wellbeing at work. When employees have a good work-life balance, they're more likely to enjoy their time at work and have a better work ethic.
So how can you encourage a work-life balance in your workplace? You can ensure that employees have enough time off and that they manage to switch off their emails out of work hours. You can also promote a work-life balance by offering flexible working arrangements based on the employees personal context and preferences. This includes things like working from home, compressed hours and part-time work.
Step Four: Educate Employees about Sleep.
A poor quality or quantity of sleep can have huge implications for the performance of your employees. This is an often overlooked aspect of wellbeing at work and is rarely discussed in team settings. Productivity, innovation and collaboration can all be greatly improved when sleep improves.
We recommend running education sessions on sleep which highlight the diet and lifestyle factors that can impair sleep. With senior executives we discuss this in detail when we undertake a wellbeing assessment. Our heart rate tracker tool can easily identify when sleep quality needs to be addressed.
In the event that employees are fatigued at work, why not dedicate a space for napping. There is no point having an employee operating in zombie mode when they could take 20 minutes out to recharge.
Step Five: Ensure Your People Are Eating Well.
Good nutrition not only helps to regulate mood and energy levels for your employees, but it also helps prevent illness. Food therefore is not just fuel but is also a form of medicine. Helping your colleagues to understand what good nutrition looks like is a very helpful step in creating a culture of wellbeing in the workplace.
If you serve food in your premises, it pays to ensure that the healthiest food is made available. Many of your employees may like to cook so it also a good idea to encourage them to share their healthiest recipes and bring samples of their snacks to work.
We can help by providing group classes on nutrition or one-to-one consultations for those who want a more tailored approach or who have specific health conditions to manage.
Conclusion
In conclusion, promoting employee wellbeing is a great way to improve productivity and morale in the workplace. By following these five steps, you can help your employees overcome anxiety, fatigue and stress at work.
You can also help improve their mental health, diet and resilience. So why not give it a try? Your employees will thank you for it.
We hope you have found this post helpful. If you would like more information on promoting employee wellbeing, please don't hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to help!