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6 ways to encourage employee wellness

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Calm peaceful businesswoman meditating at office work desk, sideWhen you prioritize employee wellness, you promote happiness and productivity. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Your employees know that you care about their well-being. It can reduce sick day usage. And employees are less likely to get burnout and leave the job. Overall, there’s no real reason not to encourage workplace wellness.

So, what kind of things can you do to promote this?

1. Make sure that employees can take breaks. If employees are overworked and plugging their way through their breaks, it doesn’t allow them time to unwind and refresh. Everyone needs to take breaks from the job once in a while. Ensure employees aren’t so overloaded with jobs that they don’t feel able to take a 15-minute or lunch break.

2. Focus on ergonomics. An ergonomic desk setup can help reduce the chance of pain and injury. Find ways to create more ergonomic setups across the office.

3. Encourage wellness goals. You can run a campaign that encourages better habits. Come up with a plan and consider how it will be executed. Offer incentives for reaching certain goals.

4. Offer healthier consumables. Vending machines are often filled with unhealthy treats. Consider offering your employees some healthy alternatives.

5. Consider a more flexible approach to your schedule. Instead of requiring workers to be in the office from 9 a.m to 5:30 p.m., why not take a more flexible approach? For example, require that employees put in their eight, but offer a flexible start time between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. so they can start and finish when it works best for them. You can also consider a hybrid approach where employees are allowed to work a certain number of days from home.

6. Offer a fitness room or a discount on a gym membership. When you make it easier for employees to work out, they’ll be more likely to focus on their fitness. This can have several benefits since exercise benefits the mind and body.

Overall, there are plenty of ways you can encourage employee wellness in your workplace. This, of course, benefits the employees since it can help them feel healthier and happier.

However, it also benefits the business since it often increases motivation, productivity and employee retention. On the other hand, if your employees feel overworked and overstressed, retention and productivity levels can drop significantly. If you feel your employees are carrying a heavy burden because of workload, please contact us.

We’d be happy to take on some of your assignments to free your full-time employees to focus on their core responsibilities.