It is no secret that companies need to have a healthy workforce if they are going to be successful. This is especially true in the health and wellness industry, which is on the gradual rise. Starting a new company or increasing employee motivation and company culture will be much easier when employees are generally healthy and happy. Here are some steps to help you encourage health and wellness among your employees.
1. Offer an Employee Wellness Program
You can't expect your employees to eat healthy if they are not given the option of doing so. Put together a corporate wellness program that will offer them the foods they need when they want them, without spending their hard-earned money. This can be as simple as offering a healthy snack once a day or as elaborate as providing each employee with a monthly meal plan that you coordinate with local restaurants.
Also, you may consider setting up a gym for employees to use after work, during their lunch hour, or whenever they need it. Even if it is not free, your employees will still appreciate the convenience of having a place to go when they need to lift weights or do some cardio. Or arrange for corporate gym memberships at a discounted rate with a local gym, which would be a cheaper and better alternative for a company.
2. Hold Health and Fitness Events
Even if you don't have a gym as part of your employee wellness program, hold exercise-related events. Hold team-building exercises or fitness contests, and let your employees take home the prizes. These activities will give your employees reasons to stay active, improving their physical health.
The best thing about holding fitness events is that they can be held at no cost to the company. Set up an on-site convenience store where employees can purchase items like water bottles, protein bars, and sports drinks like Gatorade. This keeps the gym costs low and allows you to encourage more employee participation at little cost to yourself.
3. Educate Your Employees
If you talk about the health benefits of a healthy lifestyle, expect some employees to be shocked. They may not be used to the idea that it's important to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day or that it is necessary to get at least 30 minutes of exercise each day.
Work with your human resources department or take it upon yourself to educate your employees about how much exercise is needed and how many calories people need depending on their age and gender. Provide them with simple charts illustrating the proper intake levels for different types of activity.
4. Offer Free On-Site Health Screenings
Health screenings are an excellent way to encourage employees to look at their health status and improve their overall well-being. You can offer your employees a variety of health and wellness screenings that will help them discover their cholesterol levels, blood pressure, body fat percentage, sugar level during diabetes screenings, bone density, and more. That way, they can work with their physicians to correct any health issues that need to be addressed. For instance,
5. Encourage Smoke-Free Workplace
Although statistics show that smoking has declined in recent years, many adults still smoke. When they do, they can be rather annoying to those around them. You've probably been working with smokers for quite some time, so you have to know what it is like to work with people who smoke.
Encourage your employees to become smoke-free by providing a conducive workplace. This includes the entire office building, the parking lot, and any other areas outside the office building. This will provide a very healthy environment for all employees and help you maintain a no-smoking policy throughout your company.
6. Provide Healthy Snacks
You can make your workplace much healthier by providing fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and other healthy snacks they can use during their breaks or after work. Remember not to give them junk food like potato chips or cheese puffs because this will only encourage your employees to eat unhealthy foods.
When you provide healthy foods, you send your employees a message that you want them to be as healthy as possible. Providing your employees with wholesome foods will also improve their productivity because they will not be as tired throughout the day.
Conclusion
As you can see, helping your employees stay physically fit is a win-win situation for everyone. You can use some or all of the suggestions mentioned above to encourage your employees' health and wellness.
Now that you know the benefits of encouraging health and wellness among employees, it is up to you to follow through on these ideas. You have some employee screening tools at your disposal, so get them started immediately.
