In the professional world, having a healthy lifestyle is crucial for you and your colleagues. It affects your overall productivity. As a manager, you can influence all aspects of your workers’ lives, including their health. By encouraging healthy habits in the workplace, you are promoting your workers’ health, attendance, and performance at work. Your efforts might have a positive effect not only on your employees’ health but also on the bottom line of your business.
Here are ways businesses can promote good health habits in their workplace.
Provide feminine hygiene products for free
Women workers should be provided with these products at no cost. This helps in keeping them fresh and clean during working hours and may also encourage other women workers or their children who come home to work in the factory. The fear of embarrassment for lack of such products will also prevent frequent visits to the toilet, which will help them maintain their focus on work and not go out frequently from their desks to use the toilet due to the urgency of nature.
Introduce workout activities
Starting a gym or workout club will be too much of an undertaking for many workplaces, especially those that don’t have facilities or equipment for onsite exercise. However, there are several ways to encourage employees to get moving throughout the day. Scheduling walking meetings can help people get outside and away from their desks for short periods every day. Running contests and company sports teams can encourage regular participation in group activities. Designating lunch breaks as walking breaks can also help employees take some time away from their desks while getting more activity during the day.
Offer healthy food options
With the number of unhealthy food options on the rise, promoting healthy eating habits in your business is becoming increasingly important. A healthier work environment paves the way for more productive employees, helps build company morale, and contributes to a positive corporate culture.
Install free feminine hygiene dispensers
Consider installing free feminine hygiene dispensers in the restrooms throughout your workplace. This small step goes a long way toward ensuring women are comfortable and confident enough to take care of their monthly health needs. It’s not just about the personal health benefits either. It is also good for productivity, especially when combined with other efforts to promote better habits at work, like a smoke-free environment. The more comfortable and confident women feel at work, the better they’ll be able to focus on getting their work done.
Free flu shots
By offering free flu shots, you’re promoting health in your workplace. It shows that you care about the well-being of your employees and want to reduce lost time due to sickness. Flu shots can also be offered for low-income employees on a sliding scale fee.
Flu shots protect your employees from one of the most common contagious diseases out there. They also help employees work better and more effectively by keeping them at their best while they’re on the job. Besides, they can protect you from legal liability by reducing the spread of disease within your workplace.
The CDC recommends that everyone six months of age or older receive an annual flu vaccination each fall to reduce the risk of getting sick with the flu and spreading it to others. Even if your business doesn’t have a lot of employees right now, it’s always smart to start preparing for future growth by being ahead of the curve in promoting good health. A flu shot program is a great way to encourage new hires and employees who haven’t been vaccinated.
Invest in biometric screening
Biometric screenings, like a cholesterol test or an eye exam, can help your employees stay healthy and identify health issues that might not be obvious. These are especially important for employees who work long hours on the computer: sitting in one position for too long can cause back pain, eyestrain, and more. Some tests might seem invasive, like a colonoscopy, but if your business is big enough, you could offer them to your best employees as perks. If someone has had a high-fat diet or smokes, they might want to skip such a perk. But if you offer them to everyone in the company, you’re sending a message that it’s good to take care of yourself and that the company sees it as an investment in its people.
Implement a smoking cessation policy
Smoking is one of the biggest causes of work-related diseases like lung cancer, emphysema, and bronchitis. If you have an employee who smokes, you could consider offering them counseling and support to quit smoking for good.
How Promoting Good Health in the Workplace Helps Businesses
- Improves productivity: Good health is important for any business, and promoting it in the workplace leads to clear improvements in productivity. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, productivity improves by almost 20% when employees are physically active during work hours. The same study shows that workers who exercise before or during work report less stress, fewer symptoms of depression, and better sleep quality than their sedentary peers. In addition, companies with established programs for promoting physical activity in their employees have been shown to have a 42% lower absenteeism rate than companies without such programs.
- Retains talent: There’s no doubt that good benefits are an incentive for job seekers looking at multiple offers from different companies. But perks like gym memberships and healthy food options can also keep new hires from leaving when their first enthusiasm wears off. Good benefits can help you attract the best talent out there, but retention practices will keep them around once they join your team.
- Creates a positive culture: Businesses that encourage good health in their employees are more likely to have a positive culture that helps everyone feel good about where they work. Studies show that when your company is invested in your overall well-being, you’re more likely to stay with the company longer and be more productive on the job. It’s a win-win.
Key Takeaway
The idea of encouraging a healthy workplace might seem counterintuitive to business owners. But it has been proven time and time again that ensuring the health of your employees can actually improve productivity and reduce costs. For example, when employees suffer from poor health, they are less likely to be as productive at work and more likely to have an accident on the job. If you are looking for ways to improve productivity and save money, promote god health in your workplace.
Angela Spearman is a journalist at EzineMark who enjoys writing about the latest trending technology and business news.
