8 Tips to Encouraging Employee Health
Employees are your company’s greatest asset. They are the people who turn up every day to do what needs to be done and grow your business to ever greater levels.
That’s why it pays to invest in their health; if your employees are healthy, not only will they take fewer sick days, but they’ll be more productive, happier and, if you help them meet their health goals, more loyal to you and your company. What’s not to love?
Okay, so you’re on board with helping your employees to be as healthy as they can be, but how exactly do you do that? You can’t force them to look after themselves better but you can encourage them.
Here are a few ways you can do that:
#1 Pay for a Doctor to Visit the Workplace
Have a doctor come along to the workplace and talk to your employees about a range of health issues, especially those that could be work-related such as stress, depression and repetitive strain injury so that they are at least aware.
#2 Set Up a Sports Team
A really fun way to encourage your employees to be more healthy is to set up your own company sports team.
If you have space, you might even want to calculate the artificial turf cost of having a part of your land turned into a playing field. It’ll give employees somewhere to fo and let off steam, and encourage their competitive spirit.
#3 Subsidize Flu Vaccinations
Paying for, or heavily subsidizing flu vaccinations and arranging for a nurse team to come and administer them is good for your employees and good for business when you see fewer people out sick in the winter.
#4 Give Them Fitbits
Giving your employees free Fitbits might seem like a waste of funds, but actually it could be a great investment.
People who wear fitness trackers tend to spend more time thinking about their health and if you set up a workplace fitness group, you know they’ll get competitive about beating each other, so they will be encouraged to move around more.
#5 Offer Free Fruit
The cost of providing free fruit for the office is negligible, but it could make the difference to your employees making healthier choices or not.
#6 Office Yoga
Office yoga, or Pilates, or even aerobics is a great way to get people moving, and in the case of yoga, can have great mental health benefits too.
Bringing in an instruction one lunchtime a week, or after work -whenever your employees are likely to be most interested, is an excellent way to engage employees in health-related activities.
#7 Install a Shower
If you don’t already have a shower at your workplace, installing one could be a great move, If showers are available, employees are more likely to choose to cycle to work or go for a lunchtime jog.
#8 Be Generous with Time Off
Giving employees more time off when they need it, and trusting them with it, will help with mental health, family relations and physical health, what’s not to love?
Anything, no matter how big or small, you can do to encourage greater levels of employee health will benefit you, your business, and most importantly your employees, so what are you waiting for?
