Well-being in the Workplace. Physical Health strategies
With the recent phenomenon of quiet-quitting, businesses are looking for new ways to retain their team and keep the ones they do have happy. According to Hays’ most recent salary guide, data shows that our workers are stressed in Australia. In the last blog, we discussed some of the factors in Leadership behaviour that support employee well-being. Let’s now take an in-depth look at physical well-being and how to help your team maintain their physical health more effectively.
What is physical well-being?
Our physical health determines how capable we are of getting stuff done. In other words, how healthy we feel significantly impacts our efforts' effectiveness. This applies to the individual in all settings, including the workplace.
To maintain our physical health, we need to ensure that we are:
eating well
staying physically active
and getting adequate rest
Not only do we need to maintain our physical health, but we also need to put preventative actions in place to promote healthy outcomes.
Preventative health measures
Providing access to resources to help empower employees to maintain their overall physical health is more than a nicety; it is your responsibility as their employer. It’s up to you to open the conversation and implement strategies that offer your employees the best chance of success.
The National Preventative Health Strategy is an excellent resource for those Leaders looking to implement positive change related to physical health and well-being.
Some of our suggestions for how to address the safety of the work environment:
Offer onsite health risk assessments and screenings or offer time in lieu if the team member needs to organise their appointments. Does your workplace have a preferred private health insurance partner?
Put in place mobile flu vaccination programs. The Department of Health can help here.
Have a nominated Health and Safety Representative. This can be a great way to be across all of the issues that face your employees whilst promoting that all-important buy-in and engagement that you need from your team by having one of their own be at the helm.
Offer mental health resources and support. Many apps, such as Headspace, offer individualised support and can do all the hard work for you.
Something as simple as ensuring that your team takes their allocated breaks and encourages them to access the fresh air outside the office during this time. Are there tables and chairs they can use to have their lunch away from the hustle and bustle of the office, etc?
Considering that the physical workplace has shifted, we must encourage physical health in the remote office. The Australian National University has created a great info sheet on how to set up an ergonomic workstation at home.
How To Set up A Home Workstation Information Sheet
Why Physical Well-being?
So much of our time at work focuses on productivity and profitability — are we hitting our KPIs? Did we get the contract? Are we within budget this month?
Studies show time and time again that physical health is super important to our overall well-being. Good physical health allows our employees to feel valued and cared for. It encourages loyalty. It promotes engagement with their work, enabling them to contribute to a positive workplace culture.
According to the Great Place to Work, the benefits of good physical health include (but are not limited to):
Increased productivity and engagement
Improved mental health
Enhanced job satisfaction
How do we make physical well-being a part of our workplace culture?
Before diving into some ideas for you to implement, let's look at what some of the most well-known companies are doing:
Asana offers their employees a nap room, gym memberships and daily yoga. (They also provide nutritious in-house meals, and Wednesdays are barred from meetings!).
Fancy a massage before the mid-afternoon slump hits? Google offers its employees the ultimate wellness program, onsite healthcare, and a range of health-conscious programs for personal and professional development.
Microsoft keeps their staff on track with optional health monitoring that extends to family members.
The brutal truth is that not all businesses can fund such extensive and costly programs, but identifying a few key strategies is a great place to get the ball rolling. Once you have tested a few and seen the results, you can always up the ante.
We have compiled a varied list of some suggestions you might like to consider implementing:
Encourage healthy eating by including a range of offerings in your lunch room.
Could you switch the biscuits for fruit? If you have an onsite cafe, ensure the options meet the daily recommended dietary requirements. Alternatively, you could offer discounts for health-conscious meal kit deliveries.
An informative email about wellness is helpful, but more is needed to engage your team. Use internal communication tools such as Slack or Trello to offer more targeted wellness measures and encourage them to talk to each other by setting up groups or discussions they can opt into.
Consider offering onsite fitness facilities or a discounted membership for a local gym. You could partner with a wellness mentor, such as a personal trainer, nutritionist or sleep expert, to enhance workplace incentives.
Offer exercise programs or activities in the workplace. Consider offering discounts for fitness apps or workout gear. A walking group once a week might be all you need to get started, or even daily step counts to keep things competitive. You could even hold the occasional meeting on foot.
Our mental health impacts our physical health. Offer your team well-being strategies to stay on top of their mental health, such as yoga, mindfulness and meditation, personal training/group movement, nutrition, and personal development sessions.
Consider flexible working hours.
The addition of bringing your pet to work days can improve employee engagement.
Plants offer more than just an aesthetic appeal. They help to create a relaxed atmosphere and oxygenate the air we breathe for healthier lungs.
Dealing with Stress
Consider establishing a relaxation room or space at the office. This will offer your team a place of respite during chaotic periods or a chance to reset and tackle the next project with clarity.
Some simple but effective strategies that promote wellness include:
- Deep breathing exercises
- Journaling
Educate your team about stress reduction. You could offer wellness workshops to help your employees develop healthy habits. You could collaborate with a local business providing well-being support and education.
EAP offering your team confidential counselling sessions with an external provider can be an easy-to-implement, low-cost way to support your team in managing stress.
How do we measure success?
There are a few ways to measure our efforts' success and help the good habits stick.
Ask your team
How do they feel about the changes you are making? What’s important to them in terms of their individual needs? Employee engagement surveys can help us to understand our team and identify the requirements that they have.
Look at the overall health of your team. What is your absenteeism level like? How productive are your team? Employee retention is an excellent measure of success.
Is the conversation coming to life? Do you see lots of activity on your chats? Are the team engaging in the activities you have planned? You may even have the team suggesting new ways of doing things.
Change can seem like an uphill battle, but you can make an immediate impact with straightforward strategies like those mentioned above. Investing in your team and their well-being is the best way to secure overall business success and retain a strong, happy, high-performing team.
At The Elevation Collective, we are passionate about the holistic health of your business. If you are keen to learn more about how to support your team and want some dedicated help to bring to life, Book your free consultation today to learn more about how we can help you.
Credit
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/7-things-you-need-for-an-ergonomically-correct-workstation/
https://www.hays.com.au/salary-guide
https://www.anu.edu.au/covid-19-advice/health-wellbeing/strategies-for-wellbeing-at-home-or-on-campus/physical-wellbeing
https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/12/national-preventive-health-strategy-2021-2030_1.pdf
https://greatplacetowork.com.au/blog/health-at-work-why-healthy-employees-are-happier/
