A Quick Guide to Promoting the Wellbeing of Your Employees

Most workers spend 30-40 hours a week in the office. This constitutes a third of their time, leaving another third for sleeping and only the last third for leisure. With so much time spent in one place, there’s no reason why employees should have to suffer an unhealthy work environment. Although they should be working hard, they should be happy, energetic and motivated when they do so, and it is partly up to employers to create a positive work environment to support good emotional wellbeing.

If your staff want to stay healthy, eat better, be more active and manage their stress levels, it’s hard to juggle all this in the few hours between leaving work and going to bed. By incorporating healthy habits into everyday work life, you can help to promote the wellbeing of your team. 

Encourage healthy eating habits

When people are snowed under with work, they often fail to find the time to eat breakfast or lunch. They may overeat later to compensate or eat unhealthy snacks as a substitute. Missing meals can drastically reduce energy levels and make you feel miserable and lethargic. A well-fed worker will work much harder and be happier. Offering fresh fruit and healthy cereals as a breakfast option will give people who woke up late a chance to fuel for the day ahead. No matter how busy you are, there is always time for a quick lunch. Encourage employees to take some time in the middle of the day to go outside and get a healthy, nourishing meal.

Reduce stress

A stressful work environment is one of the most damaging things for an employee’s mental health. Talk to your staff about how they are coping with their workloads. Perhaps some people are taking on more than they can manage. Find out if there are tools or software you could invest in to make people’s lives easier. Some companies offer stress management programs to help workers cope with the effects of stress.

Look after eyesight

For workers who sit in front of a screen all day, their eyesight is under constant strain. Encourage your staff to take regular breaks from their computers and phones a few times every hour. If your business requires eye protection, consider investing in prescription safety glasses for those who need to wear them.

Get them moving

Sitting at a desk all day does irreparable damage to the body over time, causing back and neck problems. Encourage staff to go outside and walk around every so often. Introducing standing desks is a brilliant way of giving your team the option to work on their feet. Stretching breaks or standing meetings are other ways of keeping everyone active.

More crucial than any of these tips is to talk to your staff and find out how you could help them to improve their wellbeing. There may be some easy-to-implement ideas you hadn’t considered. By following these steps, you will certainly be helping to improve the mental and physical health of your employees, and you will probably see an increase in productivity as a result.