Over 50? Keeping Up With Your Healthcare Needs

How To Encourage Employee Wellness

26 May 2016

Nellie Ryan

Healthy employees are vital for any successful business. Healthy employees tend to be happier, more productive, and take less sick days. As a business owner, you should encourage employee wellness. Here are the best ways to help your employees be happy and healthy:

Adopt wellness programs

Corporate wellness programs are one of the best ways to boost the heath of your staff. The more rewards, incentives, and services offered in your wellness program, the more employees benefit. Here are the types of incentives you should include in the wellness program:

• Free or discounted gym memberships
• Full coverage for smoking cessation products
• Free physicals
• Enrollment in weight loss or management programs
• Free flu vaccinations

Provide exercise

Provide your employees with the means to exercise right on the job. Even if your employees don't have time to go to a gym, they can take fifteen minutes or use their lunch hour to exercise if you offer them the opportunity. Here are some ideas:

• Provide walking or standing desks in the office
• Have a business yoga class once or twice a week.
• Convert unused rooms into small gyms
• Install private showers and lockers in the bathrooms
• Start a company sports team and play during lunch hour

Offer relaxation

Physical health is only half the equation. You also need to encourage employee mental health by providing ways of relieving stress. Offering relaxation prevents employee burnout, fatigue, and stress. Here are some of the ways you can provide the means for relaxation:

• Mindfulness training classes
• Meditation classes
• On site massage therapy and acupuncture
• Quiet lounge rooms

Promote mental health

Sometimes, relaxation isn't enough to curb fatigue and burnout in an employee's very hectic life. In these instances, you need to promote mental health support and treatment. You can do this by reimbursing employee counseling or therapy sessions, offer discounts for mental health services, or have a counselor available on site. You may even consider offering mental health days in addition to sick days.

Have healthy food options

Healthy foods will keep your employees from suffering the dreaded 3 pm energy crash. Healthy meals are also important for promoting weight loss. According to the CDC, the incidence of obesity among employees is 24.6%. You can reduce obesity by providing good food options. Here are ways you can provide better lunches:

• Stock vending machines with nuts, protein bars, whole grain chips, and other healthy snacks
• Provide water and whole fruit juices
• Install drinking fountains with filters to increase water consumption
• Provide salad bars
• Have an on site kitchen so employees can cook or reheat healthy meals

These are the ways you can encourage employee wellness. Implement even just one of these methods and you can be on your way to a happy, healthy workforce. For more information, visit www.theyogadepartment.com or a similar website.

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