How to Have a Healthy Workforce

A company that keeps its workforce happy has the significant benefits of increased productivity, creativity, reduced turnover, and an improved bottom line. To help your company get there, we have created this list of what we believe to be the most key factors in keeping your workforce happy and healthy.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle. Physical inactivity can result in several health complications, like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and certain kinds of cancer. Add to this an increased risk of back and neck pain, and you will see why we all need to do our best to keep fit.

However, as recent reports have revealed, this is no simple task. One study revealed 45 percent of the workforce spends less than 10 minutes of their workday moving around. It isn’t difficult to see why, either: the average workday runs for seven and a half hours, and the majority of people will want to find the most comfortable way to spend their day. When you consider their journey to work too, it can become difficult to avoid sitting for extended periods.

A healthy workforce is a productive one, as healthy workers take less time off, which can make a significant difference to your business’ revenues. Happy staff within the workplace is undoubtedly one of the most essential elements of an organization. Workplace health and safety is a vital aspect for keeping people safe and managing risk, but also has lots of other positive side effects such as reducing sick days, boosting employee morale, and maintaining an organization bottom-line. Learn how you can establish a safe and healthy workforce that will leave both employers and employees smiling with our tips.

Establishing a culture of health

One of the keyways to improving the health of your staff is to embed wellbeing into the company culture. This is more easily done when it’s tied to a business’s goals – and management will be more supportive when they can see real-term benefits such as increased productivity.

You can achieve this by building health into business practice, from company policies to daily work activities.

For example, offer employees flexible working schedules, measure their fitness levels, set them realistic goals, and allow them to contribute to decision-making. Think about providing healthier food options too. And if budgets allow, bring in treadmill workstations or create walking trails in and outside buildings.

Remember that a healthy workforce is not just about physical fitness, it is a comprehensive approach to ensure they are well both in mind and body.

By creating a healthy workspace, you can support employees in making lifestyle changes that will benefit both the business and themselves in the long term.

Exercise and wellbeing

Investing in a wellness program can benefit your business in a multitude of ways. Healthy employees are more likely to work harder and add positive value to the workplace. The endorphins released during exercise will improve the mood of your employees and increase company morale. In fact, increased companies are beginning to recognize the importance of offering means to exercise throughout the working day. Some have provided local gym memberships at a discount; some offer free or reduced cost exercise classes and others have gone as far as installing treadmill desks in the office so their employees can work and exercise simultaneously.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DwP) report showed businesses that implement wellbeing programmes enjoy several benefits:

• Sickness absence reduced by 45%
• Staff turnover down 18%
• Accidents and injuries decreased 16%
• Employee satisfaction up 14%

When fitness and well-being initiatives are introduced to a business, it can be hugely beneficial to its success, and the longer-term benefits should cover the initial outlay.

Businesses that had implemented health and wellbeing programmes reported a return on investment. In one example, a manufacturing company that made ergonomic improvements recorded a 4:1 cost ratio.

Communication

It is important to ensure your employees can work efficiently as part of a team. By encouraging interaction between workers, whether it be through team meetings or a weekly video conference, gaining an insight into what the rest of the company is up should enhance the feeling of solidarity and working toward the same overall goal. Another effective method of achieving this unity is implementing monthly or annual teambuilding activities. Creating a workplace culture where employees communicate and respect each other will boost morale significantly and make for a happier workforce.

Small rewards

Even if the company cannot stretch to provide a massive year-end bonus, offering employees something to show them they are appreciated for the work they do will improve their loyalty to the organization and make for a happier workforce. Do not underestimate the value of an early finish occasionally, a dress-down day, or even a simple “thank you” for a job well done.

Make the most of your office space

If your employees spend most of their day sitting down, then it is vital you look for ways to get them to move around. However, this doesn’t mean you need go for company-wide runs or hold aerobic sessions in the boardroom. Smaller, incremental changes will go a long way to helping your employees live healthier lifestyles.

Look at the locations of your bins and printers. If they are easily accessible from your employees’ desks, then consider clustering them in a central location, as this will help to incentivize staff members into getting up and walking around. Additionally, this will encourage your workforce to speak to their colleagues in person, not only helping them to keep healthy, but also creating a more connected and happier workforce.

Provide gym memberships

An effective way to encourage employees to exercise is to provide corporate memberships to local gyms. Memberships can be expensive for individuals, so by helping your workers save will be an extra incentive for them to utilize the gym and exercise regularly.

Contact your local gym and let them know you would refer your workers should they provide a reduction in fees.

Embrace nature with Plants around the Office

This one may seem simple, but it really works.

Plants in offices are known to increase happiness and productivity. You may think simplicity is best, but it turns out humans work better when they are not trapped in sparse, cage-like cubicles. Photographs, art, and other inspiration can help liven up a space and encourage creativity too, but plants offer even more benefits to your workplace. Here are Benefits of Having Plants in Your Office, including cleaner air, reduced stress, reduced noise levels, and increased productivity.

Your employees spend a huge portion of their lives in the work environment you provide. Doing whatever you can to make it as pleasant as possible will keep your staff happy, and in many cases, more productive.

Balance for workers

Companies that offer their employees an excellent work/life balance could ensure their workers are happy in both aspects of their lives. Understandably, this level of flexibility is not always something a business can offer and that makes it a desired benefit. Providing an opportunity for this balance will keep your workers happy and should, in turn, boost their productivity.

Provide feedback

Provide employees with consistent feedback, which is vital in developing their understanding of where they are succeeding and where they need to apply more effort. An open communication channel between employer and employee will allow for a more productive working environment. If employees don’t feel heard, they may begin to question their worth within the company and search for prospects elsewhere. By implementing monthly team meetings where all staff can share their ideas and concerns, employees are more likely to feel valued and happy to continue working hard for their employer.

Build trust

Trust within the workplace is vital to employee satisfaction. A lack of trust can leave employees feeling insecure and affect motivation levels. This can damage both the company’s success and employee morale. The important thing here is to always attempt to remain honest and straight with your employees as far as you can. This will create the trust needed to keep them happy and to stay loyal to the company.

Opportunities for growth

To keep employees engaged and motivated it’s key to provide them with opportunities to progress within their jobs. Career development is one of the most principal factors to influence employee satisfaction and can come in the form of funding advanced education and training courses, or even through providing the knowledge that there is potential for promotion within their job position. These opportunities help signify the importance the company places on the employee as part of their team and can boost morale significantly.

Do not micromanage

Micromanaging restricts the ability for people to develop their skills and achieve their full potential. Workers tend to respond best to being given independence in the jobs they are asked to carry out. By allowing employees to work without constant monitoring they will develop greater confidence in their abilities and will be much happier in their jobs.

Positive environment

Unimportant things, such as allowing music to be played in the office or providing employees with free fruit every day, can improve the morale of employees significantly. Taking these small steps to improve the atmosphere of the office can prove to be invaluable in keeping a happy workforce.

Pre-employment Medicals; Use the services of a healthcare company as EMPWellness.

Pre-employment medicals help employers in managing the safety and health of their workforce. They are designed to let an employer know how a position might need to be modified to accommodate a potential employee and to evaluate if an employee is healthy enough to take the job on offer. It is vital that employers make sure any potential employee will not be a danger to themselves or others in the position.

By performing pre-employment medicals on potential employees, a company can chart an employee’s health throughout their time with the company and even discover an unknown illness the potential employee may have been previously unaware of.

By performing consistent pre-employment medical checks and using EMPWellness platform, employers promote a safer work environment and reduce the overall costs associated with recruitment and insurance.

EMPWellness is a concierge for better health and ongoing medicals that are catered to suit the needs of your business and job roles and their families.

At all our facilities, we have qualified healthcare experts. Some of the benefits of using this service are increased productivity, less absenteeism, money saved, less stressful executives and happier workforces.