With little investment the wellness of your employees can have significant results. Wellness doesn’t need to be expensive to be effective. The benefits far exceed the cost. For example:
Motivation and Production Increases
A healthy employee can perform better physically with higher energy levels. They are also more efficient and focused.
Wellness of your employees can have significant results, it doesn’t need to be expensive to be effective
Brings teams together and builds morale
A team that builds camaraderie by engaging in wellness actives both inside and outside the work place are more likely to have better project engagement and common goals.
Decreases work-related stress
A happier employee enjoying increased fitness and healthy eating can reduce stress, if possible a company can implement mindfulness and meditation, this will also help people reduce stress.
With the implementation of the above points your company should see noticeable jumps in staff retention, productivity and employees who enjoy the work they do in the environment they are in.
How to get started with workplace wellness goals
Getting staff on-board can be the biggest barrier, that’s why it is so important to explain the benefits that they themselves will get out of wellness initiatives. If staff don’t engage with wellness programmes then they just won’t work. We suggest slowly introducing wellness initiatives into their work day. This could be something as simple as introducing free fresh fruit to all staff in the canteen or a slightly more drastic approach of eliminating/reducing vending machines or sugary content in vending machines.
Research shows that when people are constantly interrupted by phone calls, checking their emails and jumping from task to task they become less productive. Single-Task Focus instead of Multitasking has been proven to be a more productive manner to get jobs done. Also, encouraging people to get away from their desks every now and then will ensure that they come back refreshed and refocused. This means introducing sit/stand desks so that staff are not sitting all day and taking regular breaks. On average, a person can burn 50 kcal more per hour simply by standing at their desk as your muscle activity is 2.5 time higher than during sitting.
For a sustainable and balanced initiative its best to start small, why not try the following:
Walking Meetings:
A healthy alternative to being stuck in a boardroom is to allocate time and people to walking meetings. Getting outside and discussing weekly sales projections, marketing strategies and production meetings is a fantastic way to get some fresh air into your system while also getting exercise. Taking staff out of a typical meeting room can also help the flow of ideas as we step away from what is seen as a conventional meeting area and are in a less formal setting where people can be more open.
Walking to work and bike to work schemes:
Do you live in a walkable distance to work? Try mixing public transport and walking as a means to getting to work instead of sitting in endless ques of traffic. The Bike to Work Scheme is a tax incentive scheme to encourage employees to cycle to work. Employees repay the cost in regular instalments from their gross salary.
You are not liable for tax, PRSI or the Universal Social Charge on your repayments. In short, it means you can get a mid to high end bike for a lot less.
On-site yoga classes for stress relief
This is an option for larger companies. But the benefits can be incredible for fitness and mindfulness.
After you have a number of functioning wellness initiatives, survey your employees to find out what is and isn’t working. Different initiatives will work for different company sizes and abilities so it’s best to try multiple approaches and not to expect everything to work. The feedback will be beneficial for adapting your wellbeing programme in the future.
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